WebCrims NY — How to Search New York Criminal Court Cases, Check Case Status, and Navigate the NY Court Records System

What Is WebCrims NY and Which New York Courts Does It Cover?

WebCrims NY is a free public legal information portal operated by the New York State Unified Court System that provides online access to criminal case records — including defendant names, charges, case status, docket entries, and future court dates — for criminal courts across New York City, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and selected upstate jurisdictions. The portal exists as part of the NY eCourts family of digital public access systems built to extend transparency to criminal court proceedings statewide.

WebCrims NY covers criminal cases exclusively. The portal does not include civil court cases, family court cases, housing court cases, or federal criminal cases. Users searching for civil Supreme Court records must use WebCivil Supreme; family court records require WebFamily. These are separate portals within the NY State Unified Court System infrastructure. (nycourts.gov)

Who operates WebCrims NY and when was it launched?

The New York State Unified Court System has operated WebCrims NY since 2005, making it the official state government portal for public access to criminal case records in participating courts. (nycourts.gov; Georgetown Law Library)

WebCrims NY launched with coverage limited to New York City courts. The system expanded over subsequent years to include Nassau County, Suffolk County, the 9th Judicial District, and Erie County — reaching approximately 13 county jurisdictions in total. This expansion history is documented in the Georgetown Law Library legal research guide on New York court records and in nycourts.gov system documentation.

Which courts and counties does WebCrims NY cover?

WebCrims NY has a geographic coverage of New York City (all five boroughs), Nassau County, Suffolk County, and the 9th Judicial District, among other participating jurisdictions. (nycourts.gov)

Source: Georgetown Law Library legal research guide; nycourts.gov court directory. See the complete jurisdiction guide at What Courts Does WebCrims NY Cover — Complete County and Court Jurisdiction Guide.

Does WebCrims NY cover upstate New York courts outside the 9th Judicial District?

WebCrims NY covers the 9th Judicial District and Erie County upstate but does not include all upstate New York counties. Cases outside WebCrims coverage must be searched at the individual county court’s official website or by contacting the county clerk directly. (nycourts.gov)

Does WebCrims NY require a login or payment to use?

WebCrims NY has an access cost of free, no registration for public search. (nycourts.gov) Users who want to receive email alerts when a case is updated — through the eTrack monitoring service — must create a free account at the NY eCourts registration page. The eTrack service is separate from the standard WebCrims NY public search interface.

How Do You Search for a Criminal Case on WebCrims NY?

WebCrims NY provides three search methods: defendant name search, case identifier search, and court calendar search — each serving a different starting point depending on what information the user has. (iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcrim_attorney/Login) Selecting the correct method before beginning a search reduces the number of irrelevant results and saves the time required to filter through unrelated cases with common surnames.

Source: iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcrim_attorney/Login interface documentation. For a complete walkthrough of all three methods, see WebCrims NY Search Methods — Defendant Name, Case Number, and Court Calendar.

How does the WebCrims NY defendant name search work?

The defendant name search accepts a person’s first and last name, partial name strings, or a corporation name, and returns all matching cases with future court appearances across covered counties. (iapps.courts.state.ny.us)

WebCrims NY does not require an exact name match. Entering “Jon” retrieves results for “Jonathan,” “Jonah,” and “Jones” depending on data entry by court clerks. Practitioners who search WebCrims regularly note that surname-only searches for common names — Smith, Johnson, Williams — produce dozens of results; applying the county filter dropdown immediately after the initial search is the most efficient way to narrow records to a specific jurisdiction.

What should you do when a defendant name search returns too many results?

Use the county filter dropdown on WebCrims to narrow results to a specific jurisdiction — selecting a borough or county significantly reduces duplicate name results for common surnames. If the county is unknown, adding the approximate year of arrest as context helps identify the correct case among multiple results with the same defendant name. (nycourts.gov)

How does the WebCrims NY case identifier search differ from the name search?

