Criminal Record Law & Legal Definition

A criminal record or crime record is the summary of an individual’s contacts with law enforcement agencies. It provides details of all arrests, convictions, sentences, dismissals, not guilty verdicts and parole violations committed by an individual. In addition information about height, weight, eye and hair color, identifying marks, different names used by the person, different dates of birth, social security numbers used, fingerprint classification, race, and state and federal identification numbers of the individual are also provided.

The crime record of a prisoner is looked into in order to determine eligibility for parole.

Each applicant for liquor license must provide department of alcoholic beverage control with certain information with reference to applicant's background, crime record, status and other data, and must subject himself and premises where business will be conducted to full investigation. Duke Molner Wholesale Liquor Co. v. Martin, 180 Cal. App. 2d 873 (Cal. App. 2d Dist. 1960)

Example of a State statute mentioning Criminal records.

Code of Ala. § 22-50-90 Definitions -- Authority.

(a) When used in this article, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) Criminal history background information. Any information collected and stored in the criminal record repository of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reflecting the result of an arrest, detention, or initiation of a criminal proceeding by criminal justice agencies, including, but not limited to, arrest record information, fingerprint cards, correctional induction and release information, identifiable descriptions, and notations of arrests, detention, indictments, or other formal charges. The term shall not include analytical records or investigative reports that contain criminal intelligence information or criminal investigation information.