Instant Criminal Search API

The Instant Criminal Search API performs a real-time search of criminal records across national and state-level databases.

Authentication

All requests require an API key passed as a header:

X-API-Key: your-api-key

Endpoint

POST /instantcrim/search

Request Body

The request body is a JSON object with the following top-level fields:

Field	Type	Required	Description
clientRequestId	String (≤36 chars)	No	Client-supplied correlation ID included in the response
subject	Object	Yes	The person to search for. See Subject Parameters
options	Object	No	Search behavior options. See Search Options
profile	String	No	Optional profile identifier for pre-configured search settings

Subject Parameters

Field	Type	Required	Description
subject.name.firstName	String	Yes	Subject's first name
subject.name.lastName	String	Yes	Subject's last name — required
subject.name.middleName	String	No	Subject's middle name
subject.name.suffix	String	No	Name suffix (e.g., Jr, Sr, III)
subject.birthDate.year	Integer (4-digit)	No	Birth year
subject.birthDate.month	Integer (1–12)	No	Birth month
subject.birthDate.day	Integer (1–31)	No	Birth day
subject.alias	Array of name objects	No	Additional names/aliases to search. Each alias has the same structure as subject.name
subject.ssn	String	No	Social Security Number

Search Options

Name Matching

Field	Type	Default	Description
options.firstNameExactMatch	Boolean	false	When true, only returns records where the first name is an exact match
options.lastNameExactMatch	Boolean	false	When true, only returns records where the last name is an exact match
options.middleNameMatchOnInitial	Boolean	false	When true, matches middle name by initial only

Birth Date Options

Field	Type	Default	Description
options.birthDate.includeIncomplete	Boolean	false	Include records with an incomplete (partial) date of birth
options.birthDate.includePartial	Boolean	false	Include records where only some DOB components match
options.birthDate.includeNull	Boolean	false	Include records that have no date of birth
options.birthDate.excludeNullStates	Array of strings	null	State codes where null-DOB records should be excluded even when includeNull is true
options.birthDate.yearRange	Integer	0	Number of years +/- to match around the subject's birth year

Geographic & Source Filtering

Field	Type	Description
options.states	Array of strings	Limit results to specific state codes (e.g., ["NY", "CA", "TX"])
options.sources.include	Array of strings	Include only these source type identifiers
options.sources.exclude	Array of strings	Exclude these source type identifiers
options.sources.sourceId	Array of strings	Target specific data source IDs directly

Response

The response is a JSON object containing the original request and a paginated set of results.

Top-Level Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
request	Object	Echo of the submitted request
result.offset	Integer	Pagination offset (default: 0)
result.limit	Integer	Maximum records returned (default: 500)
result.hasMore	Boolean	Whether additional records exist beyond this page
result.size	Integer	Number of records in this response
result.data	Array	Array of criminal result objects

Criminal Result Fields

Each object in result.data includes:

Field	Type	Description
sourceId	String	Identifier of the data source
sourceTitle	String	Display name of the data source
subCountry	String	State or sub-country code for this source
offenderId	String	Unique offender identifier within the source
name	Object	Matched name (firstName, lastName, middleName, suffix)
birthDate	Object	Matched birth date components
matchQuality	Object	Quality of match. See Match Quality
offender	Object	Full offender record from the source. See Offender Fields
offenses	Array	List of offense records. See Offense Fields

Match Quality

Field	Type	Description
isExactNameMatch	Boolean	Both first and last name matched exactly
isExactBirthDateMatch	Boolean	All provided DOB components matched exactly
isPartialBirthDateMatch	Boolean	Some but not all DOB components matched
isExactMatch	Boolean	Computed — true when both name and birth date are exact matches
description	String	Human-readable summary of match quality

Offender Fields

The offender object contains the raw record from the source database. Common fields include:

Field	Type	Description
offenderId	String	Source offender ID
fullName	String	Full name as stored in source
firstName, middleName, lastName, suffix	String	Name components
dob	String	Date of birth as stored in source
age	Integer	Age
address1, city, state, zip	String	Address information
race	String	Race
sex	String	Sex
hair, eye, height, weight	String	Physical description

TIP

The offender object may contain many additional source-specific fields depending on the jurisdiction and data source.

