Editorial Policy

1. Our Editorial Mission

U.S. arrest, jail, court, and criminal-history records are largely public — but the systems that produce them are scattered across 18,000+ law enforcement agencies, 50+ state departments of corrections, hundreds of courts at multiple levels, and the federal layer (FBI, BOP, U.S. Marshals, PACER). The information is findable; finding it efficiently is not.

Our editorial mission is to publish practical, step-by-step guides — manually verified against the live portal — for every U.S. state and the federal layer. The reader leaves a state page knowing the URL to use, the field names to expect, and the result codes to interpret, not just a list of links.

2. Quality Standards Every State Page Meets

• The state DOC inmate locator URL is verified live and points to the actual search tool, not a generic landing page
• The state DPS / State Police / Bureau of Investigation criminal-history-check URL is verified live and the procedure described matches the current form and fee
• The state’s primary court e-filing/case-search system is identified and linked (or, where there is no statewide system, county-by-county direction is given)
• At least the largest 5 county sheriff inmate-roster URLs are verified live
• The state’s mugshot-publication policy is documented with the relevant statute number where one exists
• The state’s expungement / sealing self-help page is linked from the state court system
• The state’s open-records statute (Public Information Act, Public Records Act, Sunshine Law, Freedom of Information Law, etc.) is identified by name with the agency that handles requests
• “Last reviewed” date appears on every page
• The FCRA disclaimer is reachable from every state page

3. Source Hierarchy — Six Tiers

Full hierarchy with named sources, URLs, and how each is used is on the Sources & Methodology page.

4. Verification — Our Seven-Step Process

1. Identify the right authoritative source. We use the state DOC, DPS, State Police, or Bureau of Investigation as the entry point — confirmed against USA.gov’s directory of state agencies.
2. Verify the URL is current. State portals get migrated, redirected, or replaced. We click through every link before publication and confirm the destination is the actual portal.
3. Run a sample search live. For inmate locators, jail rosters, and court systems, we run a sample search using a known public name or a published test record. We confirm the workflow loads, results return, and field labels match what we describe.
4. Document the steps from the actual interface. Walkthroughs are written from the on-screen labels and field names, not from a generic template. Field names are quoted verbatim where we describe them.
5. Cross-check the legal framework. For procedures governed by statute (open-records, mugshot publication, expungement), we cite the statute by name and section.
6. Note current fees, processing times, and form numbers. Captured with a “last reviewed” date and re-verified each quarter.
7. Editor sign-off. A second editor reviews the page end-to-end before it goes live, and runs a fresh sample search against the live portal.

5. Update Cycles

6. Corrections Process

1. You report it. Email info@usa-arrests.org with subject “Correction” and the page URL.
2. We acknowledge. Response within seven business days confirms receipt.
3. We verify. An editor goes back to the official source and confirms the current position.
4. We correct. If confirmed, the page is updated. Substantive corrections — wrong portal URL, wrong procedure, wrong fee — trigger a published correction note dated and described in plain English.
5. We tell you. The reporter is notified once the correction is live.

7. FCRA Editorial Policy

8. AI Tools and Authorship

• AI tools may be used for first drafts, summarization of agency pages, formatting consistency, and language polish
• Every state walkthrough is run against the live portal by a human editor before publication — AI cannot substitute for live verification
• Portal URLs, fees, form numbers, and procedures are confirmed against the agency’s own page by a human — never trusted to an AI summary alone
• AI-generated text that turns out to misstate a procedure is corrected through the standard corrections process
• We do not allow AI to invent state-specific procedures, fabricate links, or describe agencies that don’t exist

9. Editorial Independence

We do not take payment from any state agency, court, the FBI, BOP, U.S. Marshals, or any other government body in exchange for editorial coverage. We do not take payment from any commercial people-search service, background-check service, expungement-services firm, or law firm in exchange for being mentioned, recommended, or omitted on state pages. The site is funded by display advertising and affiliate referrals on the principle that advertising and editorial are separate functions.

10. Advertising, Affiliates, and FTC §255

• Display advertisements are visually distinct from editorial content and labeled where required
• Affiliate links — where we earn a commission for a referral — are disclosed in context per the FTC’s Endorsement Guides at 16 C.F.R. Part 255
• Sponsored content, if it ever appears, is clearly identified as paid-for
• We do not insert affiliate links above the verified government portal links on a state page; the official source always comes first
• We never describe a commercial people-search service as a substitute for an FCRA-compliant Consumer Reporting Agency, because none of them are

FTC endorsement guidance: ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking.

11. Conflicts of Interest

• The editorial team is not employed by, contracted to, or financially connected to any law enforcement agency, court, or government body covered by the site
• The editorial team is not employed by, contracted to, or financially connected to any commercial people-search or background-check service
• We don’t accept gifts, hospitality, or considerations from these organizations in exchange for coverage

12. Sensitive Topics

Arrest-records content intersects with several sensitive areas. We try to handle them fairly:

• Presumption of innocence. Arrest is not conviction. Pages and content reinforce this where relevant.
• Sealed and expunged records. We do not host records, so we cannot republish sealed material — but we describe the sealing/expungement process so readers can use it.
• Juvenile records. Generally not public; where states publish narrow categories (sex-offender registry inclusions, certain serious felonies), we describe access only through official channels.
• Mugshot misuse. We do not publish booking photos and do not link to commercial mugshot republication sites that charge for removal.
• Names and identifying information. Where examples are needed in a walkthrough, we use either fully fictional names or published agency test records — never a live person’s data without permission.
• Vulnerable populations. Coverage of sex offender registries, victim notification programs, and post-conviction release follows the issuing agency’s framing rather than editorializing.

13. Reader Feedback

Substantive feedback — corrections, suggestions, broken-link reports — is logged and addressed within seven business days. Attorneys, paralegals, court clerks, journalists, and family members of incarcerated people who use these portals daily often spot inconsistencies before our quarterly review catches them. Feedback that is abusive, threatening, or harassing is not engaged with and may be reported under our Terms of Service.

14. Language, Tone, and Accessibility

• State pages are written in plain English at a level intended to be accessible to a general adult audience
• Acronyms are spelled out on first use (DOC, DPS, BOI, BOP, FBI, CJIS, FCRA, CRA, NCIC, PACER, NSOPW, VINE, ATF, DEA, USMS)
• Where Spanish is the dominant language for a substantial portion of a state’s population, we link the agency’s Spanish-language pages where they exist
• We follow our Accessibility Statement, including WCAG 2.1 AA targets