The Maine State Police State Bureau of Identification is the agency that keeps and releases Maine criminal history record information and juvenile crime information, and its online request service, run through InforME, publishes a long set of frequently asked questions that spell out the rules. Two checks are offered. A name based check reports a possible match between the names and dates of birth on file and the ones submitted. A fingerprint based check reports a positive match and requires prints sent directly to the bureau, with the record returned by postal mail. The bureau is blunt that a positive identification can only be made from fingerprints, because the documents it receives usually carry no gender or Social Security number, and names and birth dates are inherently unreliable.
The answer changes with who is asking. A criminal justice agency receives the complete record, convictions and non convictions, adjudications and non adjudications. Anyone else, from an employer to a landlord to a curious relative, is a non criminal justice requester and receives adult convictions and juvenile adjudications, plus an arrest that is still without a disposition only while less than a year has passed and no prosecution is pending. The judicial branch's own court records page says the same thing from the other side: criminal history from the bureau includes conviction and adjudication information plus pending cases less than one year old, and it is not the same as the case file at the courthouse. For the sheriffs, jails and clerks in each county, see the Maine county pages.
- $31, or $21 for subscribers: the fee for a criminal history record or juvenile crime information check, identical for a name based and a fingerprint based search and payable whether or not a record turns up.
- Convictions and fresh pending cases: what a non criminal justice requester gets; an arrest with no disposition drops out of the public record a year after the arrest if no prosecution is pending.
- 15 business days: the bureau's deadline to research a challenged record and write back with its findings under Title 16, section 709, with a corrected reply sent to anyone who asked about that person in the past year.
- Four years for a Class E: a Class E conviction, other than a sexual assault under chapter 11, can be sealed by motion in the original case once four years have passed since every part of the sentence was satisfied.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Maine's own systems: the Maine Criminal History Record and Juvenile Crime Information Request frequently asked questions, the Maine Judicial Branch page on court records, the Maine Judicial Branch record search request form and instructions, the Maine Judicial Branch page on accessing electronic court records, the Maine Department of Corrections adult resident and community corrections client search, Title 15, section 2261 of the Maine Revised Statutes, definitions for sealing, Title 15, section 2262, the prerequisites for sealing, Title 15, section 2264, the motion and hearing process, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The fee and who pays it
A member of the public or a business pays $31 for each request, or $21 with an InforME subscription, and the bureau's questions page repeats that the fee is for the search, not the result. A Maine state agency running a check as part of a licensing process pays the same amount and may pass it to the applicant under Title 25, section 1541, subsection 6; the same agency pays nothing when the record is for a non licensing purpose.
A government body from another state or a county or town outside Maine pays the full fee. Searches for the administration of criminal justice, criminal justice employment or an adult or child protective investigation under Title 22 get the complete record at no cost through the State Police METRO system rather than the public site, and a federal security clearance search under 5 U.S.C. 9101 requires fingerprints and carries the ordinary fee.
National and other state records are not sold through InforME at all; the bureau can reach them only where a statute authorizes it.
Why a name search in Maine can miss or mismatch
The bureau describes two kinds of error. A false positive returns the record of another person who shares the name and birth date. A false negative misses a record because the name on file differs, which happens with married, maiden, adopted and assumed names or an intentional misspelling at booking. Its system runs without human review around the clock and answers more than 7,000 name searches a week, and as a matter of policy it does not use Social Security numbers to match, following FBI advice on best practice.
The advice to a requester is to enter every name the person has used; the online form has a column for a maiden or previous married name, so three name searches on one birth date cost a single fee. A fingerprint check sidesteps all of this, since prints taken at arrest match regardless of what name or weight or hair color was recorded that day. Juvenile crime information is narrower still, generally limited to conduct that would have been murder or a Class A, B or C crime for an adult.
