Survey of State Criminal History Information System, 202

Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2024

Since 1989, the Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems has been used to collect the nation’s most complete, comprehensive and relevant data on the number and status of state-maintained criminal history records and on the increasing number of operations and services involving noncriminal justice background checks provided by the state repositories. This data collection is supported by Cooperative Agreement No. 15PBJS-23-GK-00052-NCHI awarded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Please note: Completion of the survey is voluntary; however, doing so is a special condition placed on all National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) and NICS Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP) awards.

If you use the online survey tool, accessible at http://www.searchgroup.org/surveys/repository/, to enter 2024 data, you can view previously submitted 2022 data for comparison purposes. Where applicable, your state’s 2022 responses are displayed in color within each section of the online survey. It is hoped that this information will help you complete the survey more accurately and efficiently. The cover letter provides the password to gain access to your state’s online survey. Direct your questions or comments to SEARCH staff Karen Lissy at karen@search.org.

If it is more convenient, you may request a PDF copy of the survey, complete it manually, and fax (916-392-8440) or e-mail it to the attention of Karen Lissy at karen@search.org. The deadline for survey submission is [Date].

The survey is divided into five sections. You may submit each section independently and not necessarily in the order presented. This is done so that different people on your repository’s staff may submit the data for which they are responsible. Repository directors are responsible for seeing that the survey is submitted in its entirety. Please note the following:

1. All reported data should be for calendar year 2024, or as of December 31, 2024.

2. The term “felony” includes any crime classified as a felony under your state’s laws. These offenses are generally punishable by a term of incarceration in excess of one year. If your state’s laws do not use the term “felony,” please substitute functional equivalents, such as class 1, 2, 3 and 4 offenses in New Jersey and class A, B and C offenses in Maine.

3. Questions that seek responses based on a “legal requirement” refer only to a state statute or a state administrative regulation having the force of law.

4. If additional space is needed, please use the “Additional Comments” area at the end of each section.

5. Please use the “Additional Comments” area at the end of each section to provide explanatory notes for responses that require explanation or when “no data is available,” and to describe significant changes between the current response and data reported in the 2022 survey.

6. If a question is not applicable to your repository, please note the question number and indicate “NA” in the “Additional Comments” area at the end of each section.

Burden Statement

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, we cannot ask you to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The survey will be sent to criminal history repositories in 56 jurisdictions, including the 50 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The average time required for each agency to complete the survey is estimated at 4 hours. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this survey, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington DC 20531. Do not send your completed form to this address.

SECTION I: REPOSITORY

This section completed by

Name ________________________________ Title ________________________________

Agency _____________________________________________________________________

Phone ________________________________ Email _______________________________

Date completed ________________________

Definitions

1. The term “automated records” refers to electronic records that exist within a database.

2. The term “manual records” refers to records that are only maintained via paper, microfilm or Portable Document Format (PDF).

3. The term “retained records” refers to those that are kept by the state identification bureau permanently (or as otherwise defined by a state’s record retention policy).

4. Records that are “not retained” include those records that are deleted and destroyed once they are no longer needed for the purpose for which they were collected. In the context of the survey, records that are “not retained” generally refer to civil fingerprints that are collected for the purpose of a state or national fingerprint-based background check and destroyed once the background check has been completed. In certain cases, criminal records are not retained such as when charges are dismissed or when a court orders all records relating to an arrest to be expunged (i.e., deleted or destroyed).

Questions:

The following questions relate to descriptions of your state’s criminal history record information and master name index databases:

1. How many subjects (individual criminal offenders) were in your criminal history file as of December 31, 2024?

1. Automated records __________________ (include subjects whose records
   are partially automated)

2. Manual records __________________
   
   

3. Total records __________________ (a+b)

2. Fingerprints processed in 2024:

Percentage of

Purpose Number 2024 volume Totals

1. Criminal (retained) ___________ _________%
   
   

2. Criminal (not retained) ___________ _________% (a+b) _____________
   
   

3. Noncriminal (retained) ___________ _________%
   
   

4. Noncriminal (not retained) ___________ _________% (c+d) _____________
   
   

5. What was the total number of fingerprint-based

background checks conducted during 2024? (a+b+c+d) ___________

The following questions refer to repository administration, procedures and practices.

