Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Clay County, Alabama, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Alabama the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is released only to its subject and to the employers and agencies the law allows. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Clay County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Clay County public records, Clay County arrest records, Clay County warrants, Clay County inmate search, Clay County court records, Alabama arrest records and Alabama inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Clay County Circuit Court
In Alabama the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Clay County are heard by the Clay County Circuit Court, which hears felonies, civil cases over $20,000, divorces and appeals from the district court; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and preliminary hearings in felony cases, and the file of each case is kept by the Circuit Clerk.
For Clay County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at clay.alacourt.gov (page title: Clay County | Fortieth Circuit Court of Alabama), phone 256-354-7926, 25 Court Square, P.O. Box 816, Ashland, AL 36251, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, Alacourt is the statewide online index of Alabama trial court cases, sold by subscription.
The Alabama Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is closed to the public in Alabama: it is released to its subject and to authorized employers and licensing agencies, and a member of the public uses the court's own case index instead.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to ALEA. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at alea.gov/sbi/criminal-justice-services/criminal-records.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Clay County
The Clay County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Lineville and Ashland keep the arrest records in Clay County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
Together, the three agencies in Clay County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 193 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Clay County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Clay County in 2025
The two agencies in Clay County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 13 violent and 40 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 53 crimes in 2025 against 73 in 2024. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Clay County public records guide.
The Sex Offender Registry for Clay County
Registered sex offenders living in Clay County are listed on the Alabama Sex Offender Registry, run by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency at alea.gov/node/43. The registry is public and can be searched online.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Clay County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the Alabama Public Records Law a county office must answer a request within a reasonable time; the statute sets no fixed deadline, and it may charge a reasonable fee for copies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Clay County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Clay County Circuit Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Alabama Public Records Law.
Can I search Clay County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at clay.alacourt.gov (page title: Clay County | Fortieth Circuit Court of Alabama). Statewide, Alacourt is the statewide online index of Alabama trial court cases, sold by subscription.
How do I get my own Alabama criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to ALEA.
Is this the official Clay County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.