COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
GENERAL UNDERSTANDING OF CRIMINAL RECORDS
by Richard W. Carpenter
PUBLIC RECORD ISSUE
As a matter of law, Section 9125 of the Criminal History Record Information Act
provides that criminal conviction records are a matter of public record. However, public
access to these records may vary at the Magisterial District Judge level, as interpretations of the law tend to differ from one office to another. County Clerk of Courts and
PA State Police (PSP) repositories will grant access to adult conviction records for a fee.
Many Clerk of Court offices are on line and abstracted information is available; copies
of the actual documents can be retrieved in person or by mail for a small copy-cost
fee. Records at the PSP repository are available on line or can be requested through
the mail. Only an abstracted Criminal History Report is provided; however, copies of file
documents are available from the County Clerk of Courts Office where the matter was
adjudicated.
The law provides that before a State or local law enforcement agency disseminates criminal history record information to an individual or noncriminal justice agency,
it shall extract from the record all notations of arrests, indictments or other information
relating to the initiation of criminal proceedings where:
1)
2)
3)
Three years have lapsed from the date of arrest;
No conviction has occurred; and
No proceedings are pending seeking a conviction.
INFORMATION USAGE
Section 9125 of the Criminal History Record Information Act governs how
Record of Arrest and Prosecution (RAP) sheet information may be used by non-criminal
justice agencies. It is as follows:
9125. Use for employment
a)
General Rule – Whenever an employer is in receipt of information which is part
of an employment applicant’s criminal history file, it may use that information for the
purpose of deciding whether or not to hire the applicant, only in accordance with this
section.
b)
Use of Information-Felony and misdemeanor conviction may be considered byy
the employer to the extent to which they relate to the applicant’s suitability for employmplo
ment in the position for which he/she has applied.
io not to
o
c)
Notice – The employer shall notify the applicant in writing if the decision
o
hire him/her is based in whole or in part on criminal history record information.
Copyright 2008, INA, All Rights Reserved
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POWERS OF ARREST
The following law enforcement agencies have powers of arrest for criminal violations of Pennsylvania Statutes, Crimes and Offenses (Title 18):
Local Police Agencies
County Police Agencies
PA State Police (PSP)
Capital Police
District Attorney’s Office (DA)
Attorney General’s Office (AG)
* College/University Campus Police Departments
* * PA Game Wardens
* * Liquor Control Board
* * Sheriff’s Department
* * Constables
* Jurisdiction is limited to campus properties only.
* * Have very limited powers of arrest and only in specific matters.
Only the Pennsylvania State Police has criminal jurisdiction in the entire state. Police Departments in cities, towns, boroughs, etc. generally have jurisdiction within their
boundaries; however, they may invite or hire the PSP or AG to handle certain matters for
which they do not have the competency, sufficient manpower, or for which there may
be a conflict of interest. The State Attorney General’s Office has jurisdiction over crimes
committed against the Commonwealth, crimes involving multiple jurisdictions, or certain matters where the local DA or enforcement authorities have a conflict of interest.
CATEGORIES OF CRIMINAL OFFENSES
Other than Murder (Murder of the first or second degree), which in and of itself is
an offense, there are 3 classes of criminal offenses under the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Penal Code:
SUMMARY OFFENSE – is a non-traffic citation punishable by a fine or term of
imprisonment up to 90 days. Typical offenses are Trespassing, Disorderly Con
duct, Public Drunkenness, Underage drinking, Public Profanity, etc.
rm of
MISDEMEANOR – 1ST DEGREE - A crime punishable by a fine and/or a term
imprisonment not to exceed 5 years. Typical offenses include Stalking an
and Terroristic Threats.
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2ND DEGREE – A crime punishable by a fine and or imprisonment
not to exceed 2 years. Typical offenses include Recklessly endangering another
person and Simple Assault.
3RD DEGREE – A crime punishable by a fine and/or term of
imprisonment, the maximum of which is not more than 1 year. A
crime declared to be a misdemeanor, without specification of degree, is of the
3rd Degree. Typical offenses are Ethnic Intimidation and Bad Checks.
FELONY - 1ST DEGREE – A Crime punishable by a fine and term of imprisonment,
the maximum of which is more than 10 years. Typical offenses include Aggravated Assault and Kidnapping.
2ND DEGREE – A Crime punishable by a fine and term of imprisonment, the
maximum which is not more than 10 years. Typical offenses include Indecent
Assault and Sexual Assault.
