US court case databases
State-by-state guide for researching criminal and civil court cases
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Description
Criminal and civil court case information in the United States is publicly available and maintained in databases by each individual state or county (this article does not deal with federal cases, which have their own database called PACER). If you want to know about the civil or criminal history of an individual or are seeking information about a particular court case handled at the state level, these databases allow you to access details such as:
Case number
Assigned attorneys / judge
Charges and convictions
Disposition summaries
(In some states) Documents, pleadings, and motions submitted to the court
Some court documents contain descriptions of violent crimes that may be disturbing to read.
State databases will let you conduct a search using your choice of search variables. Below are examples of information you can use as a starting point to search court cases in Pennsylvania (left) and North Dakota (right).
The level of information provided in search results varies by state. Below is another example: a snapshot of criminal case results for "John Doe" in Oregon. In many states, you can click on the case you're interested in to see more information or download documents.
TIP: Many databases allow wildcard searches using an asterisk, which is useful if you don't know a full name or correct spelling. For example, if you are searching for a person named "Will Anderson" but want to account for it being spelled "William Andersen" you can search for it as:
Case databases by state
Arizona
Must create an account if you want document access Two of Arizona's 15 counties use a different online database.
Free to search $10/document
California
No statewide database, must search by county
Colorado
Must create an account
$10/search $5 extra for search results to include Denver County
Delaware
Civil cases only, no online database for criminal cases
Free to search No document access
Illinois
For free access, you must search by county
$149.7 for 6-month subscription gives access to all courts in one place
Louisiana
No statewide database, must search by parish (county)
Maine
Must create an account Records prior to 2020 and most criminal records not available electronically
Free to search No document access
Massachusetts
No statewide database, must search by county
Free to search No document access
New Hampshire
Must create an account Records currently available online: non-confidential Circuit Court case types of district division civil, small claims, name change and estate cases, and Superior Court civil and criminal cases
Free to search No document access
New Jersey
Must create an account to search civil cases
Free to search No document access
New York
No closed criminal cases available online, you can only search for criminal cases that have future court dates
Free to search Free civil document access
South Carolina
No statewide database, must search by county
Free to search No document access
South Dakota
Must create an account
Free basic searches $20/search for detailed results
Basic search (free) Detailed search
Tennessee
No statewide database, must search by county
Texas
Must search by county for criminal cases Civil cases since 2018 are available online, must create an account
Free to search (civil)
West Virginia
Magistrate Courts include misdemeanors, traffic, small claims. Circuit Courts include felonies, higher-value civil. Must create an account
Free to search $.25/page for documents
Wyoming
No online database
Cost
Cost varies by state. Some jurisdictions allow you to search and obtain information for free, while others require a fee.
Level of difficulty
Limitations
Privacy laws: Case information related to vulnerable populations — such as juveniles or victims of domestic violence — is not publicly available. In most states, you must be an attorney or authorized user to access such information.
Paper archives: Older cases may not be digitized, and to access them you would have to make a records request for scanned copies of the file. Some states have digitized their records as far back as the '80s, while others only have online records for the past 10 years. Most jurisdictions provide full access to public case information at courthouse kiosks. If you are not local, any member of the public can make an online records request to the respective county for copies of records.
Ethical Considerations
Even though this information is publicly available, legal cases often contain personal or sensitive information about the parties involved. An ethical open source investigations practitioner should take this into account when doing such research.
Guides and articles
The following states provide guides for their databases:
How-to articles for researchers:
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Open Government Guide
The Marshall Project: "Journalists: How to Get Records the Criminal Justice System Doesn’t Want You to Have"
The Journalist's Resource: "How to find facts and stories in civil court dockets"
Journalistic examples of stories supported by state database research:
Tool provider
Each individual state is in charge of their own database, and most contract with a third-party case management system to handle records. The most widely used vendor is Tyler Technologies, a Texas-based company that provides software to state and municipal governments.
Similar tools
There are numerous third-party aggregate tools and data broker sites that attempt to give you nation-wide court results such as WhitePages, BeenVerified, and even professional platforms like TLOxp. While these tools can be a good starting point, beware that none of them can provide comprehensive results. To be thorough, you need to check the state-run databases and/or make a record request to the appropriate jurisdiction.
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