Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest 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 24, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Charleston, West Virginia, in Kanawha County, has about 46,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In West Virginia the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the West Virginia State Police is released only to its subject and to the employers and agencies the law allows. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Charleston is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Charleston public records, Kanawha County criminal records, Charleston arrest records, Charleston warrants, Charleston inmate search, Charleston court records, West Virginia arrest records and West Virginia inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Kanawha County Circuit Court
In West Virginia the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Charleston are heard by the Kanawha County Circuit Court, which hears felonies, the larger civil cases and juvenile matters; the Magistrate Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $10,000, and the file of each case is kept by the Circuit Clerk.
For Kanawha County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at courtswv.gov/appellate-courts/office-of-the-clerk (page title: Office of the Clerk | West Virginia Judiciary), phone (304) 558-2601, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. East Charleston WV 25305, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
West Virginia has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The West Virginia Criminal History and Your Own Copy
West Virginia does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the West Virginia State Police goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Kanawha County Circuit Court is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Charleston
The Kanawha County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Charleston (filed by the FBI as Charleston Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Charleston: 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 campus police departments, four state agencies, two other agencies and four state police units in Kanawha County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Montgomery Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Kanawha County, so its arrests are not broken out for Kanawha County here.
Together, the nine agencies in Kanawha County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,371 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 Charleston arrest records.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Kanawha County
Charges in Kanawha County are filed by the Prosecuting Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Kanawha County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at kanawha.us/prosecuting-attorney (page title: Prosecuting Attorney | Kanawha County, West Virginia), phone (304) 357-0300, 301 Virginia Street East Charleston, WV 25301, Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Charleston
Registered sex offenders living in Charleston are listed on the West Virginia Sex Offender Registry, run by the West Virginia State Police at apps.wv.gov. 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 Kanawha 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 West Virginia Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Charleston?
The court files of criminal cases in the Kanawha County Circuit Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the West Virginia State Police is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Can I search Charleston criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courtswv.gov (page title: Office of the Clerk | West Virginia Judiciary).
How do I get my own West Virginia criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Who prosecutes crimes in Charleston?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at (304) 357-0300, which files its cases in the Kanawha County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court.
Is this the official Charleston website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.