It's like an episode of Law and Order...minus the late Det. Briscoe

August 11, 2006 5:06 PM

How would I find out the complete criminal record of my father?

My guess is that this might be easier to do in a less populated state. Unfortunately my now deceased dad did all of his crimes in NY state. And nearly all of them in NYC. A crime superplex of records I'm guessing.

Now to make matters even worse, I DON'T know his social security number. And he went by either Harvey or Hirschel (unsure of that spelling) as his first name and I have no idea which is the real one.

I know the date he was born. I know the date he died. I know his last name. That's all I've got. Any ideas?

posted by rileyray3000 to law & government (9 comments total)

I have done this where I live and I figured NY would be similar: go here for instructions on performing a statewide criminal history record search. All you need is his full name (there are multiple slots on the form so you can enter both alternatives) and DOB. Now the bad news: it costs $52, can't be submitted online, and in most cases only covers records since 1981.
posted by Urban Hermit at 5:37 PM on August 11, 2006

Hmm...see if you can find your father in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) provided free here. That will hopefully get you his SS number in case it is of some use.

How long ago are we talking about?
posted by bim at 5:59 PM on August 11, 2006 [3 favorites]

NY has a Freedom of information law under which you should be able to request his arrest records (note that although court records aren't applicable under NY FOI, you should be able to get those with a separate request). Since arresting officers probably didn't have your father's SSN either, I doubt that this is mandatory for obtaining the records. Just give as much info as you can, including those dates plus any addresses you know he used. They can't charge you more than reasonable photocopying fees for actual records found, so there's nothing lost by giving it a shot.

If there's any possibility that any of his crimes would have been federal offenses, you'll also want to submit a FOIA request to the Department of Justice.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 6:19 PM on August 11, 2006

From SSDI, would it be:
Herschel RAY
Birth Date: 17 Dec 1942
Death Date: 7 Dec 1993
Social Security Number: 091-36-6558
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: New York
Death Residence Localities
ZIP Code: 30274
Localities: Riverdale, Clayton, Georgia
posted by beagle at 6:29 PM on August 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

Wow. beagle, was it really appropriate for you to post that here? You're user 7961, so I figure you're not young and stupid. Just let RR3 know that you found the info in SSDI, then let him/her contact you if further help is needed. Maybe it's just me.
posted by intermod at 7:59 PM on August 11, 2006

Lighten up intermod.

The OP has a name (real or not, I can't say) in his profile. So that's not a secret. The OP isn't hding the fact that his father has a criminal history. And Herschel Ray is long dead, if that is the person of interest. So what's the big deal? Beagle did a little work to say the OP the trouble.
posted by bim at 8:33 PM on August 11, 2006

...and if the OP were really worried about anonymity, he could have asked his question anonymously.

Hey, the OP has stuff he wants to know. His father's escapades are no reflection on him.
posted by bim at 8:35 PM on August 11, 2006

Just a note, some of the things your father was arrested for may be "sealed" or "expunged", in which case they shouldn't show up on a publicly available records search.
posted by falconred at 12:54 PM on August 12, 2006

Actually for all the talk that's not him. As far as I know he never went south of philadelphia. But the SS# searcher was interesting. There was one in there that seemed close - off by a few years - but the birthday is right and so are the initials.

So, assuming that's right, what's the next step in searching for info on him in a way that doesn't cost me 52 bucks?
posted by rileyray3000 at 4:34 PM on August 14, 2006