Chicago Criminal Records

Choose among court, police and state records

Chicago criminal records are held by several custodians. The Cook County Circuit Court clerk holds court files and dispositions; Chicago Police publishes a limited adult-arrest search; Illinois State Police provides criminal-history products, including CHIRP name-based inquiries. Choose the record that answers your question before searching or paying. A booking number, court case number and CHIRP reference are not interchangeable.

Find the Cook County case, then verify the filing

Start at the Clerk’s Online Case Information page and follow its case-search link. The clerk calls the results an electronic docket with brief summaries, not the official court record. Updates may take several days. For a very recent event, use courthouse public-access terminals or check with the clerk rather than relying on an unchanged online entry.

Keep the case number, court division, defendant’s name and relevant dates together. Compare available identifiers before merging same-name cases. Read the final judgment or dismissal when the question concerns an outcome; a docket containing a charge or a hearing date does not itself show a conviction. If the online record conflicts with a filed order, request the official file for clarification.

Request a Chicago disposition from the correct division

The Clerk’s Criminal Department handles Chicago misdemeanor cases, preliminary felony hearings and related matters. Its certified-disposition instructions require the defendant’s name, date of birth and arrest date. For these Chicago department files, the Court File Request Counter is in Room 1006 at the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street. Bring valid photo identification to review a file.

The department’s instructions say suburban Cook County dispositions should be requested from the particular suburban district. Felony trial matters use the Criminal Division route; do not send every Chicago record inquiry to the same desk merely because the arrest occurred in the city. Give staff the division and case number and identify the precise order you need before travelling.

The court’s Criminal Division lists the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 2600 S. California Avenue, Chicago, IL 60608, with general court contact 773-674-3160. Its page also identifies the Criminal Court Administration Building at 2650 S. California Avenue. Confirm the clerk’s record counter for your case before travelling; a court administration contact is not itself a copy order.

Budget separately for a search, copies and certification

The clerk’s CCG 0026 record-search form lists $6 per year searched; copies cost $2 for page 1, $0.50 each for pages 2–19 and $0.25 for remaining pages. Certification is $6 per certification, with postage additional. Performing the search yourself at the division’s terminals or in case files avoids the search fee, but does not eliminate copy or certification charges.

Use CCG 0026 to specify the division, parties, case number, filing or disposition date, years to search, documents and ordinary or certified copies. For mailed requests, the form directs an initial $6 search payment by check or money order and instructs the deputy clerk to notify you of the remaining amount due. Follow the current form’s payment and address instructions; do not mail cash. A single flat price cannot be promised without the search years and page count.

Understand the exact limits of Chicago Police search

The Chicago Police public search covers arrests made by CPD on or after January 1, 2014 of people aged 18 or older at arrest and charged as adults. It excludes arrests by the county Sheriff, State Police and surrounding municipalities. Published fields include the central booking number, arrest date and time, charges, release information and other booking details.

A CPD match is evidence of a reported arrest event within that database’s scope. The site expressly states that people are presumed innocent unless proven guilty and that expunged records are removed. Follow the booking event to the correct court case for disposition. A no-hit can reflect the search’s date or agency limits and cannot establish a complete Illinois history.

Use CHIRP for an Illinois name-based inquiry

Illinois State Police directs name-based inquiries to the Criminal History Information Response Process, or CHIRP. Use the registration and troubleshooting instructions linked from its Name Based page. The current Uniform Conviction Information Act fee schedule lists $10 for an electronic name-based inquiry and $16 for a manual or paper inquiry. These state fees are separate from Cook County court-copy charges.

A name-based conviction-history inquiry does not provide the court’s certified judgment and should not be labeled a national check. Follow the official form’s identifiers carefully and retain the request reference and returned scope. If the receiving organization requires fingerprints or a specific authorized screening program, confirm that requirement before substituting CHIRP.

Review and challenge your own Illinois history

For Illinois Access and Review, approach an Illinois law-enforcement or correctional facility or licensed fingerprint vendor during business hours. The provider captures fingerprints and identification information for ISP, which returns a transcript with a Record Challenge form or a no-history statement. ISP charges no processing fee for Access and Review or a Record Challenge; the fingerprint provider may charge.

Use the challenge form for inaccurate state-history information and retain supporting court documentation. ISP will state what correction it made or why none was made. If the transcript is delivered to a facility, collect it promptly: the published procedure says it is destroyed if not retrieved within 45 days after notification. A clerk-file error or police-record issue may also need attention from its own custodian.

Keep scope, availability and delivery explicit

Before a deadline, tell the clerk which document, certification and delivery method the recipient accepts and ask when that exact request can be filled. The reviewed pages do not establish one turnaround for every Chicago criminal-record product. Preserve the issue date, issuing office and identifiers with each response, and do not treat an arrest listing, a docket printout or a state inquiry as interchangeable proof.