Reviewing and challenging your own record
Title 16, section 709 gives a person the right to see and dispute the record, and the bureau extends the same process to juvenile information though the statute does not require it. The request, made in person or by mail to the State Bureau of Identification at State House Station 42, Augusta, ME 04333-0042, or at 45 Commerce Drive, Suite 1, must name the particular entry, the correction sought and the reason. The bureau researches the record and writes back within 15 business days with its findings and any change made, and when it does correct an entry it must send a corrected and complete reply to every requester who inquired about that person in the preceding year.
A person who disagrees with the outcome can appeal under section 709. The office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 207-624-7240. The Maine background check guide covers which employers may require the fingerprint version.
The courthouse record, paper and electronic
The judicial branch keeps the case file, which includes the complaint, the judgment and commitment and the docket record, and until recently almost all of it was paper. Its record search request costs $20 per name for each court location checked, so one name across three courts is $60, with a date of birth required for a criminal search and an alias treated as a separate name. A party to the case and government agencies are exempt from the search fee.
Copies run $2 for the first page and $1 for each further page, an attested copy adds $5 per document, and requests go by mail or in person to the Judicial Branch Service Center in Lewiston, never by email or fax. One to five names are answered within five working days, 16 to 20 within 60. Searches before 2000 take longer, and the civil database carries no unique identifier, so civil results cannot be certified.
Electronic records arrived court by court. The electronic records page lists when criminal, juvenile and civil violation cases went electronic: Androscoggin County after June 2025, Oxford and Franklin after September 2025, Kennebec and Somerset after February 2026, York after March 2026, Aroostook after June 2026, Hancock and Washington after July 2026 and Cumberland after September 2026, with every trial court due to finish by February 2027.
On re:SearchMaine the public registers free, searches free, and sees the Registry of Actions for criminal cases in those courts plus any document the court chooses to release remotely; everything else public is viewed at a courthouse terminal, where paper copies of public electronic records are free. Closed legacy cases stay on paper except traffic. The Maine court records guide follows each county's clerk.
Where a sentenced person appears
The Department of Corrections offers a free adult resident and community corrections client search, updated daily and open around the clock, covering adults in a state facility, adults under department jurisdiction held in a county jail, another state or a federal prison, and adults on probation, supervised release or parole. Juveniles are excluded. The department's own note says the information is not a complete criminal history and directs anyone needing one to the public criminal history request service, and it explains that the earliest custody release date shown assumes every day of possible good time is earned and none is lost.
A person held before trial in a county jail is on the sheriff's list, not the department's, which the Maine inmate search guide covers county by county.
Sealing a Class E conviction
Chapter 310-A of Title 15 lets a court seal the criminal history record information of an eligible criminal conviction. Section 2261 defines that as a current or former Class E crime, except a Class E sexual assault under chapter 11, together with a short list of Class D marijuana offenses committed before January 30, 2017. Under section 2262 at least four years must have passed since the person fully satisfied every sentencing alternative imposed, with no new conviction in Maine or anywhere else and no deferred disposition dismissal since, and no pending charge in any jurisdiction.
An age limit that once applied was repealed in 2023. A separate section 2262-B, added in 2025, lets a victim of sex trafficking or sexual exploitation seek sealing of any conviction that resulted from it, with no official documentation required and remote participation allowed.
Section 2264 sets the procedure: the motion is filed in the underlying criminal case, the clerk schedules a hearing, the prosecutor who handled the case represents the State, the rules of evidence do not apply, and the person has a right to counsel but not at state expense. If the movant proves each prerequisite by a preponderance of the evidence the court must grant the motion and issue a written sealing order with findings; a trafficking motion can be granted without a hearing when the State consents.
The bureau's questions page confirms the practical effect: a sealed conviction no longer appears on the public criminal history. For how that interacts with registration duties, see the Maine sex offender registry guide.
Questions about Maine arrest records
Related Maine records
Maine readers can continue with the Maine criminal records guide for conviction files, the Maine court records guide for the Lewiston service center and the clerks, the Maine background check guide for fingerprint based employer checks, the Maine public records law guide for the Freedom of Access Act, and the Maine county pages for every sheriff and jail.