State Law

Connecticut Criminal Records Now Online

By Ryan

I just recently discovered that the Judicial Branch Website has been updated to include Conviction and Bond Forfeiture Dispositions for Criminal and Motor Vehicle offenses since 2000.  The site is now searchable by a criminal defendant’s last name. Click here for the link. 

The site has the following disclaimers:

• Each Criminal And Motor Vehicle Charge Disposed On And After January 1, 2000 In Which The Court Disposition Was A Conviction Is Included
   
• Each Criminal And Motor Vehicle Charge In Which The Court Action Was Concluded By A Bond Forfeiture Order On And After January 1, 2000 Is Included
   
• A Motor Vehicle Matter Disposed By Way Of Bond Forfeiture Is Deemed A Conviction Pursuant To Connecticut General Statutes Section 14-1(a)(18) 

          Youthful Offender And Juvenile Cases Are Not Displayed  

• This Criminal History Record Information May Change Daily Due To Erasures, Corrections, Pardons, And Other Modifications To Individual Criminal History Record Information. The Judicial Branch Cannot Guarantee The Accuracy Of The Information Except With Respect To This Date.

This is a big step for the judicial branch website. Up until about a year ago, criminal dockets were not online. Then the website allowed simply allowed searches of the criminal docket for the following day which was not very user friendly.  About 9 months ago the website allowed users to search for pending criminal cases by a defendant’s last name.

Now, records which would have previously been available only by running a criminal records search through the Connecticut State Police at a cost of $25 are freely available online to the public. 

Full post as published by A Connecticut Law Blog on February 20, 2008 (boomark / email).