3RD DEGREE – A Crime punishable by a fine and term of imprisonment, the
maximum term of which is not more than 7 years. Typical offenses include Interference with Custody of Children and Institutional Sexual Assault.
In a Commonwealth form of government, considerable power rests with local
authorities, the lowest level of government. When law enforcement authorities arrest
a person on a Felony or Misdemeanor charge, the subject is fingerprinted and then
brought before the local Magisterial District Judge (there are 548 Magisterial District
Judges in PA). In Philadelphia County all arrests including; Summary, Misdemeanor and
Felony go through the Philadelphia Courts, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. The fingerprints are forwarded to the PA State Police where they are matched with an existing
file, or a new file is created. * Summary Offenses do not require that the subject be fingerprinted and therefore a record is not necessarily forwarded by the arresting agency
to the PSP. (* A person arrested for a summary Retail Theft is fingerprinted because of
the grading of Retail Theft).
Upon being arrested by any local or state law enforcement agency, the subject
is required to appear for a Preliminary Hearing in the local Magisterial District Judge’s
office where the alleged offense(s) was/were committed.
There may be a substantial delay from when the individual is first arrested until
the case is heard at the County level. Because of this delay it is important to check the
records at the Magisterial District Judge level in addition to State records.
MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT JUDGE REPOSITORY OF RECORDS
A summary offense may be adjudicated in this office. The case file, criminal
charge(s) and disposition are then maintained locally. If the defendant is found guilty,
the decision may be appealed which results in the matter being bound over to the
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County Court of Common Pleas. When this happens, all case file documents transfer
there.
Misdemeanor and Felony arrests must be bound over to the Court of Common Pleas
(County Court) if the Magisterial District Judge determines that a Prima Facia case exists
since a crime was probably committed and that the defendant probably committed
it. The case file documents are then transferred and the only record maintained at the
Magisterial District Judge office is identifying information on the defendant and the list
of all charges.
Certain Misdemeanor charges may e adjudicated in the DJ’s office: 1) if the
Defendant pleads guilty; 2) if the arresting officer and defendant enter a plea agreement
reducing the charge(s) to a Summary offense(s); or 3) if the charge(s) are dismissed or
withdrawn. These files remain in the DJ’s office and are not transferred to the County
Clerk of Court, the repository for county criminal records.
Cases referred to the Court of Common Pleas are prosecuted by the County
District Attorney’s Office.
Note: the only Defendants required to be fingerprinted for Summary Offenses are those
involving Retail Theft. The second conviction for Retail Theft is a Misdemeanor; the third
conviction is a Felony.
COUNTY CLERK OF COURT’S REPOSITORY
The Clerk of Court’s Office in each of PA’s 67 counties is the central repository for
criminal arrest and conviction records for violations adjudicated by that County’s Court
of Common Pleas. Felony and misdemeanor arrests and convictions (dispositions) and
those Summary offenses forwarded from DJ offices are criminal histories housed in this
repository. Records may be accessed in person and photocopied for a small fee or, in
many instances, requested thru the mail, or by fax or e-mail, also for a small fee.
Upon the court disposition of a defendant, the results are forwarded to the PSP
for inclusion in the individual’s Criminal History Report.
PSP REPOSITORY OF RECORDS (Pennsylvania State Police)
Pennsylvania Access to the Criminal History (PATCH) System. Its purpose is to better
enable individuals and the public to obtain criminal history record checks. The repository was created and is maintained in accordance with Pennsylvania’s Criminal History
Information Act contained in Chapter 91 of Title 18, Crimes Code. This Act also directs
The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) to disseminate criminal history data to criminal jus-
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tice agencies, non-criminal justice agencies and individuals on request. Criminal justice
agencies can access all of an individual’s criminal history record information (CHRI). Requests made by noncriminal justice agencies and individuals are subject to edit criteria
contained in the law.
The PSP repository for Criminal History Records is the most frequently accessed
by non criminal justice agencies because it is the most comprehensive within the state.
This repository contains arrest and conviction data from all local police departments, all
state law enforcement agencies, Sheriffs’ Departments and Constables.
PSP Repository Responses To Public Inquiries
Once a Criminal History Record check has been requested, one of three responses will be returned:
Pending – indicates that the response from the Repository did not respond to the query quick enough; it is the requestor’s responsibility to
re-check the status at a later time.
No Record – based on the data submitted by the user, there is no criminal history information contained in the repository.
