The United States Constitution guarantees all defendants a public trial. This also guarantees public access to the transcripts of criminal trials except in cases where the court itself orders the trial records sealed. For instance, in a juvenile criminal trial, where the judge determines the crime to be an isolated event, he may order the records sealed to prevent undue future harm to the defendant. Other areas of criminal court history that won't be available to the public are those areas that pertain to family court issues involving a minor child.

Each state has its own criteria for acquiring a person's criminal court history. In general though, you need the person's name, the date of the trial, and if possible the docket number of the trial. You can give this information to clerk and they will access the records for you. Some states, like Massachusetts, will require valid personal identification to be presented before they search. Also, some states require that you make your request in person. To determine if your state requires you to make the request for a person's criminal court history in person, you should contact your local courthouse. They will also be able to tell you whether there is a fee for the search.

Often, people see a television program where a character accesses a database and finds every criminal court reference to a person. Or a private investigator taps out a few keystrokes and prints out a person's entire life history with no effort whatsoever. Legal databases such as those seen on television are not publicly available. The private investigator is using a skip trace program or service that he pays for. Social Security numbers are not part of a person's criminal court history. You can't look up court history information that way.

One last thing, to look up a person's criminal court history in federal court, you will need to approach the federal court system, not state or local. Many federal trials are of a more sensitive nature to the safety of the country than state and local so you may not be able to access them through the court archives without a Freedom of Information form. Whether or not the records are publicly available you will still need to provide the person's name, the trial date, and if possible the docket number of the trial.