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.
Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, has about 84,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Pennsylvania the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Prothonotary for civil cases and divorces and the Clerk of Courts for criminal cases; the statewide criminal history kept by the Pennsylvania State Police is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Lawrence 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: Lawrence County public records, Lawrence County arrest records, Lawrence County warrants, Lawrence County inmate search, Lawrence County court records, Pennsylvania arrest records and Pennsylvania inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas
In Pennsylvania the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Lawrence County are heard by the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas, which hears felonies, civil cases, divorces, estates and juvenile matters; the Magisterial District Courts take traffic tickets, summary offenses, small claims and preliminary hearings; Philadelphia has the Municipal Court instead, and the file of each case is kept by the Prothonotary for civil cases and divorces and the Clerk of Courts for criminal cases.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at lawrencecountypa.gov/courts/central-courts (page title: Lawrence County | Central Courts), phone (724) 656-2290, 202 Milton Street New Castle, PA 16101, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, UJS Web Portal is the Pennsylvania courts' free statewide docket search.
The Pennsylvania Criminal History and Your Own Copy
Pennsylvania is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: PATCH lets anyone request a criminal record check by name online, for $22 a search, through the Pennsylvania 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. The search is on the Pennsylvania State Police site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Lawrence County
The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for New Castle, Ellwood City, New Wilmington, New Beaver, Bessemer and Wampum keep the arrest records in Lawrence 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.
The FBI's agency list also places two state agencies, one state police unit and one other agency in Lawrence County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the 12 agencies in Lawrence County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,187 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 Lawrence County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Lawrence County in 2025
The 13 agencies in Lawrence County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 121 violent and 566 property crimes to the FBI that year; the 12 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 228 crimes in 2025 against 309 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 Lawrence County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Lawrence County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Lawrence County become charges and files them in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas or the Magisterial District Courts; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at lawrencecountydistrictattorneysoffice.com (page title: Lawrence County District Attorney's Office | Pursuing justice and protecting the people of Lawrence County, Pe), phone (855) 918-6476, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Lawrence County
Registered sex offenders living in Lawrence County are listed on the Pennsylvania Megan's Law website, run by the Pennsylvania State Police at meganslaw.psp.pa.gov/Home/TermsAndConditions. 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 Lawrence 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 Right-to-Know Law a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, with a 30-day extension, and it may charge copying at 25 cents a page. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lawrencecountypa.gov/departments/commissioners/right-to-know (page title: Lawrence County | Right to Know).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Lawrence County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Pennsylvania State Police: PATCH lets anyone request a criminal record check by name online, for $22. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Right-to-Know Law.
Can I search Lawrence County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at lawrencecountypa.gov/courts/central-courts (page title: Lawrence County | Central Courts). Statewide, UJS Web Portal is the Pennsylvania courts' free statewide docket search.
How do I get my own Pennsylvania criminal history?
Through the same PATCH request, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Lawrence County?
The District Attorney, reached at (855) 918-6476, which files its cases in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas or the Magisterial District Courts.
Is this the official Lawrence 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.