The background checks page of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services sets the first rule: the CJIS Central Repository releases Maryland criminal history only on a fingerprint submission, and the only time it accepts an inked card from someone inside the state is when a bona fide medical reason stops a live scan. An individual may be printed for a visa, a Gold Seal letter or a personal review at any authorized location, while a person seeking a job or license cannot order the check alone; the employer or licensing agency with a CJIS authorization number must request it, and the applicant uses that agency's fingerprint cards or number. Private employers that pass the Private Party Petition process receive Maryland records only, never the FBI file.
The second record is the court docket. Maryland Case Search, reached through the judiciary's court records page, gives public access to case records from the District Court and the Circuit Courts, and most of the paper files sit with the local clerk's office under Maryland Rules 16-901 and following. An arrest that was charged shows there whether or not it ended in a conviction, until an expungement or a shielding order removes it. For the sheriffs, detention centers and clerks in each county and Baltimore City, use the Maryland county pages.
- $18 by mail, $38 in person: the state only check, with the in person price carrying a $20 CJIS fingerprint service fee, and $33 or $53 when the FBI search is added for an authorized agency.
- Live scan since October 1, 2020: in state applicant fingerprints for employment or licensing must be taken electronically, and an ink and roll card is accepted only for a medical reason.
- Three years, then gone: a case whose charges all ended in acquittal, not guilty, dismissal or nolle prosequi on or after October 1, 2021 is expunged by the court automatically after three years, free, or sooner on request.
- $30 only for a guilty disposition: the expungement filing fee for an eligible conviction, per case and nonrefundable, while acquittals, dismissals, probation before judgment, stet and not criminally responsible cost nothing to expunge.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Maryland's own systems: the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services background checks page, the department's fingerprint services and fee page, the Maryland Judiciary court records page, the Maryland Judiciary judicial records page, the Maryland Courts adult expungement help page, the department's Incarcerated Individual Locator, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The fee table and the October 2026 FBI increase
The department's fingerprint services page prints the full schedule. A state background check only is $18 mailed in or $38 in person. A full state and FBI check, available to authorized agencies, is $33 by mail or $53 in person, dropping to $31 and $51 for child care volunteers. A state check with a Gold Seal, the embossed letter that adoption agencies abroad usually require, is $19 or $39. An attorney checking a client with a pending criminal case pays nothing, and neither does a criminal justice agency.
Every in person price includes a $20 CJIS service fee for taking the prints, and a private provider adds its own charge on top of the state and federal amounts. A notice on both pages warns that from October 1, 2026 the FBI raised its fee for fingerprint based federal reports from $12 to $15, so any transaction that includes a national check costs $3 more than the table shows.
The two department pages differ on payment: the background checks page lists Mastercard, Visa, Discover or a check processed electronically, with no cash or money orders, while the fingerprint services page says cash, checks and money orders are all refused at the Central Repository and only credit and debit cards are taken, so a card is the safe choice. Walk in printing is offered at the storefront at 6776 Reisterstown Road, Suite 101, in Baltimore, open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment at CJIS counters inside Motor Vehicle Administration offices in Bel Air, Frederick, Glen Burnie, Salisbury and Waldorf, booked through customer service at 410-764-4501 or 1-888-795-0011.
An applicant brings government photo identification, the employer's name and authorization number where one applies, and the live scan pre registration application printed in advance.
Requesting your own record from inside or outside Maryland
A resident who wants a personal review, a visa letter or a Gold Seal simply goes to any authorized fingerprinting location, and a request for the FBI's own identity history goes straight to the FBI, not through Maryland. Someone living outside the state writes or calls the Central Repository to request a fingerprint card, has it rolled locally, and mails the card with a check payable to CJIS Central Repository to P.O. Box 32708, Pikesville, Maryland 21282-2708, or by overnight carrier to 6776 Reisterstown Road, Suite 217.
