Some states have official "statewide repositories" that contain criminal history information contributed by the various county and municipal courts within the state. These state repositories are usually accurate so long as the state requires and supervises the uploading of data from the local courts. Some states make reporting to the repository a voluntary activity. The information obtained from these repositories can be incomplete and the use of this information has associated risks. Criminal history information contained in official state repositories is generally available to the public.

Court administrators, at both the state and county levels, maintain arrest and conviction records for cases adjudicated in their courts. This information is considered public information and is available to employers and citizens who use appropriate procedures to make a proper request. Records retrieved directly from courts are called "original source records" and are the most detailed criminal records available. Some data re-sellers have compiled private third-party criminal databases. To establish these databases re-sellers purchase criminal information from repositories and counties and re-sell the data to employers and others.

The federal government maintains extensive criminal histories and acts as a central repository for all agencies to report their own data. NCIC (National Crime Information Center) is one such database. Generally, and with a very few exceptions, the records compiled by the federal government are not made available to the private sector. Some private re-sellers claim to offer an NCIC record search. In most cases these claims are fraudulent.