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1. Can I see my criminal record?

On January 1, 1991, the Uniform Conviction Information Act (UCIA) became law in Illinois. This act mandates that all criminal history record conviction information collected and maintained by the Illinois State Police, Bureau of Identification, be made available to the public pursuant to 20 ILCS 2635/1 et seq. This law permits only conviction information to be disseminated to the public.

All requests for UCIA information must be submitted on a Conviction Information Request form. These forms are available from the Bureau of Identification. Each form has a unique processing control number. Consequently, copies can not be processed. All inquiries must be submitted on an original form.

2. How do I get my criminal record sealed or expunged?

Effective January 1, 2004, people with qualifying arrests and convictions may petition the court of their sentencing county to expunge or seal their records.

Your criminal record can cause many problems in obtaining employment, professional licensing, or funding for college.

3. What happens after a crime is reported to the police?

When an incident is reported to law enforcement authorities in Illinois, police 1st investigate whether a crime actually occurred. If so, exactly what kind of crime it was. If it is determined that a crime has been committed, the officers must then confirm that the offense took place within their jurisdiction. If not, the incident will be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency. If the crime did occur within their jurisdiction, an officer will gather the available information from the victim and file a report.

These reports are an important part of the criminal justice system. Each local agency is responsible for supplying a record of certain reported crimes within their jurisdiction to the Illinois State Police's (ISP) Uniform Crime Reporting program. ISP forwards this data to the FBI, where a record is kept of certain crimes committed through the United States. The FBI and ISP publish annual reports on crime statistics based on this information.

The Criminal Justice Facts provided this information in April 2000 from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.

4. When do police fingerprint suspects?

Most offenders, except those accused of minor and traffic offenses, are fingerprinted as part of the booking process. Law enforcement agencies forward those fingerprints and other information to the Illinois State Police. The state police use the fingerprints and information pertaining to the arrest to update an offender's criminal history record or start 1 for someone with no previous record.

The reporting of the arrest triggers the creation of a new part of that person's criminal history record (or rap sheet), which will track that particular case. Today, many agencies are adopting an electronic fingerprints system called Live Scan.