Utah Public Criminal Records

Separate Utah court records from a Utah criminal-history record

Utah court records and Utah criminal-history records answer different questions. Xchange is the Utah Courts public case-search system for district and justice court records. The Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) provides the process for a person to obtain their own Utah criminal history and to challenge that history. Choose the product based on whether you need a court case or a repository record about yourself.

Search the right Utah court level

Utah Courts states that justice courts handle class B and C misdemeanors, ordinance violations, infractions, and small claims, while district courts handle class A misdemeanors and felonies in addition to their civil jurisdiction. If the charge level is uncertain, search both relevant levels or use the case number/citation to identify the court before concluding that no case exists.

Know what Xchange does not display

Xchange provides public court records only. Utah Courts says sealed cases, expunged cases, juvenile matters, and other nonpublic record categories are not displayed. Older justice-court coverage can also depend on when a court began using the CORIS case-management system and whether older cases were converted. A missing public Xchange result therefore is not proof that no case ever existed.

Choose paid remote access or a free public terminal

Utah Courts provides paid remote Xchange access and also states that free public Xchange access is available at most district courthouses and at the Utah State Law Library, with some justice-court locations also offering access. The current one-time Xchange option starts with a $10 amount that can be used for searches and documents; the current service lists search charges and $1 document access. Check the live fee page before purchase.

Get the underlying court document when the outcome matters

Xchange can provide case history and, for eligible district-court filings, images of public documents. If a decision depends on a conviction, dismissal, sentence, or other final action, read the charge-level disposition and obtain the judgment or order when available. For a record that is not available electronically, the district or justice court clerk is the official record keeper to contact.

For your own Utah criminal history, use BCI rather than Xchange

BCI publishes an Application for Criminal History for people seeking a copy of their own Utah criminal-history record, a third-party release form when that record is to be released to another person, and a Record Challenge form. BCI also explains that designated right-of-access agencies may provide a person a copy of their own Utah history; they are not a public lookup for other people’s histories.

If information is wrong, challenge the system that owns it

For a court-record problem, Utah Courts says the official record keeper is the clerk of the district or justice court. For an error in your BCI criminal history, use the BCI record-challenge route. Keeping the court case number, the challenged entry, and the supporting disposition together makes it easier to show exactly what needs review.

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  Identify the product

  Court case through Xchange/court clerk, or your own BCI criminal history.

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  Identify the court level

  District versus justice court based on charge and case information.

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  Account for nonpublic records

  Do not treat sealed, expunged, juvenile, or nonconverted history as a public-search failure.

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  Request the final document

  Use the judgment/order when the disposition has to be proven.