Public criminal records are those criminal records at the national level which can be obtained by any private citizen without any form of government authorization either via internet or fee-based systems.

Public access to the state criminal records is not possible in most of cases because they are kept in state depositories. In contrast, Non-Public records are held by the government and are accessible only to criminal justice firms and other agencies that have been granted statutory authority to access the records. Public records include government contracts with businesses, birth, marriage, and death records, court files, arrest records, property ownership and tax information, minutes of meetings of government entities, driver's license information, occupational licenses, and Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Almost all the local, state, and federal courts and government agencies have been increasingly making public criminal records available on web sites since the mid-1990s.

There are some limitations in cases of public criminal record. Usually, criminal records include the statements of victims and witnesses and other highly sensitive personal information. Once all this information has become part of the public criminal record, the identities of the witnesses are revealed and their personal safety can be at risk sometimes. Further, if there any errors in the records, they will have a highly negative consequence on the reputation of the individuals.

Government agencies and court systems limit accessibility of the information they have posted online or offline to reduce the risks involved in the public accessibility of the criminal records. These agencies have to pass on a regulation stating that investigative reporters and researchers are required to enter into a confidentiality agreement with the court not to publish the personal identification information for having the accessibility of the full text of the record on the payment of certain prescribed fee.