Felony Record Search Texas

A public Texas felony search is a limited history search

Texas DPS offers public criminal-history information relating to convictions and grants of deferred adjudication, including associated arrest information. The CR-42 disclosure describes information on file, reported by agencies and authorized for public release on the request date. Do not assume that this public product contains every arrest or every pending allegation.

DPS holds Texas agency submissions, not a nationwide file. Preserve the actual disposition wording: deferred adjudication should not be relabeled a conviction. To answer whether a particular charge resulted in a felony conviction, examine that charge’s outcome and obtain the court’s judgment if the repository entry is not decisive. A felony arrest label by itself does not answer the outcome question.

Choose the public portal or a priced mail request

The DPS Crime Records FAQ links the Criminal History Conviction Name Search for online public name-based searches. Use that official link, rather than a similarly named commercial service. The online fee page could not be verified in this review; check the public portal’s current search and transaction charges before paying. Do not apply the restricted Secure Website’s pricing to the public product.

For a documented mail alternative, use DPS form CR-42, Request for Public Criminal History Data. Each search costs $10, payable by check or U.S. money order to Texas Department of Public Safety. The form asks whether a certified copy is needed; the DPS FAQ says certification adds no extra charge, although the search fee remains due.

Complete CR-42 and allow time for the response

Provide the person’s last, first and middle names, sex, race and birth date, select the certification option, and enter the name and address for the returned result. Mail the form and $10 payment to Texas Department of Public Safety, Crime Records Division, PO Box 15999, Austin, TX 78761. The form gives 512-424-2474, option 2, for questions.

DPS estimates approximately ten business days after receipt for a criminal-history check, with postal delivery outside that estimate. Retain a copy of your request, the identifiers used and the mailing reference. If the result is needed by a fixed date, confirm the recipient’s acceptable format and the available timing before relying on an ordinary mail request.

Confirm identity separately from the felony outcome

A name-based search can return another person’s record or miss a record under different identifiers. DPS does not guarantee identity from a name match, and its CR-42 warning also says no record found is not a guarantee that the person has no history. Compare the available identifiers and event details before attributing a result. CR-42 says that more than fifteen matching records requires more specific identifying information; do not resolve an overbroad result by guessing.

For your own record, DPS provides a fingerprint-based personal-review route through FAST. The FAQ describes a $15 fingerprint-based record check plus a $10 FAST fingerprinting fee. For an employment or licensing submission, obtain the requesting agency’s service code and bring the required ID and selected payment method; do not substitute a public name-search report for an agency-specific fingerprint requirement.

Use the named court to prove what happened to the charge

Follow the court and case number from the history to the holding clerk; the Texas Judicial Branch website provides a court-directory route. Ask for the judgment, deferred-adjudication order, dismissal or other disposition for the specific charge and date. State whether the recipient requires a certified copy and whether a later amended order is relevant.

Keep the repository response and court document separately identified. Local court copying charges, online image availability and delivery arrangements are not established by the $10 DPS search fee. Ask that clerk for the complete copy total and access rules. If a case is missing from a public portal, check the court and case reference rather than inferring that a prosecution never existed.

Correct a missing disposition through DPS Error Resolution

DPS explains that the court with jurisdiction reports dispositions. If an outcome is missing, obtain a certified disposition from that court. DPS’s FAQ says it should be forwarded to the Crime Records Error Resolution Unit; an ordinary photocopy without the issuing court’s embossed seal does not meet the stated certified-document requirement.

The Error Resolution page provides the current form and supporting instructions and lists [email protected] for potential errors. Supply the certified records required by that process rather than rewriting the report. Misuse of your identity is a distinct problem with a separate DPS procedure, linked from the same page.

An expunction or nondisclosure request is also different from correcting an inaccurate entry. Use DPS’s linked guidance and the relevant court’s instructions if removal or restricted access is your goal. Preserve the original response, the disputed entry and any court order so that a later reviewer can see what each source actually established.