The Attorney General's criminal history records page calls the Bureau of Criminal Investigation the state's central repository, a system that compiles records of arrests and prosecutions submitted by local law enforcement, state's attorneys, the courts and parole and probation, for use by law enforcement, the courts and the public. The bureau insists on the words. Its page comparing a background check to a criminal history record check says a background check is often a search of public online records cross referenced only by name or name and birth date, which can mix people up or be out of date, while a criminal history record check cross references confidential law enforcement databases by name, date of birth, Social Security number and other identifiers including fingerprints, so the result relates to one person only. By law only the bureau can supply one, and it is prohibited from verifying anything a private background check reported.
The check comes in two forms. A name based search will not find a record if the person was arrested under a name not listed on the form, while a fingerprint based search finds the arrest under any alias, with prints taken at a local law enforcement agency. Either way the bureau returns North Dakota records only. For the sheriffs and jails that hold a booking before it reaches Bismarck, see the North Dakota county pages.
- $15, or $5 for a charity: the Request for Criminal History Record Information fee, payable by check or money order to ND Attorney General, reduced to $5 for an approved nonprofit charitable organization.
- A notice to the subject: unless a signed authorization accompanies the request, the bureau mails the person whose record was pulled a notice that it has been released.
- 7 to 10 business days: the normal processing time, with an expedited answer only in a prepaid overnight envelope paid by certified cashier's check or money order.
- Convictions are permanent at BCI: a guilty plea or finding cannot be expunged from the criminal history record even when the court seals or expunges its own file, no matter how many years pass.
Written by SearchSystems.net from North Dakota's own systems: the North Dakota Attorney General's criminal history records page, the Attorney General's page on requesting a criminal history record check, the Attorney General's page comparing a background check with a criminal history record check, the Attorney General's page on expunging a criminal record, the North Dakota Court System public access page, the North Dakota Courts Records Inquiry frequently asked questions, the Legal Self Help Center research guide on sealing criminal records under chapter 12-60.1, the Legal Self Help Center research guide on expungement, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation resident lookup, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Filing the $15 request with the bureau
The request page lists what the form needs: the subject's full name with maiden, former and alias names, date of birth, either a Social Security number or fingerprints, and either the subject's current address or a signed authorization. The original signed form goes by mail with a $15 check or money order payable to ND Attorney General, or is dropped at the Bismarck office with a check, money order or exact cash. An eligible nonprofit charity files an Application for Reduction in Fee and pays $5 once approved, and public schools have their own request form.
The bureau does not confirm receipt, so certified mail or a tracked carrier is the only proof of delivery. A certified or notarized response needs a written request attached. Someone who applied through a state agency or licensing board more than three weeks earlier should ask the board, since some boards send requests to the bureau only monthly and review results only at their next meeting. An apostille, when a foreign authority wants one, comes from the Secretary of State at 701-328-2900.
The FBI check that only the bureau can order
A bureau check covers North Dakota alone. People whom state or federal law requires to obtain a national FBI record check, including applicants for professional licenses, foster care providers, prospective adoptive parents and the others listed in section 12-60-24, must request it through the bureau using the forms supplied by the agency that requires it; everyone else goes to the FBI directly. State agencies and licensing boards may, by law, require a criminal history record check before employment or licensure, and the North Dakota background check guide lists the boards that do.
The court record and the free NDCRI search
The public access page of the court system offers a free search of district court criminal, traffic and civil cases, with municipal cases from some areas, and warns that a case that began as a felony may end as a misdemeanor, an infraction or a dismissal, so the disposition section of each case must be read. The questions page for the North Dakota Courts Records Inquiry adds the limits: it is not the official court record, the judicial branch certifies neither its records nor its search results, it shows only courts currently entering data, it displays case search results, registers of action, civil judgments and calendars, data is current through the end of the previous day, and name searches are unreliable because two people can share a name and birth date and offenders use aliases.
Errors are reported to the clerk of the court where the case sits. The North Dakota court records guide covers the clerks and the appellate courts.
Sealing under chapter 12-60.1 and the 61 day rule
The Legal Self Help Center's sealing guide, revised August 27, 2025, explains chapter 12-60.1 of the Century Code. Sealed records are not deleted, but the prosecution and the court system may not disclose their existence or content. A person may petition after a misdemeanor conviction with no new conviction for at least three years, after a felony with five clean years, or after an unconditional pardon from the governor. Violent or intimidating felonies cannot be sealed while the person is barred from possessing a firearm, ten years from conviction or release, and offenses requiring registration under section 12.1-32-15 never can; DUI records follow a separate section, 39-08-01.6.
The petition, a proposed order, supporting reasons and a full criminal history are filed in the municipal or district court with proof of service, and the center has no forms for it. The crucial limit is that criminal history record information reported to the bureau, and the data in its Criminal Justice Data Information Sharing System, cannot be sealed at all.
Section 12-60.1-05 handles cases that ended without a conviction. For an order of nonconviction, meaning dismissal or acquittal of every charge, entered on or after August 1, 2025, the court closes the court record itself after 61 days, with no petition. For an earlier nonconviction the defendant files the center's Close Nonconviction Court Records petition, and the court enters the closing order within ten days of filing if the requirements are met.
Closed records remain open to the clerk, the judge, criminal justice agencies, the defendant and counsel, the state's attorney and anyone with a judge's written order, and the closure does not reach prosecution records. The rule does not apply where the dismissal was part of a plea to another offense, where the defendant was found unfit to proceed or not guilty for lack of criminal responsibility, or where the case was appealed.
A separate set of forms asks a district court to prohibit remote public access to a dismissed or acquitted case while leaving it available at the courthouse.
Why expungement is rare, and why BCI keeps convictions
The Attorney General's expungement page states the rule flatly: court records and criminal history records live in two separate systems, sealing or expunging the court file does not remove anything from the criminal history record, and a guilty plea or guilty finding cannot be expunged from that record regardless of how many years have passed. The courts' expungement guide lists the few true expungements: convictions that resulted from being a victim of human trafficking under section 12.1-41-14, a first possession of one ounce or less of marijuana with no further conviction within two years under section 19-03.1-23, juvenile records destroyed on a schedule under section 27-20.2-25, DNA profiles under section 31-13-07, and arrests found unconstitutional under State v.
Howe, a 1981 Supreme Court decision. Beyond that the remedy is a pardon from the Governor on the Pardon Advisory Board's recommendation, and the guide notes that a pardon removes the punishment without erasing the conviction unless the certificate says so. The North Dakota criminal records guide covers the pardon route.
Who the resident lookup shows
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation resident lookup takes a last name or its first letters and returns only people currently incarcerated in a North Dakota correctional facility. Someone sentenced by a North Dakota court but housed out of state is absent, and so is someone held in North Dakota on another state's sentence. A person booked into a county jail after an arrest is on the sheriff's or regional jail's list, not the department's, which the North Dakota inmate search guide covers, and the Parole Board and Victim Services pages sit beside the lookup for anyone following a sentence.
Questions about North Dakota arrest records
Related North Dakota records
North Dakota readers can continue with the North Dakota criminal records guide for conviction files and pardons, the North Dakota court records guide for the clerks and case search, the North Dakota background check guide for licensing board checks, the North Dakota sex offender registry guide for registration under section 12.1-32-15, the North Dakota public records law guide for open records requests, and the North Dakota county pages for every sheriff.