Look Up Criminal Records Texas

Start with DPS for a Texas history, or the court for a case file

Texas DPS maintains the Computerized Criminal History system with information reported by criminal-justice agencies. All 254 counties submit data, but that reporting scope does not mean every event appears in a public response. The public CR-42 product covers convictions and grants of deferred adjudication, with arrest information related to those outcomes, to the extent submitted and authorized for public release. A pending charge, jail listing or court filing is a different record question.

To prove what happened in one case, obtain its judgment or dismissal from the court with jurisdiction. Preserve the DPS history response separately, including its event identifiers and disposition fields. If you need a fingerprint-based personal review or a legally authorized employment check, use the instructions for that particular product rather than assuming a public name search is sufficient.

Use the public site without borrowing secure-site prices

DPS directs people who are not eligible for its restricted secure website to publicsite.dps.texas.gov. Start from that official public service and select its criminal-history search. Prepare the complete known name, aliases and birth date before reviewing the current entry instructions and checkout. Do not submit guessed identifiers simply to reduce a list of possible matches.

The current public-site checkout price could not be verified from the accessible official pages used for this guide. The $1 search-credit figure on DPS’s secure-site help belongs to the legislatively authorized agency service and should not be presented as the public price. Confirm the public credit price, card fees and what consumes a credit before buying. If the public service is unavailable, the CR-42 mail route below remains a documented alternative.

Mail CR-42 when you need a documented public-request route

The current CR-42 form, revised October 2025, asks for the subject’s last, first and middle names, sex, race and birth date. Mark whether a certified copy is needed and provide the name and address for the mailed results. Its name-based matching warning still applies to a certified response; certification does not establish that a same-name record belongs to the intended person.

Each mail search costs $10, payable by check or US money order to Texas Department of Public Safety. Send the form and payment to Texas Department of Public Safety, Crime Records Division, PO Box 15999, Austin, TX 78761. Questions about this form go to 512-424-2474, option 2. The form does not state a fixed mail-processing deadline, so allow for both processing and delivery and ask before relying on a date.

Read possible matches and no-record responses carefully

CR-42 warns that a name-based result is derived from the supplied identifiers and is not a guarantee of identity. A no-record response also does not exclude a record under different identifiers. If a request produces too many possible matches, DPS may require more specific information. Retain the request’s identifiers with its response and check the available birth date and other details before attributing an event.

DPS says someone disputing a name-search result should request personal review using fingerprints to determine whether a record exists for that person. A similar name alone is not a sufficient basis for claiming a criminal history. Ask the recipient whether it needs fingerprint-based identification before spending repeatedly on name variations that cannot resolve the identity question.

Follow a missing disposition to the court

DPS instructs people correcting missing disposition data to contact the court of jurisdiction for a certified disposition. Use the county, court and cause number from the reported event when available. If those details are incomplete, explain the arrest date and agency reference to the clerk and ask what else is needed to identify the proceeding. A private company’s summary is not the certified court proof DPS requests.

Send supported corrections to the right DPS unit

The DPS Error Resolution Unit reviews possible criminal-history errors and asks for certified supporting documents when information needs updating or correction. Its contact is [email protected]. Describe the particular event and discrepancy and follow the unit’s form instructions. Misuse of your identity by an arrested person has a different resolution process; flag that issue instead of treating it as a routine missing disposition.

DPS says it cannot require third-party history websites to correct their own pages. If a private report is wrong, keep the corrected government response and pursue that provider’s dispute process separately. Do not assume a correction to a court file, DPS record or private report automatically updates all three.

Keep the response within its purpose and date

Save the official response, request date, identifying inputs and any certified court follow-through together. Read deferred adjudication as the outcome actually reported, not as a label you can silently replace with either conviction or acquittal. For a consequential employment, licensing or other screening decision, establish the authorized procedure and allow disputed information to be resolved rather than treating a public name match as conclusive.