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Wisconsin is an "open records" state. Wisconsin statute 19.35(3) provides that most records maintained by state and local government agencies are open to the general public for inspection. All adult criminal records in the CIB database are included in the open record rule. Juvenile records are confidential under s. 938.396 and will not be disclosed to the general public.
If you submit a request for a juvenile, CIB must process the request to ensure that there was no waiver of the juvenile into adult court, thereby creating an adult record. Unless allowed by statute, no juvenile information will be returned.
All information in the criminal history database is based on submission, by police departments, of arrest fingerprint cards. Beginning in 1971, Wisconsin law enforcement agencies were required under s. 165.84(1) to submit arrest fingerprint cards for offenses designated in s. 165.83(1)(c). CIB was also required to accept any other arrest fingerprint cards taken at the discretion of law enforcement agencies for offenses other than those listed in s.165.83(1)(c). All subjects in the database are uniquely identified by fingerprints. In addition, courts and prosecutors submit disposition information for those arrest cards submitted by the law enforcement agencies.
Arrests without supporting fingerprints are not included in the criminal history database.
Why may all offenses not be in the database? Not all court cases may see the defendant in the custody of a law enforcement agency. If the court does not refer these non-custodial cases to a law enforcement agency for booking, fingerprints may not be submitted. In addition, not all law enforcement agencies submit fingerprint for all offenses. Currently, most of the information in the database, both arrest and disposition information, is received electronically.
Background checks in Wisconsin return both arrest and conviction information. Some other states will only release conviction information, while even other states release no information at all. These states are normally referred to as closed record states.
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