The case identifier search accepts a specific docket number or summons number and returns the exact matching case — the fastest method when case paperwork with an identifier is available. (iapps.courts.state.ny.us) A docket (the chronological record of all court actions taken in a case) number in New York criminal court follows a structured format: county code, year, and sequence number — for example, CR-012345-24BX identifies a Bronx (BX) criminal case from 2024. Entering this number into the case identifier field returns the exact case record without requiring a name search.

What is the WebCrims NY court calendar search used for?

The court calendar search generates a list of upcoming court appearances for a specific court part or judge — used primarily by attorneys and defendants tracking scheduled hearing dates in New York Supreme and County Courts. (iapps.courts.state.ny.us)

The court calendar search is not available for all courts covered by WebCrims NY — it operates only within Supreme and County Court jurisdictions, not within NYC Criminal Court or District Courts. Attorneys monitoring multiple appearances for a single judge in a specific part use this method to generate a full-day hearing list without running individual case searches.

What Does Each Case Status Mean on WebCrims NY?

WebCrims NY case status reflects the current state of a criminal case as entered by the court clerk into the NY State Unified Court System’s electronic record. Each status value carries specific legal meaning under the New York CPL. A user who retrieves a case record from WebCrims and misreads the status — for example, treating “disposed” as ongoing — may draw incorrect conclusions about whether a case remains active in court. (nycourts.gov)

For detailed explanations of all status types, see WebCrims NY Case Status — All Status Types and What They Mean.

What does pending mean on WebCrims NY?

A pending status means the criminal case has been filed in court and is progressing through the legal process with no final resolution yet — the case continues to show on WebCrims NY with updated court dates after each adjournment. (nycourts.gov WebCrims documentation)

WebCrims NY reflects a pending status from the point of arraignment — typically the first court date following an arrest. A case remains pending until one of the following occurs: the defendant pleads guilty, the case proceeds to trial and a verdict is entered, charges are dismissed, or the case is resolved through an ACD.

What does disposed mean on WebCrims NY?

A disposed status means the case has reached a final resolution — through a guilty plea, trial verdict, dismissal, or adjournment in contemplation of dismissal completion — and no further hearings are scheduled. (nycourts.gov) The specific type of disposition (plea, verdict, dismissal) is recorded in the docket entries visible on WebCrims NY. Disposed cases that were dismissed may subsequently be sealed under CPL 160.50, which removes the record from public WebCrims searches.

What does adjourned mean — and why do court dates change on WebCrims?

Adjournment is the most common status change in active criminal cases in New York courts. Complex felony cases may be adjourned 10 or more times over the course of pre-trial proceedings. Each adjournment requires the court clerk to manually enter the new date into the NY State Unified Court System, after which WebCrims NY reflects the change within its nightly update cycle.

Why Would a Case Not Appear in WebCrims NY?

WebCrims NY does not contain every New York criminal case. Seven distinct causes account for the majority of cases that a user expects to find but cannot locate:

The following 7 causes explain why a case does not appear in a WebCrims NY search:

1. Case is sealed under CPL 160.50, 160.55, or 160.59 — Sealing removes the record from all public WebCrims NY searches. The case exists in the court system but is inaccessible to the public. (CPL 160.50; nycourts.gov)
2. Court is outside WebCrims jurisdiction — Courts outside the participating 13-county coverage area do not transmit records to WebCrims NY. Cases in upstate counties beyond the 9th Judicial District or Erie County require a direct county clerk inquiry. (nycourts.gov)
3. Case was recently filed — indexing lag of 24–48 hours — New filings do not appear instantly. Court clerks must manually enter records before the nightly update indexes them in WebCrims NY. (nycourts.gov system documentation)
4. Defendant name was misspelled in the search — The WebCrims NY defendant name search matches against clerk-entered data, which may itself contain spelling variations. Attempting partial name searches or alternative spellings frequently resolves this issue.
5. Case is in federal court — Federal criminal cases are indexed in PACER (pacer.gov), not WebCrims NY. Federal and state criminal court systems are entirely separate. (nycourts.gov)
6. Case type is not criminal — Civil cases, family court cases, and housing court cases do not appear in WebCrims NY regardless of the court’s location. Each case type requires its own portal: NYSCEF, WebFamily, or WebHousing. (nycourts.gov)
7. Case is a youthful offender adjudication — Youthful offender adjudications under CPL 720.35 are sealed by statute. These records do not appear in any public WebCrims NY search. (CPL 720.35; nycourts.gov)

For a complete 7-reason diagnostic guide, see WebCrims NY Search Troubleshooting — 7 Reasons a Case Does Not Appear.

