The public has the right to know!

This law authorizes crime victims as well as all other New Yorkers to receive information relating to the crime, sentence and release date of persons serving sentences in state prison.

If an individual you are seeking information on has been inside a state correctional facility, there will be a listing in the DOC database. If the individual you are seeking information on has not served "state time", there may not be a listing.

In other words, if an individual was arrested and served only a short time in a county jail and/or made bail, there records may not be available. If the individual was convicted and served state time here in New York State, there records can be found here:

New York State Background Check

Crime victims as well as all other New Yorkers can now use their touch-tone phones to make toll-free calls to get information about convicted felony offenders in the custody of the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) - the state's prison system.

New Yorkers can obtain that information free through VINE - Victim Information and Notification Everyday - available around-the-clock in both English and Spanish.

Vine provides crime and release data on all prison inmates. To get information, you must:

Contact the prosecuting District Attorney's Office to get the inmate's New York State Identification Number (NYSID) or date of birth.
Call VINE from a touch-tone phone: 1-888-VINE-4NY (1-888-846-3469).
Provide the offender's NYSID number, or full name and date of birth or DOCS' identification number (DIN).
VINE - it's now the law!

VINE was enacted by the state Legislature in 1998 as part of Governor Pataki's Jenna's Law, which ended discretionary parole for first-time violent felony offenders.

Note - Executive Law Section 296(15) and Correction Law Section 752 in pertinent part provide that no application for any license or employment shall be denied by reason of the applicant's having previously been convicted of one or more criminal offenses unless:

there is a direct relationship between one or more of the previous criminal offenses and the specific license or employment sought; or
the issuance of the license or the granting of the employment would nvolve an unreasonable risk to property or to the safety or welfare of specific individuals or the general public.