Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: releasing deceased fathers criminial records

When you say "criminal records", you certainly can examine the COURT records, if not the police records. You can visit the court in the county(or counties) where he had these cases and, with your father's date of birth and approximate years of the crimes, get the records of convictions and then examine the court's files.

James Kats, Esq. www.LAWJSK.com

Re: releasing deceased fathers criminial records

If you are looking to determine someone's criminal background, you can check every case where they were a named defendnat and catalog the outcome. Most State compilations are prepared for use by the courts and police and are protected by law from disclosure to any third party who does not have one of the listed reasons for having access to this record. California's system is likely similar to the rest of the country, but you would have to check with a California attorney to determine this.

As a practical alterative, you could hire a private detective to investigate your deceased father if the information is that important.

Re: releasing deceased fathers criminial records

The answer depends upon what records you want to see. Court files are available for public inspection, but arrest reports and other internal police records are not. Your father would not be allowed to see these documents if he were still alive, and your interest in seeing them is less compelling than was his.