Texas Criminal HistoryTexas Criminal History

Home › About

About Texas Criminal History

Texas criminal records are divided among the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Records Division, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry, several court levels, and local agencies in 254 counties. The key is knowing which system made or maintains the needed record. This private reference site explains those statewide channels and provides a route to the county layer for booking entries, jail records, police reports, and original case files.

Why This Site Exists

Texas offers several forms of public record access, yet no single portal contains every criminal-history detail. Texas DPS compiles reportable arrest, prosecutor, court, and custody segments in Computerized Criminal History. Its public name search is limited to reported convictions, deferred adjudications, and linked arrest data that Government Code §411.135 permits DPS to disclose. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice tracks state prison custody, and the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry publishes registration data verified through local authorities. Original felony and misdemeanor case files remain with the correct local clerk. This site brings those roles into one statewide guide, then uses the Texas county directory to reach the office that created the local record.

What You Will Find Here

  • Record guides: how to locate and understand a Texas court case at the proper court level
  • Official check routes: the public name search, mailed request, and fingerprint personal-review options offered by Texas DPS
  • Statewide system guides: the TDCJ inmate locator, Texas registry, and other official channels, with their limits explained
  • Record-relief context: the distinction between Texas expunction under Chapter 55A and an order of nondisclosure
  • County navigation: one directory linking all 254 Texas county sites and their local record paths

What We Cannot Do

Texas Criminal History is a privately operated reference site, not part of Texas DPS, TDCJ, any court, or any local agency. Those boundaries limit the help available here:

  • We cannot obtain or run an official criminal-history check for a visitor
  • We cannot correct a Texas CCH entry or change a court or booking record
  • We cannot issue certified court documents, rap sheets, or agency reports
  • We cannot submit an expunction, nondisclosure, or public-information request
  • We cannot provide legal advice or guarantee that an agency procedure has not changed

An official copy must come from Texas DPS or the court, jail, police department, sheriff, or other government office that controls the source record.

Search Partners

Some site pages contain search tools operated by outside providers. Those companies control their services, prices, terms, and results. A paid signup reached through one of those tools may produce a referral fee that supports this free reference site. Texas Criminal History does not set partner charges and cannot verify or alter a partner result.