Wisconsin Criminal Records

Wisconsin Criminal Records

According to the official website of Wisconsin's Department of Justice, Wisconsin is an "open
records" state. This means that most of the Wisconsin criminal records maintained by the state
and local government agencies are open to the general public for inspection. This is provided by
the Wisconsin statute 19.35(3) and as such, all adult Wisconsin criminal records in the Criminal
Investigation Bureau (CIB) database are included in the open record rule.

However, exemptions to the rule apply. Juvenile Wisconsin criminal records are confidential
under s. 938.396. Thus, Wisconsin criminal records of crimes committed by minors will not be
disclosed or revealed to the general public unless the statute says otherwise.

The pieces of information in the CIB's Wisconsin criminal records history database are based on
submissions. Each police department is required by Wisconsin state and federal law to file
records of arrests. Since 1971, Wisconsin law enforcement agencies were required under s.
165.84(1) to submit arrest fingerprint cards for offenses designated in s. 165.83(1)(c). For
offenses other than those listed in x. 1365.83(1)(c), the law enforcement agencies receives the
right to take other arrest fingerprint cards, in which case, the CIB is still required by law to accept
these.

Wisconsin Criminal Records -- Fee Information

The State of Wisconsin charges a small fee for each access or search of Wisconsin criminal
records. The fee applies to the search and not the result. This means that you will be charged a
search fee even if the response is "no record found."

The fee for Wisconsin criminal records search is required by law. According to Statute 165.82, the
search cost for Wisconsin criminal records is determined by the type of search you are
requesting. If you are requesting for a Wisconsin criminal records search over the Internet,
charges are understandably lower as the documents are readily available in PDF format. If the
requester is a non-profit organization, the charge is $2. For a governmental agency, each
Wisconsin criminal records search costs $5. For any other requester, the charge is substantially
higher at $13.

If you to have a hard copy of the documents, you can also put up a request for a mail or fax of
results. Charges are higher in order to cover up the cost of the print job, stamps, and other
miscellaneous expenses. For non-profit organizations, the charge for each Wisconsin criminal
records search is $7. Governmental agency pays $10 for their search results while any other
requester pays $18 for their Wisconsin criminal records search.