Record Under Review – means that the repository has to edit an existing
record or to make inquiry concerning the individual and update the
record for completeness. This does not mean there is a disseminable
record. Many times there is no disposition to a case, and the PSP must
query the responsible court for the case outcome. If there is an identifi
able record, it will be edited for compliance with Section 9125 of the
criminal History Record Information Act. This process may take from 2-6
weeks before the record is furnished to the requestor.
Explanation of a PSP Criminal History Report (RAP Sheet)
The RAP sheet contains information in abbreviated form. The following acronyms are in
the order they appear on the RAP sheet:
SID: State Identification Number. All Criminal History Records are based on fin
gerprint cards submitted, which are the only positive means of identification.
The PSP Records and Identification Division (R&I) assigns a SID to each unique
fingerprint card, with all information from subsequent fingerprint cards for the
same individual linked to the SID. A fingerprint card must be submitted to R &
I for every arrest so that a criminal record is complete for an individual. This is
also the number used to identify the Computerized Criminal History Record
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Information (CCHRI) for an individual record in the State Police’s computer files.
III: Interstate Identification Index “flag”. This indicates whether a fingerprint card
is on file in one or more states. An “S” in this field indicates a single state offender (PA only), “M” indicates a multiple state offender. The state(s) where the
crime(s) occurred other than Pennsylvania will not be specified because this
information is not available to non-criminal justice agencies and individuals.
DOB: The Date of Birth recorded in CCHRI for the SID displayed. This DOB was
recorded on a fingerprint card at the time of the arrest based on information
provided by the individual being fingerprinted. There may be more than one
DOB for a SID. Additional DOB’s will appear in the ADDITIONAL IDENTIFIER sec
tion.
SEX & RACE: The sex and race are personal characteristics attributed to the individual identified by the SID displayed.
SOC: The Social Security Number recorded in CCHRI for the SID displayed. This
is not a unique identifier. The same SOC may be recorded on fingerprint cards
of more than one individual. There may be more than one SOC for a SID. Additional SOC’s will appear in the ADDITIONAL IDENTIFIER section.
FBI: The unique Federal Bureau of Investigation number assigned to a fingerprint card in the federal criminal history file (III).
NAME: The name processed on the first fingerprint card processed for the subject. Aliases are listed under AKA’s.
OTN: The Offense Tracking Number is a unique number assigned by the court to
a particular arrest at the time of arraignment.
ARRESTED: The date of arrest.
The following items are the arresting agency’s PSP code number and name:
OCA: Originating Case Agency number assigned to an arrest by the responsible
police department.
DISPOSITION DATE: The date on which the final court action takes place.
COMMON PLEAS DOCKET: The Common Pleas Docket number assigned to
an arrest by the respective Court of Common Pleas. If the case did not go to
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Common Pleas Court, the Magisterial District Judge and the Magisterial District
Judge’s case number will be displayed.
The next items have no identifying abbreviations.
a)
The offense is a two character statute abbreviation (e.g. “VC” - Vehicle Code.
“CC” - Crimes Code) immediately followed by a section number and sub-section.
The sub-section may or may not be present.
b)
The literal interpretation of the offense code.
c)
The grade of crime immediately followed by the degree. At the end of the RAP
sheet there is a definition of the grade of crime abbreviations.
d)
The disposition of the offense committed.
e)
Probation Information: The supervising county for the probation/parole sentence.
f)
OCA: Originating Case Agency number assigned to the probation/parole agency.
g)
Effective Date: The date a probation/parole sentence begins.
h)
Maximum Date: The date the sentence is completed.
i)
Custody Information: Custody Information will be displayed if a fingerprint card
is received from a detaining agency.
j)
Received Date: The date the agency took custody of the subject of the RAP
sheet. This is followed by the PSP code for the agency assuming custody and
that agency’s name.
k)
OTN: The Offense Tracking Number of the offense for which the subject was
detained.
l)
Additional Identifiers: Additional information for the fingerprint card on file. This
may include additional names, dates of birth, alien information, DNA information
and/or social security numbers.
m)
AKA: Also Known As – Names used as aliases.
Delays in Record Availability
There are a number of reasons, sometimes individually, sometimes collectively, which
may result in considerable delay (a year or longer) before an arrest results in a court conPage 7
viction. Any inquiries into the criminal history of such a subject might go undetected during
a routine background check at the PSP repository. Some delay reasons are:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Delay of Preliminary Hearing at DJ’s office for up to 6 months or more;
Warrant not served on defendant requiring their presence at a Preliminary Hearing;
Delay or failure to transmit records from DJ’s office to County Court of Common
Pleas;
Trial delay due to over-burdened court schedule;
Failure of County Court of Common Pleas to forward court disposition to PSP repository; and
Failure or delay of County Court of Common Pleas to respond to PSP inquiry for
disposition of a case.
COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES RECORD REPOSITORIES
There are several colleges and universities which maintain their own Police Departments or Security Departments. These police departments are duly authorized law enforcement agencies with full powers of arrest on campus properties. While officers are able to
make felony and misdemeanor arrests, the majority of their cases are Summary Offenses
such as: Disorderly Conduct, Harassment, Trespassing, Public Drunkeness, Profanity, Possession of Alcohol in an Open Container in a Public Area, etc. One of their primary responsibilities is to enforce traffic and parking regulations, and accordingly they issue numerous
citations with monetary penalties. All arrests should be filed in the local Magisterial District
Judge’s office; however, some campus police departments reportedly do not always adhere
to this requirement. Fines are issued as the penalty and case files remain with campus police department records.
Some colleges and universities opt to maintain a Security Department instead of a
police department. Their primary responsibilities are to direct campus traffic, crowd control
at campus events, including sport activities, and to issue citations which carry a monetary
fine. While there may be no legal authority to collect these fines, the institutions may hold
up grades, graduation, release of transcripts, etc.
In any event, there are incident investigative reports and arrest information in campus record repositories.
LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORD REPOSITORIES
Certain criminal record repositories are accessible only by duly authorized law enforcement agencies which must register for access to these networks. Access is not available
to non-criminal justice agencies nor to individuals.
CLEAN – The Commonwealth Law Enforcement Network is the criminal history record system administered by the PSP which is available to criminal
justice agencies. No criminal history information is edited and includes: arrests and no convictions, indictments, outstanding warrants, etc.
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JNET – The Justice Network in PA is statewide repository for multiple types of
records, including: Penn DOT Vehicle & Driver’s License information (photo
availability); criminal arrests (with or without conviction) of anyone catalogued in PSP files; probation and parole status; outstanding warrants; etc.
NCIC – The National Crime Information Center is the FBI’s repository of all law
enforcement arrest and/or conviction records combined with fingerprint
records from regulatory agencies originating in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
FEDERAL ARRESTS & CONVICTIONS
There are several Federal Law Enforcement agencies with powers of arrest for violations of Title 18, U.S. Code, including, but not limited to: the FBI, IRS, DEA, Secret Service, ATF,
Postal Inspectors, etc. Upon arrest, the subject is arraigned before a U.S. Magistrate Judge
and incarcerated or released on bond. The defendant pleads guilty or is tried in U.S. Court
in either the Eastern, Middle or Western District of PA. The public records regarding the offenses committed, and the court disposition of the case are housed in federal repositories in
the U.S. District Clerk of Courts office where the case was adjudicated.
OFFICE OF OPEN RECORDS
Governor Ed Rendell signed into law on February 14, 2008 Pennsylvania’s new Open
Records Law (Right to Know Law). The new Right to Know Law, which will affect requests
made after Jan. 1, 2009 assumes that most government records are public.
Under the new law, written requests may be submitted in person, by mail, e-mail, fax or
any other electronic means as provided by the agency. Response to requests shall be made
within five business days, which is half the time that the current law allows.
An agency may respond to a request for information by notifying the person who
is seeking the information that the document is available through publicly accessible electronic means. If the person who is seeking public records does not want to access the record
electronically, he or she may submit a written request within 30 days of the agency’s notification to have the record converted to paper.
There are 30 exemptions in the new law that will still allow some records to be
shielded from public disclosure, including:
If the release of the records would likely result in physical harm or risk the personal security
of an individual;
If the release of the records would compromise the safety or security of a building, resource
or public utility;
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Certain personal or employment information;
Notes or working papers of public officials and agency employees created for their own
personal use; and
Certain information related to criminal investigations.
The information contained in this article is applicable only for the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and is to be used only as a guide. Each state has its own guidelines for retrieval of criminal records.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Carpenter is the Director of Special Operations for INA, an investigative, security and protective consulting company that provides a broad range of services to reduce
risks, solve problems and gain results. INA specializes in corporate investigations, hostile
terminations and computer forensics. He has more than 14 years of law enforcement experience and is a former Police Chief for a municipality in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. He can
be reached at [email protected] or 800-443-0824.
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