Does sealing a case remove it from WebCrims NY?

WebCrims NY reflects sealed records as absent — the case does not appear under any search method after sealing takes effect. Users who previously found a case on WebCrims NY and later cannot locate it should consider whether the case may have been sealed under one of the applicable CPL sections. Sealing takes effect within the court system before it is reflected in the WebCrims NY public portal, creating a brief period where the case may still appear in public search results before the overnight update removes it.

How long does a new case take to appear on WebCrims after it is filed?

New cases typically appear on WebCrims NY within 24 to 48 hours of the initial filing — not immediately — because data entry by court clerks is required before records are indexed in the public portal. (nycourts.gov system documentation)

This indexing lag is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of WebCrims NY. Cases filed at arraignment on a Friday evening may not appear in WebCrims NY searches until Monday morning — a gap that reflects both the 24–48 hour standard lag and the reduced clerk staffing on weekends. Users searching for a same-day arrest record should contact the relevant courthouse clerk directly rather than relying on WebCrims NY for immediate confirmation.

How Does WebCrims NY Relate to Other New York eCourts Portals?

WebCrims NY is one of 7 NY court digital access portals operated by the New York State Unified Court System. The common user error is attempting to find a non-criminal case in WebCrims NY — the portal exclusively indexes criminal case records. A civil dispute, a housing eviction proceeding, or a family court custody matter requires a separate portal entirely. (nycourts.gov)

Source: nycourts.gov eCourts portal directory. This consolidated comparison table does not appear in this form on any other site in the WebCrims NY niche. For the full portal ecosystem guide, see NY eCourts Portals Guide — WebCrims, NYSCEF, WebCivil, eTrack, and More.

What is the difference between WebCrims and NYSCEF in New York?

WebCrims NY covers criminal cases only. NYSCEF (New York State Courts Electronic Filing) handles civil case e-filing and civil case record access for Supreme Court proceedings — the two systems serve completely different jurisdictions and case types. (nycourts.gov)

A user searching for a criminal case on NYSCEF finds nothing — criminal records are not in NYSCEF. Conversely, a civil contract dispute, a personal injury case, or a divorce proceeding does not appear in WebCrims NY. The two portals are operationally and structurally separate despite being part of the same NY State Unified Court System infrastructure.

What is eTrack and how does it work with WebCrims NY?

eTrack is a free NY court service that sends email alerts when docket entries, adjournments, or court dates are recorded in a tracked case — it complements WebCrims NY by automating the monitoring that WebCrims only provides through manual search. (nycourts.gov eCourts documentation)

eTrack is the monitoring complement to WebCrims NY. A user who finds a case on WebCrims NY and wants to receive automatic notification of every subsequent docket update registers a free eTrack account, subscribes to the specific case, and receives email notifications as clerk entries are made. eTrack and WebCrims NY draw from the same NY State Unified Court System data — eTrack automates what WebCrims requires the user to check manually. (nycourts.gov) For setup instructions, see eTrack NY Courts — How to Set Up Email Alerts for Your Court Case.

What New York Criminal Court Records Are Publicly Accessible on WebCrims?

WebCrims NY provides three search methods with no registration requirement — defendant name search, case identifier search, and court calendar search — all of which access the same public-facing criminal case database. (nycourts.gov) Not all criminal records are publicly accessible, however. New York law — specifically CPL sections 160.50, 160.55, and 160.59 — mandates the sealing of certain categories of criminal records, removing them from WebCrims NY and all other public access systems.

What criminal records in New York are sealed and not visible on WebCrims?

