A rap sheet looks like a chronological log of law enforcement encounters, not a narrative report. At the top sit your personal identifiers; below that, each arrest appears as its own block of coded entries listing the agency that submitted the fingerprints, the charges filed, and whatever the court did afterward. The FBI’s version carries the formal name Identity History Summary, and what a rap sheet looks like in practice is dense, abbreviated, and often incomplete.
The Identifying Information at the Top
The first section of any rap sheet is biographical. It lists your name, date of birth, known aliases, and physical descriptors such as height, weight, and eye color. Your fingerprint classification appears here as well, because fingerprints — not names — are what bind the record to you rather than to someone with similar identifiers.
At the federal level, the FBI defines Criminal History Record Information as covering identifiable descriptions along with records of arrests, detentions, charges, and all resulting outcomes, including acquittals, sentencing, and release from custody.1U.S. Department of Defense. Criminal History Records Information Everything that follows the identifier block is organized around that definition.
What Each Arrest Entry Contains
After the personal details, the document becomes a series of entries in roughly chronological order. Each entry corresponds to a single fingerprint submission from a law enforcement agency, and each one contains the same categories of information:
- Arrest information: the date of arrest, the agency that made it, and the specific charges filed at that time.
- Court disposition: what happened to those charges — conviction, acquittal, dismissal, or an alternative outcome such as deferred adjudication.
- Sentencing details: if there was a conviction, the sentence imposed, whether probation, jail or prison time, fines, or community service.
- Custody and release dates: when you entered and left any correctional facility.
- Outstanding warrants: any active warrants that have not been resolved.
The entries use heavy abbreviation and agency codes, which is part of why the document is difficult to read without context. A single arrest for multiple charges will list each charge on its own line, and the disposition line beneath them may track each charge separately or lump them together depending on how the court reported back.
Why Entries Often Look Incomplete
One feature that surprises people the first time they see their own rap sheet is how many entries have no disposition listed. An arrest line may appear without any corresponding outcome, leaving the entry visually open-ended.
That gap does not mean you were convicted. It means the court or prosecutor’s office never reported the final outcome back to the central repository that holds the record. Missing dispositions are common, and they create real problems during background checks because a reader of the record cannot tell from the document alone whether the case was dismissed, pleaded down, or is somehow still pending. This is one of the main reasons to pull your own copy before someone else does.
Criminal records are also permanent on their face. Arrests that never produced a conviction stay on the sheet indefinitely, as do convictions themselves, unless you take active steps to have an entry expunged or sealed. A rap sheet does not quietly shed old items the way a driving record sheds old infractions.
The FBI Version Versus the State Version
You may encounter two different documents, and they do not look identical.
The FBI’s Identity History Summary pulls from fingerprint submissions sent in by agencies nationwide, so it may contain arrests from multiple states on a single document.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions It is the broadest single source for your record.
State-level records go by names such as Criminal History Record or State Criminal History Record Information. They focus on encounters within that state and may include traffic offenses that the FBI version omits. Format and layout vary by state repository, so a California printout and a Texas printout will not look the same even when they cover the same person.
Access to either version is restricted. The FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services systems are available to law enforcement, courts, prosecutors, jails, and probation offices, and to non-criminal-justice agencies for specific authorized purposes such as screening for child placement, employment, housing, and licensing.3United States Department of Justice. National Crime Information Systems Federal regulations under 28 CFR Part 20 set the minimum standards for how the data is collected, stored, and shared, and they govern who can receive the information and what they can do with it.4eCFR. 28 CFR Part 20 – Criminal Justice Information Systems
How to See Your Own Rap Sheet
You have the right to request a copy of your own criminal history from both federal and state agencies, and reading the actual document is the only reliable way to know what it says.
For the FBI’s Identity History Summary, you can submit directly to the FBI or go through an FBI-approved channeler. The process requires completing an applicant information form, submitting your fingerprints, and paying an $18 fee. For electronic submissions, you can have your fingerprints captured at a participating U.S. Post Office location. For mail-in requests, local law enforcement agencies can take your fingerprints on a standard fingerprint card, sometimes for a small additional fee.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions
For state-level records, contact your state’s Bureau of Investigation, Department of Public Safety, or equivalent agency. Most states require fingerprints and a government-issued photo ID. Fees generally fall in the $15 to $32 range. Many states offer online portals; others still use mail-in applications. If you need the record for an employment or licensing purpose, you may be required to submit the request through your state identification bureau or an authorized channeling agency rather than going directly to the FBI.5Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Review
Reading the Document and Spotting Errors
Once the copy arrives, read it entry by entry. The things worth checking are specific:
- Does every arrest entry have a disposition? If a case was dismissed and the dismissal is not shown, that is a gap worth closing.
- Do the listed charges match what you were actually charged with? A conviction for a lesser offense can sometimes appear under the original, more serious charge.
- Are there entries that do not belong to you? Mistaken identity entries do appear, especially when names are common.
- Does the status of any pending matter still show as pending even though it was resolved years ago?
These errors are more common than people expect, and they can cost you a job or an apartment when a third party sees the record before you do.
Under 28 CFR 16.34, you can challenge your FBI record by applying directly to the agency that contributed the incorrect information, or by directing your challenge to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division. If you send the dispute to the FBI, it forwards the challenge to the originating agency and requests verification or correction. Once that agency responds with updated information, the FBI amends the record.6eCFR. 28 CFR 16.34
State-level corrections follow a similar pattern. Identify the specific entry that is wrong, gather documentation proving the correct information (court records, dismissal orders, certificates of disposition), and submit a correction request to either the contributing agency or the state repository. Some states provide formal challenge forms; others accept a written letter. Filing a correction with the state repository is typically free, though obtaining supporting court documents from the clerk’s office may involve small fees.
Pull the record before you need it. Corrections can take weeks or months, and finding a problem the day before an employer runs a background check leaves you no time to fix it.