3. (a) Does your state maintain a protection order file? If no, skip to question 4.

 Yes  No

(b) How many active records were in the state protection order record database as of December 31, 2024?

records

4. (a) Does your state maintain a warrant file? If no, skip to Section II.

 Yes  No

(b) How many records were in the state warrant database as of December 31, 2024?

records

(c) Of this total, indicate the number of:

Felony warrants

Misdemeanor warrants

Other (explain)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

SECTION II: ARREST/FINGERPRINT
REPORTING, RECORD ENTRY AND REMOVAL

This section completed by

Name ________________________________ Title ________________________________

Agency _____________________________________________________________________

Phone ________________________________ Email _______________________________

Date completed ________________________

Definitions

1. The term “cardscan” refers to both the technique and technology used to electronically capture and digitize fingerprints that have been recorded using traditional ink-and-paper methods. Scanning these images and digitizing these fingerprint impressions enables them to be searched and maintained electronically using an Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).

2. The term “livescan” refers to both the technique and technology used to electronically capture fingerprint and palm print images from individuals without the need for the more traditional ink-and-paper methods. Livescan devices also allow the electronic transfer of digitized images and accompanying textual information to a criminal history repository.

Questions

1. How many felony arrests were reported to your repository during calendar year 2024?

____________ arrests

2. How many arrest fingerprints were submitted to your repository during 2024? (a+b+c = d)

1. _________________ via livescan
   
   

2. _________________ via cardscan
   
   

3. _________________ hard copy fingerprints
   
   

4. _________________ = total arrest fingerprints

3. How many arrestees (i.e., unique individuals) had arrest fingerprints submitted to the repository in 2024? _____________

4. How many first-time arrestees (e.g., unique individuals who received a State Identification Number (SID) for the first time) had arrest fingerprints submitted to the repository in 2024? _________________

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

SECTION III: DISPOSITIONS

This section completed by

Name ________________________________ Title ________________________________

Agency _____________________________________________________________________

Phone ________________________________ Email _______________________________

Date completed ________________________

Definition

“Final case disposition” is defined as the formal or informal conclusion of an arrest or charge at whatever stage it occurs in the criminal justice process. E.g., release by police after arrest without charging; decline to proceed by prosecutor; or final trial court disposition.

Questions

The following questions seek to determine to what extent the records in your criminal history record database contain final case disposition information.

1. Does your state collect charge tracking information (sometimes referred to as “interim disposition information”) on the criminal history record showing the status of a case as it moves through the justice system? (E.g., reporting of an indictment, charges filed that are different than arrest charges, etc.)

 Yes  No

2. (a) How many final case dispositions
   did your repository receive during 2024? ____________ dispositions

(b) Of those, how many were sent to the FBI? ____________ dispositions

Note: When calculating the percentage of arrests with final dispositions recorded, some states consider an arrest to have a disposition if any final disposition can be associated with an arrest cycle. This is commonly referred to as “cycle matching.” Other states do not consider an arrest to have a final disposition until all arrest charges are linked to a final disposition. This is commonly referred to as “charge matching.”

3. Does your state perform cycle or charge matching to calculate the percentage of arrests in the criminal history database with final dispositions?

• Cycle matching

• Charge matching

4. What percentage of all arrests in the criminal history database have final case dispositions recorded?

1. Arrests entered within past 5 years (01/01/2020-12/31/2024) ____________ %

2. Arrests in the entire database ____________ %

3. Felony charges ____________ %

4. The following questions are new to the 2024 Survey and are intended to gauge progress over time relative to the completeness of criminal history records in the repository. What percentage of arrests in the criminal history database have final dispositions recorded?

