RI CRIMINAL SEARCHES - New Process and Identifier Availability

Due to a recent Supreme Court ruling in Rhode Island, additional identifiers pertaining to criminal cases such as DOB, will no longer be readily available on the online indexes, or onsite public access terminals. Criminal cases located matching a subject's name will now have to be submitted to a Court Clerk for additional ID verification. Furthermore, RI courts are moving to an electronic filing system for all criminal cases. The expected date of this change is February 1st 2017, and will be implemented statewide. Clerks will no longer have access to physical case files for criminal cases filed after February 1st 2017. Cases filed after this date will be name match only, if the change in the system occurs according to schedule.

The mentioned conditions have created an extensive backlog in the state for criminal record searches.

Please note that it is important to make sure that when a candidate's name is searched in Rhode Island or any state, that their middle name or initial is added to the report. When a common name (Example: John Smith) is searched the delay can be extensive due to the DOB confirmation being removed by Rhode Island. John B Smith or John C Smith can make a difference in turn around times.