The California Department of Justice holds the statewide criminal record repository, compiled from the arrest and disposition reports of sheriffs, police, probation departments, district attorneys and courts into records of arrest and prosecution, the RAP sheets. The DOJ says access to those records is restricted by law to legitimate law enforcement purposes and to authorized applicant agencies, and that requests from third parties are not authorized and will not be processed.
For an individual that leaves one path: the Record Review, a fingerprint based copy of your own record for a $25 DOJ fee, which you may then hand to whoever asked for it. Employers and licensing boards run their own checks only when a statute authorizes them, through Live Scan and the DOJ's applicant process; everyone else turns to the courts.
- Your own record: the DOJ Record Review, $25 plus the Live Scan operator's rolling fee, by Live Scan inside California or by a mailed FD-258 fingerprint card from outside the state.
- Fee waiver: the $25 DOJ fee is waived for California residents on public assistance, with low income for their area and household size, or with no income, through the online fee waiver application.
- Employers and licensing: over 45,000 agencies are authorized to request checks; the applicant takes a BCIA 8016 Request for Live Scan Service form to a certified operator and the DOJ answers the agency, not the applicant.
- Not available: third party requests, checks for visas, immigration or foreign nation transactions through the review, and certified copies to individuals.
Written by SearchSystems.net from California's own systems: the Attorney General's Criminal Records, Request Your Own page, the DOJ fee waiver application, the Fingerprint Background Checks overview, the Criminal Records, Certified Copies page, the public Live Scan locations search, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The repository and the RAP sheet
The DOJ is mandated to maintain California's statewide criminal record repository. Sheriff, police and probation departments, district attorney offices and the courts submit arrests and the dispositions that follow them, and the DOJ compiles them into records of arrest and prosecution, RAP sheets, which it releases for law enforcement and for regulatory purposes, meaning employment and licensing. A RAP sheet is based on fingerprint submissions, so the person is identified biometrically rather than by name. The DOJ says more than 45,000 agencies are authorized to perform background checks and that its technicians process about 2 million state level and 1.2 million federal level checks a year.
Getting your own record: Record Review for $25
Individuals have the right to request a copy of their own criminal history record from the DOJ to review it for accuracy and completeness. The request takes fingerprint images and a $25 processing fee paid to the DOJ. A California resident must use Live Scan: fill in the Live Scan form BCIA 8016RR, check Record Review as the type of application, write Record Review on the reason line, complete the personal information and take the form to any Live Scan site. Fingerprinting is available at most local police departments and sheriff's offices and at any public applicant Live Scan site; the DOJ's Live Scan locations search lists the sites by county with their hours, rolling fees and accepted payments.
Someone living outside California or outside the United States submits a manual FD-258 fingerprint card instead, with the Application to Obtain a Copy of State Summary Criminal History Record, form BCIA 8705, also published in Spanish. The card must carry the full name, date of birth, sex and a return mailing address, prints are taken by a local law enforcement agency, and a person who cannot find a blank card can call the Record Review Unit at (916) 227-3849. Manual submissions are paid by personal check drawn on a U.S. bank, money order or certified check payable to the California Department of Justice, and the application, card and fee are mailed to the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Identification and Analysis, Record Review and Challenge Section, P.O. Box 160207, Sacramento, CA 95816-0207.
The DOJ adds a limit on use: a record obtained for your own review cannot be used for visa, immigration or any foreign nation transaction, which have their own route on the Attorney General's site. The right of review itself rests on Penal Code sections 11120 to 11127, which the page links as the law behind the process.
Waiving the $25 fee
A California resident may qualify to waive the DOJ fee in three situations: receiving public assistance such as CalFresh, Medi-Cal or disability benefits, having income that is low for the area and household size, or having no income. The online application asks for a small amount of supporting information, an EBT card number or an estimate of monthly income, plus personal information and a mailing address, and the applicant declares under penalty of perjury by electronic signature that it is true. The result is a printable Application for Live Scan Fingerprinting Services carrying a fee waiver number that saves the $25; the Live Scan provider's own fee still has to be paid, and the form goes to the provider with a valid photo ID.
Live Scan sites and what they charge
The locations search is updated as providers report in, and the DOJ encourages applicants to call a site first to confirm hours and fees. Government fees are charged for the state and federal record checks, with a separate Applicant Fingerprint Processing Fee schedule published as a PDF; rolling fees are set by each provider and vary from site to site, and providers may add their own service fees. Sites marked BNR, billing number required, serve only applicants whose Live Scan form carries an agency billing number and collect rolling fees but not government fees. The applicant must show valid photo identification, and an expired card is refused. In the DOJ's own listing on the day it was read, rolling fees at public sites ran from $25 to $40, most by appointment, with cash, cards, checks and money orders accepted depending on the site; a business wanting to be listed emails livescansupport@doj.ca.gov and is posted within 30 days of approval as a private service provider, a process the DOJ says takes 8 to 12 weeks.
How an agency check is processed
The DOJ describes the applicant process step by step. The applicant agency gives the applicant a BCIA 8016 Request for Live Scan Service form; the applicant completes it and brings identification to a Live Scan operator, who in California must be a certified fingerprint roller or qualified law enforcement personnel. The operator checks the ID, enters the descriptors, captures the prints and transmits them to the DOJ, giving the applicant an applicant transaction identifier, the ATI number. The DOJ warns that an ATI number does not prove the submission reached it: operators are to transmit within 24 hours, but the timing is in the operator's hands.
Once received, the prints are searched automatically against every print in the database. With no match, the transaction is generally completed electronically within 48 to 72 hours. With a match, the RAP sheet must be reviewed by a technician, a manual process the DOJ says can take an indeterminate amount of time; the agency is sent a delay notice and no status inquiry can be answered until the review ends. The technician checks that every arrest has a disposition, applies the dissemination rules for that type of employment or license under Penal Code section 11105, and sends the response to the agency electronically or on paper. Where an arrest lacks a disposition, statute and case law require a genuine effort to find it: the DOJ contacts the booking agency, the arresting agency, the district attorney, the court and sometimes the probation department by telephone or fax, and those agencies sometimes cap the number of inquiries they will take in a day.
When an FBI check is requested, the prints go on to the FBI, which returns a cumulative RAP sheet of whatever other states and federal agencies have reported, and the DOJ performs the same genuine effort for any out of state or federal arrest without a disposition before preparing the response. Agencies authorized to receive FBI records must tell the people they fingerprint, in writing, that the prints will be checked against the FBI's records.
Challenging the record
A person whose Record Review response shows criminal information receives with it the Claim of Alleged Inaccuracy or Incompleteness, form BCIA 8706. The challenge is mailed with a copy of the record to the address on the form, must state specifically the basis of the claim, and must include any available proof or corroboration. The DOJ's site also carries its record relief pages: automatic record relief under Penal Code sections 851.93 and 1203.425, relief under section 851.92, sealing orders and the cannabis conviction resentencing law, AB 1793.
Certified copies: subpoena or court order only
The DOJ certifies state summary criminal history records and fingerprints for use in court, but only for authorized parties: law enforcement agencies, district attorneys and some state agencies that need certified records for legitimate law enforcement purposes under Penal Code section 11105. It does not provide certified copies of criminal history records to individual applicants. A request takes a subpoena on Judicial Council form CR-125 or a court order giving the subject's identifiers, the records to be certified, the case number and jurisdiction, the requester's name and title and a full mailing address, by fax to (916) 731-3618, by email to Keeperofrecords@doj.ca.gov or by mail to the Custodian of Records at P.O. Box 160207, Sacramento, CA 95816-0207. A public defender or defense attorney adds form BCIA 8700, Certification of Attorney of Record. The custodian needs at least three weeks once the papers arrive, and subpoenas from other states or countries must comply with the Uniform Act under Penal Code section 1334 or the DOJ will not answer them even with a courtesy copy.
Reading a California check
Three facts from the DOJ's own pages decide what a California background check can be. The repository answers law enforcement and authorized agencies, not the public; the only record an individual can obtain is their own, by fingerprints, and it may not be used for immigration. An agency check is only as current as the dispositions courts and prosecutors have reported, which is why the DOJ spends its genuine effort chasing missing ones. And a RAP sheet is matched by fingerprint, so a name only product from a commercial site is not the DOJ record and cannot be checked against it except by the subject through the review.
Questions about background checks in California
Related California records
The DOJ record is the one the public cannot see; the records it can see are covered on this site: the California court records guide explains the superior court case files, the California arrest records page covers booking information and the sealing laws, the sex offender registry guide covers the Megan's Law site, and the California county pages list each sheriff and superior court.