1. 2010’s (arrests from 1/1/2010 through 12/31/2019) ____________ %

2. 2000’s (arrests from 1/1/2000 through 12/31/2009) ____________ %

3. 1990’s (arrests from 1/1/1990 through 12/31/1999) ____________ %

4. 1980’s (arrests from 1/1/1980 through 12/31/1989) ____________ %

4. (a) Of the dispositions received at the repository during 2024, what percentage could not be linked to a specific arrest record, either because of failed matching criteria or the arrest had not been reported to the repository? _______________

(b) When a disposition cannot be matched to an arrest, the following action(s) is taken: (Check all that apply.)

 Placed in a suspense file (no further action)

• Placed in a suspense file for further investigation

• Disposition information is rejected

• Follow-up actions are taken by repository staff

• Court is contacted

• Court-provided charge(s) and corresponding disposition is posted to the beginning or end of record

• Other ______________________________________________

4. How many records are in your state’s suspense file (if applicable)? _______

4. (a) As of December 31, 2024, was any court disposition data reported directly to the repository by automated means? (Note: “automated” refers to a method by which data is transmitted by the court to the repository where it is matched against criminal history records and entered on the criminal history record, usually without manual intervention. This does not include dispositions received via fax or email, which require manual activity for criminal history record matching and data entry.)

 Yes  No (skip to question 7)

(c) What percentage of dispositions was reported in 2024 by automated means?

____________%

4. In 2024, what was the average time elapsed between the occurrence of final felony court case dispositions and receipt of information concerning such dispositions by the repository?

• 1 day or less

• 2–7 days

• 8–90 days

• 91–180 days

• 181–365 days

• More than 1 year

4. In 2024, what was the average time elapsed between receipt of final felony court disposition information by the repository and entry of that information into the criminal history record database?

• 1 day or less

• 2–7 days

• 8–30 days

• 31–90 days

• 91–180 days

• 181–365 days

• More than 1 year

9. (a) As of December 31, 2024, was there a backlog of court disposition data to be entered into the criminal history record database (i.e., not entered within 48 hours of receipt at the repository, including dispositions that could not be matched to a criminal history record within 48 hours of receipt at the repository)? If no, skip to question 11.

 Yes  No

(b) How many unprocessed or partially processed court case dispositions did you have?

________________

4. Does the repository receive any final case disposition information (e.g., decline to proceed) from local prosecutors? If no, skip to question 12.

 Yes  No

4. Does your state post indictment information to the criminal history record?

 Yes  No

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

SECTION IV:
RECORD SEALING AND EXPUNGEMENTS

This section completed by

Name ________________________________ Title ________________________________

Agency _____________________________________________________________________

Phone ________________________________ Email _______________________________

Date completed ________________________

Record sealing and record expungement definitions and practices vary widely across the states. For the purpose of answering questions in this section, the following definitions apply.

Sealed Record: Record is restricted from public access (if such access is available in your state) and is generally unavailable for employment and licensing purposes. Sealed records may be accessed on a limited basis – e.g., criminal justice employment, law enforcement investigations, research purposes etc.

Expunged Record: All hard copy and electronic information about the arrest is destroyed/ obliterated. No information about the arrest or disposition is retained, and it is therefore unavailable for any purpose once expunged.

Since all states have some degree of automatic sealing or expungement of juvenile records, the following questions only apply to adult criminal history records.

1. Do you have statutes and/or policies that define procedures for criminal history record sealing and/or expungement?

• Yes, sealing only

• Yes, expungement only

• Yes, both sealing and expungement

• No

2. If a record is sealed, is it still accessible for research purposes?

 Yes, but access is limited to repository staff

• Yes, outside researchers (e.g., Statistical Analysis Centers, universities, etc.) may use sealed records for purposes authorized by the repository pursuant to state law or policy

 No

4. (a) Does your repository track the number of records that are sealed by the repository?

 Yes  No

(b) If yes, how many records were sealed by the repository in 2024? _______

5. (a) Does your repository track the number of records that are expunged by the repository?

 Yes  No

(c) If yes, how many records were expunged by the repository in 2024? _______

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: