Illinois's criminal history lives at the State Police Bureau of Identification in Joliet, the state central repository under the Illinois Criminal Identification Act, 20 ILCS 2630, with more than five million fingerprint files. Since January 1, 1991 the Uniform Conviction Information Act, 20 ILCS 2635, has required that all conviction information the bureau holds be made available to the public; the law permits only conviction information to go out, so arrests that ended without a conviction stay confidential.
The public check comes two ways: a name based inquiry through the State Police Criminal History Information Response Process, CHIRP, or a fingerprint based inquiry submitted electronically through a licensed Live Scan vendor. Employers and licensing boards whose statutes require fingerprints use the fee applicant process through the same vendors, and any individual may view and challenge their own full record through Access and Review at no State Police charge.
- Name based: the UCIA name based inquiry through CHIRP, $10.00 electronic or $16.00 on the paper form, with the response retrieved in CHIRP by its transaction control number; conviction information only.
- Fingerprint based: a UCIA fingerprint inquiry through a licensed Live Scan vendor at $15.00, or $20.00 on a paper card, with the vendor's own service fee on top; out of state applicants use vendors marked for card scan.
- Employers and licensing: the fee applicant process, from October 1, 2026 at $15.00 for the state check, $10.00 for the FBI and $30.00 for both by Live Scan, $28.00 for National Child Protection Act, Volunteers for Children Act and Adam Walsh volunteer checks, resubmissions $10.00 and $20.00.
- Your own record: Access and Review at any Illinois law enforcement or correctional facility or licensed fingerprint vendor, free of State Police charge, with the record challenge form on the last page of the packet.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Illinois's own systems: the Illinois State Police Bureau of Identification home page, the Bureau of Identification fee schedule, the Bureau of Identification background checks page, the Bureau of Identification fingerprint based background checks page, the Bureau of Identification What's on My Record page, the State Police Guide to Understanding Criminal History Record Check Information, the Office of the State Appellate Defender adult expungement and sealing page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the Bureau of Identification holds
The bureau collects, maintains and disseminates criminal history record information reported by Illinois criminal justice agencies, summarizing a person's contacts with the system. Its guide describes the transcript, commonly called a rap sheet: identification data such as name, sex, race, date of birth and physical characteristics, with a cumulative record of arrests, state's attorney filing decisions, court dispositions, sentences and custodial data. The bureau was created on July 2, 1931, after the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre pushed the state toward a central fingerprint repository, and today runs the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, the criminal history system and the Live Scan network, with about 2.8 million manual records and 5.5 million offenders in the automated file. Its building at 260 North Chicago Street, Joliet, is restricted access, entered by appointment only, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., booked through customer support at 815-740-5160 or ISP.BOI.Customer.Support@illinois.gov.
The Uniform Conviction Information Act check
Every UCIA request goes on a Uniform Conviction Information Act request form, fingerprint or name based, each printed with a unique transaction control number, so copies cannot be processed and every inquiry must be on an original form; for Live Scan submissions the vendor supplies the number. Paper forms are paid by check or money order to the Illinois State Police, with several requests covered by one payment, while electronic requests draw on a prepaid account. A federal record cannot be checked on a UCIA form. When the request is for employment, the applicant signs it, the employer keeps the signature for two years and must give the applicant a copy of the response. The guide warns that intentionally obtaining conviction information under false pretenses, or disseminating inaccurate or incomplete conviction information, is punishable by up to a year in prison and civil liability. Name based inquiries run through CHIRP, where the response is retrieved by entering the transaction control number given when the search was started; a response that needs notarizing is requested from customer support with that number, and a notarized copy is mailed.
The fee schedule from October 1, 2026
The fee schedule lists fee applicant prices in force from October 1, 2026: a state only check $20.00 on a paper form, $15.00 by Live Scan and $10.00 as a resubmission; FBI only $15.00 on paper or $10.00 electronic; state and FBI $35.00 on paper, $30.00 by Live Scan and $20.00 as a resubmission; National Child Protection Act, Volunteers for Children Act and Adam Walsh volunteer checks $28.00 electronic and $20.00 as a resubmission. Uniform Conviction Information Act requests cost $16.00 on paper or $10.00 electronic for a name based inquiry and $20.00 on a card or $15.00 by Live Scan for a fingerprint inquiry, with a $10.00 resubmission. Since July 1, 2004 a petition to expunge or seal has been free of charge while a court order to expunge or seal costs $60.00, a subpoena for criminal history information $20.00, and Access and Review with a record challenge nothing. A fingerprint resubmission qualifies for the lower fee only with the transaction control number of the earlier submission.
Fingerprint checks through licensed Live Scan vendors
All fingerprint transactions must reach the State Police electronically through a licensed Live Scan fingerprint vendor; the bureau points to the list kept by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and tells applicants whose check is required for licensing or employment to get the correct information from their agency before visiting a vendor. Someone outside Illinois uses a vendor marked for card scan submission, and an out of state UCIA request has its own form. The vendor collects the state and FBI fees, which are set by the State Police and the FBI, and the bureau's FAQ sends anyone needing prints for employment, licensing or immigration to the same vendor list. Fingerprints rejected for quality are resubmitted automatically by the state system, and after a second rejection the state runs a name search, with an FBI name search available by form after two FBI rejections.
Your own record: Access and Review, free
Under the Illinois administrative rules, any individual may go to any Illinois law enforcement or correctional facility or licensed fingerprint vendor during business hours to obtain their criminal history transcript through Access and Review. The facility or vendor takes fingerprints and identifying information and forwards them to the State Police, which mails the transcript with a Record Challenge form, or a written statement that no criminal history was found, to the address the individual gives, their home or the facility; a transcript sent to a facility is released only to the individual and destroyed if not collected within 45 days. The State Police respond in writing to a record challenge with any correction made or a statement that none was needed, and charge no fee for Access and Review or a challenge, though the fingerprinting agency may charge for its service. The bureau's FAQ adds that completed challenge forms can be mailed to 260 North Chicago Street, Joliet, or dropped in the main entrance vestibule, and the What's on My Record page carries the rules.
Sealing and expungement
The State Police send people to the Office of the State Appellate Defender's adult expungement and sealing page, which distributes the forms the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice has approved for every courthouse: the Request to Expunge and Impound and/or Seal Criminal Records, the orders granting or denying it, additional arrest sheets and the fee waiver application, in English and Spanish, with a free guided interview from Illinois Legal Aid Online and the full text of the Criminal Identification Act, 20 ILCS 2630. Juvenile expungement under 705 ILCS 405/5-915 and cannabis expungement have their own forms. When a court orders a record sealed or expunged, the State Police charge $60.00 to carry out the order, and questions go to ISP.Expungement.Unit@illinois.gov.
Reading an Illinois result
A UCIA response is conviction information only, by design; an arrest that was dismissed is not in it, and neither is anything federal. A name check is a name check, which the bureau's guide contrasts with the fingerprint process that identifies a person positively, so a hit on a common name is confirmed against the court file. The full transcript, arrests included, reaches only the person themselves through Access and Review and the agencies whose statutes allow fingerprint checks.
Questions about background checks in Illinois
Related Illinois records
The State Police record is one of the Illinois records this site covers: the Illinois court records guide explains the circuit clerks' case files behind each conviction, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public, the inmate search guide covers the Department of Corrections lookup, and the Illinois county pages list each sheriff and circuit clerk.