The response arrives in 10 to 15 days. Cards from other states or from the FBI are not accepted, so the Maryland card itself must be used. Customer service, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., can check the status of a request with the reference number or Social Security number, take orders for fingerprint cards, and explain which request type fits, but its representatives cannot disclose any criminal history over the phone.
Rap Back and the employer's side of the file
Maryland takes part in the FBI's Next Generation Identification Rap Back service, under which an authorized agency that has already run a fingerprint check is notified of later arrests of people in positions of trust, enrolled through the CJIS-CR Authorization Update form. To become an authorized agency costs nothing, but the agency must show a legal or regulatory basis for receiving criminal history. Adult dependent care, child care, criminal justice, government employment, government licensing and public housing agencies file the Application to Receive Criminal History Record Information, while a private employer files the Private Party Petition packet with a separate Part 2 for every job title and signs a Non-Criminal Justice Agency User Agreement.
Since July 1, 2020 only the new application forms are accepted. The Maryland background check guide covers what those employers may lawfully ask.
Searching the docket on Maryland Case Search
Case Search covers cases that originate in the District Court and the Circuit Courts, and since December 7, 2021 it defaults to exact name matches. A partial search needs at least the first letter of the last name followed by a percent sign, the first name is optional, and the percent sign cannot sit at the start or in the middle of a word. The judiciary's judicial records page explains that a case file or a document within it is reviewed at the clerk's office in the courthouse where the case was filed or heard, by written request to the custodian or in person during business hours, and that Maryland Rules 16-901 and following govern what may be released.
District Court civil judgment and satisfaction data is sold on subscription, and land records run through MdLandRec, a separate system. The Maryland court records guide explains the District Court's role as the court that handles most initial appearances after an arrest.
Expungement: free for most outcomes, $30 for a conviction
The expungement help page sorts petitions by form. Form CC-DC-CR-072A covers a case that ended in acquittal, dismissal, probation before judgment, nolle prosequi, stet or not criminally responsible, and there is no charge. Form 072B and form 072D cover eligible guilty dispositions, with a $30 filing fee per case, not per charge, that is not refunded if the petition is denied and can be waived for someone who cannot pay. The petition is filed in the court that heard the case, and a Guide and File interview on the judiciary site assembles the papers from a set of questions.
The page urges anyone who is not a United States citizen to speak with an immigration lawyer first, because an expunged file may be impossible to copy later and an immigration case may need it. Expungement removes the case from court and law enforcement records; shielding, a separate remedy, takes a conviction off Case Search and out of public view while leaving it in existence.
The automatic rule is the one most people miss. Where every charge in a case ended in acquittal, not guilty, dismissal or nolle prosequi and the disposition was entered on October 1, 2021 or later, the court expunges the case on its own three years after the disposition. A person who does not want to wait files form CC-DC-CR-072C, again at no cost. Cases disposed before that date, and cases with mixed outcomes, still need the ordinary petition. The Maryland criminal records guide lists the misdemeanors that can be expunged after a conviction.
Who the state locator does and does not list
The Incarcerated Individual Locator shows the housing location of people committed to the Commissioner of Correction and held in Division of Correction facilities, at Patuxent Institution, or, for some short sentences, in Division of Pretrial and Detention Services facilities. The department is candid about the gaps: it does not cover everyone in its custody, some short sentenced people housed at pretrial facilities are missing, and anyone no longer in custody for any reason, release or escape included, drops off.
A person arrested and awaiting trial in a county detention center is not in it at all, which sends a search for a recent arrest to the county sheriff or, in Baltimore City, to the state run pretrial complex. The Maryland inmate search guide covers both layers.
Questions about Maryland arrest records
Related Maryland records
Maryland readers can go on to the Maryland criminal records guide for conviction files and the expungeable list, the Maryland court records guide for Case Search and the clerks, the Maryland background check guide for employer authorizations, the Maryland public records law guide for the Public Information Act, and the Maryland county pages for every sheriff and detention center.