Austin Criminal Records

Identify the filing court behind the Austin lead

Austin, Texas is a city label, not a complete criminal-record jurisdiction. Read the county and court on the citation, complaint, or prior order first. For a Travis County adult felony, use the District Clerk’s Criminal Division. For county criminal-court misdemeanors, use the Travis County Clerk. A case naming a municipal, justice, federal, or another county’s court needs that custodian; these Travis routes do not cover every Austin-associated event.

If the immediate question is custody, the District Clerk directs readers to the Travis County Sheriff’s inmate search or jail telephone 512-854-9889. A jail record is not the judgment in a criminal case. Keep the person’s name, birth date if available, county, court, and case number together before attributing a result.

Use felony portal results with the published limits

The District Clerk’s Odyssey portal supplies a public register of actions, a summary of filings. Its criminal-history guidance says older felony records before 2004 may be archived, while its general records page describes portal criminal coverage as 2008 to the present. Those dates do not establish complete online coverage for 2004–2007. Ask the Clerk about older or missing files rather than treating either cutoff as a guarantee.

The general records page advertises free online digital access, but the Criminal Division distinguishes public summaries from document access available to registered attorneys or peace officers. Do not assume that every felony document image is publicly downloadable. Record the case and docket-entry numbers and request the specific disposition when the public view does not contain it.

Request a felony document through the specialized form

The Criminal Division specifically requires its Records Request form for felony-record copy requests and lists 512-854-9420, option 3, for questions. Use that form first, identifying the defendant, case number, required judgment or other filing, and whether certification is needed. A certified positive or negative felony search letter is a separate product and covers only Travis County felony cases.

The general records page also describes mail to Travis County District Clerk, Records Request, P.O. Box 679003, Austin, TX 78767, and felony-counter visits at the Gault Annex, 501 W. 11th Street, second floor, Room 2.300, Austin, TX 78701, Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Because the specialized felony page requires the form, confirm any alternative channel before mailing. Obtain the copy/certification total and delivery estimate; these pages do not quote one universal fee or turnaround.

Search the County Clerk’s misdemeanor collection

The County Clerk’s misdemeanor search covers Travis County Class A and B misdemeanors and Class C cases appealed from municipal or justice courts. It excludes federal cases and other counties’ or municipalities’ misdemeanor records. Provide the full name, birth date, and helpful additional identifiers. Its record-type table places misdemeanor case data from January 1981 onward online, with only some document images.

The page’s general opening paragraph gives June 1986 and December 2005 dates that its table associates with civil records; use the misdemeanor-specific row for this task. It says case data updates every 24 hours and new images may take about 72 hours. A missing recent image or an upcoming setting does not establish the final result. The Misdemeanor Division’s main phone is 512-854-9188.

Price the misdemeanor request, including conflicting search fees

The search-and-copies page says a 1981-to-present misdemeanor name search, including up to three aliases, is free plus copies; pre-1981 is $10 plus copies, with additional aliases $10 each. The separate fee page lists a general $5 record-search fee and $10 for pre-1981. Ask which fee applies to your particular request before authorizing research. For broader microfilm/paper work, the search page lists $10 per name per ten-year period.

Choose a Texas history only when that is the requested product

For a broader Texas criminal history, follow the District Clerk’s link to Texas DPS. DPS makes public conviction and deferred-adjudication information available through its name-search service, which requires a public-site account. Its secure site is reserved for legally authorized entities. A public name search is not an unrestricted national search or the certified judgment from a particular court. Check the current public-site credit charge before purchasing.

For your own fingerprint-based review, DPS’s FAQ lists a $15 record-check fee plus a $10 FAST fingerprinting fee. For a licensing or employment screening, use the agency’s prescribed service code and instructions rather than substituting an ordinary public lookup. An employer using a background-reporting company must obtain written permission and follow the required notice process.

Correct the specific record and retain the disposition

A charge, arrest, pending docket entry, and conviction are different events. Match the person and case, then read the final order. If the court file or a returned copy is wrong, ask the responsible clerk about review with the case and document references. Restrictions such as nondisclosure or expunction also mean a public search is not complete access to every record.

For missing disposition information in a DPS history, DPS instructs readers to obtain a certified disposition from the court of jurisdiction and forward it to the CRS Error Resolution Unit; its FAQ links the challenge procedure. A private background report should be disputed with that reporting company as well. Keep proof of the correction and recheck the affected report instead of assuming one office’s change automatically reaches every source.