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 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Clay County, Indiana, has about 26,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Indiana the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Indiana State Police is open to anyone who asks. 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, the prosecutor, 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, Indiana arrest records and Indiana inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Clay Circuit and Superior Courts
In Indiana the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Clay County are heard by the Clay Circuit and Superior Courts, which hear every civil, criminal, family, probate and juvenile case, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court.
For Clay County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at in.gov/courts/local/clay-county (page title: Indiana Judicial Branch: Clay County), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, mycase.IN.gov is the Indiana courts' free statewide case search.
The Indiana Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Indiana is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online, through the Indiana State Police. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Clay County
The Clay County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Brazil and Knightsville 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 two agencies in Clay County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 225 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 54 violent and 185 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 239 crimes in 2025 against 262 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 Prosecuting Attorney for Clay County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in Clay County become charges and files them in the Clay Circuit and Superior Courts; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at in.gov/counties/clay/county-offices/county-prosecutor (page title: Clay County: County Prosecutor), phone 812-448-9028, 609 E National Ave. Room 301 Brazil, IN 47834, Monday-Friday 8 AM-4 PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Clay County
Registered sex offenders living in Clay County are listed on the Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry, run by the Indiana Department of Correction with the county sheriffs at in.gov. The registry is public and can be searched online; the county sheriff maintains the local entries.
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 Indiana Access to Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 24 hours for a request made in person and 7 days for one sent by mail or email, and it may charge a copy fee set by the agency, within statutory limits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Clay County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Indiana State Police: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
Can I search Clay County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at in.gov/courts/local/clay-county (page title: Indiana Judicial Branch: Clay County). Statewide, mycase.IN.gov is the Indiana courts' free statewide case search.
How do I get my own Indiana criminal history?
Through the same limited criminal history search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Clay County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at 812-448-9028, which files its cases in the Clay Circuit and Superior Courts.
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.