Search San Jose Criminal Court Records

Criminal court records for San Jose are managed by the Santa Clara County Superior Court. San Jose is the county seat and the largest city in the county, so most criminal cases from this part of the Bay Area get filed at the Hall of Justice on West Hedding Street. You can search for criminal case records online through the court's case information portal. The San Jose Police Department keeps separate arrest and incident records. This page covers both the court and police sides of getting criminal records in San Jose, California.

San Jose Criminal Records Online Search

The Santa Clara County Superior Court runs a case information portal where you can search criminal records online. Go to portal.scscourt.org/search and enter a name or case number. The system returns matching criminal cases filed in Santa Clara County, which includes all San Jose cases. Results show the case number, charges, hearing dates, and courthouse location. This tool works for both felony and misdemeanor cases.

The online portal has limits. Not all documents in a criminal case file are public. Arrest reports, probation reports, domestic violence protective orders, O.R. reports, and criminal history info are not available through the portal. You can see the register of actions and basic case data online, but for full documents you need to go to the courthouse. Under California Rules of Court Rule 2.503, courts can only provide limited remote access to criminal case records. Santa Clara County follows this rule.

The screenshot above shows the Santa Clara County case search portal. This is where you start when looking for San Jose criminal court records online.

Where to Find San Jose Criminal Court Records

The main courthouse for San Jose criminal cases is the Hall of Justice at 190 West Hedding Street, San Jose, CA 95110. This is where most felony and misdemeanor cases from San Jose are heard. Walk into the clerk's office during business hours and you can ask for copies of any public criminal case file. Bring the case number if you have it. The clerk will look it up and let you view it or make copies.

Santa Clara County also has courthouses in other cities. The South County Courthouse at 301 Diana Avenue in Morgan Hill handles cases from the southern part of the county. The Palo Alto Courthouse at 270 Grant Avenue covers cases from that area. But most San Jose criminal court records are at the Hall of Justice downtown. If you are not sure which courthouse has your case, call the court or check the online portal first.

Note: Starting January 1, 2026, California law (AB 1524) lets members of the public use their own phones or cameras to photograph court records at the courthouse.

San Jose Police Department Records

The San Jose Police Department handles arrest records and police reports. These are separate from what the court keeps. If someone was arrested in San Jose, the SJPD has the arrest record. If the case went to court, the Superior Court has the case file. You often need both to get the full picture.

Contact the SJPD Records Division at (408) 277-4261 for police reports and arrest records. You can also visit their website at sjpd.org/records for information on how to submit a records request. The department charges fees for copies of police reports, and processing times vary depending on the type of request. For a simple report, you can sometimes pick it up the same day. For larger requests or older records, it takes longer.

Criminal Court Record Fees in San Jose

Fees for San Jose criminal court records follow the statewide schedule set by California law. Copies cost $0.50 per page. Certified copies are $40 per document, plus the per-page fee. If the clerk spends more than 10 minutes looking for your record, they can add a $15 search fee. These are the same fees at every Superior Court in the state.

If the record you need is stored off-site, the court charges a $10 retrieval fee. Older cases may have been moved to a storage facility and it can take extra time to get them pulled. For records you need right away, in-person visits to the Hall of Justice are the fastest option for getting San Jose criminal court records. By mail, you send a letter with the case details and a check to cover fees. Mail requests can take several weeks to process.

To check your own criminal history at the state level, the California DOJ charges $25 through Live Scan. This covers your full state record, not just Santa Clara County cases. Details are at the DOJ record review page.

Access Rules for San Jose Criminal Records

Criminal court records in San Jose are public records. Under Penal Code Section 11105, the California DOJ maintains state criminal history information. But the court case files themselves sit with the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Anyone can request copies. You do not need to be a party to the case or a lawyer.

There are exceptions. Juvenile records are sealed. Mental health evaluations within a criminal case are not public. Probation reports and arrest reports are also restricted even though the court has them on file. The register of actions, which shows key dates and events in a case, is generally available to the public both online and in person. But to see the full set of documents in a San Jose criminal case, you typically need to visit the courthouse. Under Penal Code Section 1203.4, dismissed convictions will still appear in the record but show as dismissed. The Penal Code Section 851.8 process lets someone petition to seal an arrest record if they were found factually innocent.

Statewide Criminal Records for San Jose Residents

The CDCR inmate search tool lets you look up anyone serving time in a California state prison. This covers people sentenced from San Jose or any other city. Search by name and you can see their current facility, sentence length, and hearing dates. It is free to use.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff also runs an inmate locator at eservices.sccgov.org for people in county jail. This shows current bookings and charges for people held at the county jail facilities. If someone was recently arrested in San Jose and has not been released, this tool will show where they are being held.

Nearby Cities

These cities are close to San Jose. Criminal cases in Santa Clara County cities go through the same Superior Court system.

Santa Clara County Court

All criminal cases in San Jose go through the Santa Clara County Superior Court at the Hall of Justice.