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North Carolina Criminal Records Search
Find North Carolina court information, request a certified county criminal search, or obtain your own SBI fingerprint record without confusing their coverage.
Pick the North Carolina result by purpose, not by the word “search”
| Goal | Official option | What the result means |
|---|---|---|
| Certified court-record search for one county | Clerk of Superior Court certified search | Name-based court search in one county; $25. It is not statewide. |
| Free non-certified court search across one county or statewide | Public access computer at a North Carolina courthouse | Useful for locating court-record entries, but it is not a certified product. |
| Online case lookup by name or case number | North Carolina court Portal | Useful for case information, but the Judicial Branch specifically says people performing background checks should use the county clerk’s office rather than Portal. |
| Review your own statewide SBI record | SBI Right to Review | Fingerprint-based North Carolina state-only personal review; separate from court copies and from an FBI national summary. |
For a certified county check, use the clerk and state the county
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01
Choose the county
A certified clerk search is county-specific. If the relevant residence, arrest or prosecution history spans several counties, one certified request does not silently become statewide.
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02
Complete the clerk form
North Carolina Judicial Branch identifies form AOC-CR-314 for a certified single-county criminal-record search by name for yourself or another person.
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03
Match the payment channel
The published fee is $25. Mail requests accept money order or certified check; the courthouse has additional in-person payment options.
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04
Ask whether the receiving party needs certification
If an employer, licensing body, court or other recipient requires official proof, confirm that a certified single-county result actually satisfies its scope before ordering multiple counties.
Use courthouse computers when you need broader court-search coverage without certification
Statewide court browsing
North Carolina says public access computers in clerk offices can search, view or email criminal records for yourself or others in any county or statewide without a search fee; printing charges may still apply.
Portal is a locator, not the recommended background-check product
The official background-check page allows Portal case searching but explicitly tells background-check users to use the county clerk’s office instead.
Certification remains separate
A broad non-certified courthouse search can help you identify counties and cases first. Then order a certified county result or case document only where the final task requires it.
SBI Right to Review is a fingerprint product for your own statewide record
North Carolina SBI describes the Right to Review as a fingerprint-based North Carolina state-only check for an individual reviewing their own criminal history. The current fee is $14 and the response is issued on SBI letterhead.
This is not the same as ordering a certified county court search for another person. SBI also points to the FBI Identity History Summary as a separate national fingerprint product with its own $18 FBI fee.
Interpret a North Carolina “no result” in light of product scope
A clean screen, a certified county search and a fingerprint history answer different questions
A Portal query can miss the purpose of a formal background check; a certified clerk search covers only the named county; a courthouse public computer can provide broader non-certified court coverage; and SBI Right to Review is for the subject’s own fingerprint-based state history. Before treating any no-result as conclusive, identify which dataset, counties, date coverage and identity method were actually searched.
North Carolina criminal-record search checklist
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Write the intended output
Choose certified single-county court search, non-certified court locator, your own SBI statewide record, or a specific case document.
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Map relevant counties
If the question concerns another person and multiple North Carolina counties may matter, identify those counties before buying certified searches.
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Preserve identifiers
Use the legal name and other identifiers requested by the official product; case numbers make document follow-up more precise.
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Separate discovery from proof
Use free court-search tools to locate possible records, then obtain the official county/case document that proves the disposition when proof is required.
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Resolve accuracy issues at the right layer
A wrong court entry calls for court-level follow-up; a problem in your SBI record should be handled through the SBI review/challenge process.
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