Offense Fields

Each object in offenses may include:

Field	Type	Description
caseNum	String	Case number
caseType	String	Type of case
court	String	Court name
courtDate	String	Date of court proceeding
offenseDate	String	Date of offense
offenseCode	String	Offense code
arrestDate	String	Date of arrest
convictionDate	String	Date of conviction
sentenceDate	String	Date of sentencing
disposition	String	Case disposition

Validation

Validation	Details
subject.name.lastName is required	Returns an error if omitted: "The subject's Last Name is required"

Examples

Basic Name Search

Curl

curl -X POST "https://api.infocusinfo.com/instantcrim/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -d '{
  "subject": {
    "name": {
      "firstName": "John",
      "lastName": "Smith"
    }
  }
}'

IntelliJ HTTP Client

POST https://api.infocusinfo.com/instantcrim/search
Content-Type: application/json
X-API-Key: your-api-key

{
  "subject": {
    "name": {
      "firstName": "John",
      "lastName": "Smith"
    }
  }
}

Search with Date of Birth and State Filter

Curl

curl -X POST "https://api.infocusinfo.com/instantcrim/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -d '{
  "clientRequestId": "req-abc-123",
  "subject": {
    "name": {
      "firstName": "John",
      "middleName": "Q",
      "lastName": "Smith"
    },
    "birthDate": {
      "year": 1985,
      "month": 6,
      "day": 15
    }
  },
  "options": {
    "lastNameExactMatch": true,
    "birthDate": {
      "includePartial": true,
      "yearRange": 1
    },
    "states": ["NY", "NJ", "CT"]
  }
}'

IntelliJ HTTP Client

POST https://api.infocusinfo.com/instantcrim/search
Content-Type: application/json
X-API-Key: your-api-key

{
  "clientRequestId": "req-abc-123",
  "subject": {
    "name": {
      "firstName": "John",
      "middleName": "Q",
      "lastName": "Smith"
    },
    "birthDate": {
      "year": 1985,
      "month": 6,
      "day": 15
    }
  },
  "options": {
    "lastNameExactMatch": true,
    "birthDate": {
      "includePartial": true,
      "yearRange": 1
    },
    "states": ["NY", "NJ", "CT"]
  }
}

Example Response

{
  "request": {
    "clientRequestId": "req-abc-123",
    "subject": {
      "name": {
        "firstName": "John",
        "lastName": "Smith"
      },
      "birthDate": {
        "year": 1985,
        "month": 6,
        "day": 15
      }
    }
  },
  "result": {
    "offset": 0,
    "limit": 500,
    "hasMore": false,
    "size": 1,
    "data": [
      {
        "sourceId": "ny-statewide",
        "sourceTitle": "New York Statewide Criminal",
        "subCountry": "NY",
        "offenderId": "NY12345678",
        "name": {
          "firstName": "JOHN",
          "lastName": "SMITH"
        },
        "birthDate": {
          "year": 1985,
          "month": 6,
          "day": 15
        },
        "matchQuality": {
          "isExactNameMatch": true,
          "isExactBirthDateMatch": true,
          "isPartialBirthDateMatch": false,
          "isExactMatch": true,
          "description": "Exact name and birth date match"
        },
        "offender": {
          "offenderId": "NY12345678",
          "fullName": "JOHN QUINCY SMITH",
          "firstName": "JOHN",
          "middleName": "QUINCY",
          "lastName": "SMITH",
          "dob": "1985-06-15",
          "age": 40,
          "city": "BROOKLYN",
          "state": "NY",
          "race": "WHITE",
          "sex": "M"
        },
        "offenses": [
          {
            "caseNum": "2010-CR-001234",
            "caseType": "FELONY",
            "offenseDate": "2010-03-22",
            "convictionDate": "2010-09-14",
            "disposition": "CONVICTED"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}