Records sealed under CPL 160.50 (after dismissal), CPL 160.55 (after violation plea), CPL 160.59 (after 10-year petition), and MRTA marijuana sealing are all removed from WebCrims NY and inaccessible to the public — they remain on file only for law enforcement access. (CPL 160.50; CPL 160.55; CPL 160.59; nycourts.gov)

The following 4 categories of sealed records are excluded from WebCrims NY public searches:

• CPL 160.50 sealing — automatic upon dismissal of all charges; records sealed within 30 days of the final court order (CPL 160.50)
• CPL 160.55 sealing — applies after a plea to a violation (non-criminal offense) rather than a misdemeanor or felony (CPL 160.55)
• CPL 160.59 sealing — available by petition after 10 years from conviction or release, for eligible misdemeanor and limited felony convictions (CPL 160.59)
• MRTA marijuana sealing — automatic sealing of prior marijuana convictions legalized under the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (nycourts.gov)

For complete NY sealing law explanations and eligibility criteria, see NY Criminal Record Sealing — CPL 160.50, 160.55, 160.59 and WebCrims Explained.

Does WebCrims NY show arrest records or only court cases?

WebCrims NY shows criminal court cases that have a scheduled future court date, not arrest records. Arrest records without a court case, closed cases beyond WebCrims’ retention window, and sealed cases do not appear. (nycourts.gov)

An arrest does not automatically generate a WebCrims NY case record. A record appears on WebCrims NY only after the arrested person has been arraigned — the first formal court appearance where charges are read and a future court date is set. Arrests where charges are declined by the prosecutor before arraignment do not generate a WebCrims NY record. This distinction is practically important for users who search for a recently arrested individual and find no WebCrims record: the absence does not indicate the arrest did not occur, only that the arraignment either has not yet taken place or charges were not filed.

How Accurate and Current Is the Information on WebCrims NY?

WebCrims NY refreshes case data nightly from court clerk entries, meaning newly filed cases may take 24 to 48 hours to appear in public search results. (nycourts.gov) The nightly update cycle is a structural characteristic of how the NY State Unified Court System transmits data to public-access portals — it is not a technical limitation that is likely to change, because it reflects the manual clerk-entry process at the courthouse level that precedes any electronic update.

How often does WebCrims NY update its case data?

WebCrims NY updates case data nightly — court clerks manually enter docket changes during business hours, and those updates are reflected in the public portal within 24 hours of entry, not in real time. (nycourts.gov)

WebCrims NY has a data refresh rate of nightly clerk-entered updates with a 24–48 hour lag for new filings. (nycourts.gov) The implication for users monitoring an active case: a hearing held on Monday at 10:00 AM may not show the adjournment date on WebCrims NY until Tuesday morning at the earliest. Practitioners who require same-day docket verification for court filings should not rely on WebCrims NY as their sole source — the court clerk’s office for the relevant courthouse provides authoritative and current information.

What should you do when WebCrims shows an incorrect or outdated court date?

When a WebCrims NY court date appears incorrect, contact the court clerk’s office for the relevant courthouse directly — clerk records are authoritative and update faster than the WebCrims NY public portal. (nycourts.gov)

WebCrims NY reflects clerk-entered data and does not contain an independent verification mechanism. An incorrect date on WebCrims NY most commonly results from one of two causes: the adjournment has not yet been entered by the clerk (24–48 hour lag), or the clerk’s data entry contained an error. In either case, the courthouse clerk for the specific court part is the authoritative source. WebCrims NY provides the court part assignment (for example, AP-1 in Manhattan Criminal Court), which directs the user to the correct office for verification.

WebCrims NY’s accuracy depends directly on the accuracy and timeliness of court clerk data entry across all participating jurisdictions. This is both the portal’s primary limitation and the reason the NY State Unified Court System provides the eTrack monitoring service — users who subscribe to a case via eTrack NY Courts — How to Set Up Email Alerts for Your Court Case receive email notifications as clerk entries are made, reducing the need for repeated manual WebCrims NY checks between court dates.