Delaware Criminal Records

Delaware is one of the closed states. The State Bureau of Identification issues a criminal history only by fingerprint, so no stranger buys a Delaware record by name; the courts put civil cases online through CourtConnect and keep criminal case searches at the counter; and the Freedom of Information Act exempts criminal files and investigatory files outright, so the police report of an arrest is not a public record the way it is in most states. On the other side, Delaware's Clean Slate Act now expunges the smaller records on its own, the state runs every jail, and a judgment lien lasts ten years unless renewed. This page gives the Delaware rule and the Delaware search for each record, with government sources only.

The Delaware State Police's certified criminal history page states the method: "A Criminal History Background Check is obtained through fingerprints. You must provide photo Identification, such as a valid driver's license or State ID (from any state). You do not need a social security card or a birth certificate." The State Bureau of Identification takes the prints at its offices, charges $52 for the Delaware record and $65 when the FBI record is added, and mails the certified history to the person or, on the person's direction, to the employer, licensing board or agency that asked for it. There is no name-based search for the public: a Delaware criminal history reaches a third party only through the subject's own fingerprints and consent. So a Delaware state record offered by name for a price did not come from the Bureau; it came from a copy of a court index or a police release, and the criminal records page explains what such a copy misses and why a name match is not a person.

Felonies are tried in the Superior Court, sitting in each of the three counties, New Castle, Kent and Sussex, with the Prothonotary as its clerk; most misdemeanors in the Court of Common Pleas; and the lesser misdemeanors and traffic in the Justice of the Peace Court. The Judiciary's civil case search page describes the online system's scope: "The Superior Court, Court of Common Pleas and Justice of the Peace Court now offer the ability to access civil case information online 24-hours a day through CourtConnect," and CourtConnect's person and case search is a civil and judgment search. Criminal case information is obtained from the Prothonotary's office in each county for the Superior Court, and from the clerks of the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Court, at the counter or by written request, with the fees those offices set. The county pages on this site link each courthouse. A background check company's "Delaware criminal record" is therefore a copy of a counter search or a bulk extract on the date it was made, and the criminal records page explains what a copy misses.

Delaware expunges under Title 11, chapter 43, subchapter VII. Section 4373 is mandatory expungement, granted by the State Bureau of Identification on application, without a court, for arrests that did not end in conviction and for the violations and misdemeanors the section lists after the waiting periods it sets. Section 4374 is discretionary expungement, by petition to the court: "an expungement may be granted if the applicant meets 1 of the following: (1) Was convicted of 1 or more misdemeanors other than those listed in 4373(b) of this title relating to the same case and at least 3 years have passed since the date of conviction or the date of release from incarceration, whichever is later, and the person has no prior or subsequent convictions. (2) Was convicted of 1 or more misdemeanors listed in 4373(b) of this title relating to the same case and at least 7 years have passed," with the felony categories the section adds after their own waits, and the violent and sexual offenses it excludes. The Clean Slate Act of 2021 added the automatic route: from 2024 the Bureau expunges the records that qualify for mandatory expungement without an application, on a schedule it runs against its own file. An expunged Delaware record is removed from the Bureau, the court and the arresting agency, and the person may deny it; a copy sold before the order is reached through the federal rule on complete and up to date public records, on the criminal records page.

Delaware's Freedom of Information Act, Title 29, chapter 100, declares that "all records held by the agency are 'public records' to which the public should have access unless they fall within the scope of enumerated exceptions in 10002," and two of those exceptions cover the police. Section 10002 exempts "investigatory files compiled for civil or criminal law-enforcement purposes including pending investigative files, pretrial and presentence investigations," and it exempts criminal files and criminal records whose disclosure would invade personal privacy, while letting a person obtain a personal record on proof of identity. The Department of Justice applies both: in Opinion 21-IB07 the State Police's position was that "the police report and criminal complaint are excepted from the definition of a public record under the investigatory files exemption and that criminal history and arrest records are exempt," and in Opinion 10-IB13 the Department's own file on an arrest was withheld as work product and "a law enforcement investigative file." What the public sees of a Delaware arrest is what the agency chooses to release, and the State Police and the larger departments publish arrest announcements with names and charges, which is where the databases copy from. Who is in custody is a state question, since Delaware has no county jails: the Department of Correction's inmate locator runs through VINELink, "the online version of VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday), the National Victim Notification Network," for everyone in the Department's prisons and detention centers. The arrest records page covers what happens to a booking after it leaves the release.

A Delaware judgment entered in the Superior Court is a lien on the debtor's real estate in that county, and Title 10, chapter 47 sets its life: "At the expiration of the term of 10 years the lien of such judgment upon real estate shall be lost, unless within the term of 10 years such judgment is renewed and continued by agreement filed or by scire facias sued out in the manner provided in 4711 and 4712 of this title," with a Justice of the Peace Court judgment becoming a lien once transferred to the Superior Court. The court records page covers where the judgment dockets and the recorders of deeds are searched.

Delaware is a single federal judicial district, the District of Delaware, under 28 U.S.C. 87, and court is held at Wilmington. A federal criminal case from any of the three counties is on that one docket and on PACER, whose prices and gaps are on the criminal records page.

Whether a person has a Delaware state record: the Bureau answers it for $52 by the person's own fingerprints, and for no one else by name.

Whether a person was charged in a county: the Prothonotary answers it for the Superior Court and the clerks for the lower courts, at the counter; CourtConnect carries the civil side.

Whether a person was arrested: the agency's release says so; the police report and the criminal file are exempt under the FOIA.

Whether a person is in custody now: the Department of Correction's locator answers it for every jail and prison in the state.

Whether an old case can still be found: an expunged case is off the Bureau, the court and the agency, a judgment lien lapses at ten years unless renewed, and a copy that predates the expungement is reached through the federal rule.