A public record is any document or piece of information that is not considered confidential. For example, in California, when a couple fills out a marriage license application, they have the option of checking the box as to whether the marriage is "confidential" (Record will be closed, and not opened to public once recorded) or "Public" (Record will become public record once recorded). Basically, if the marriage record is public, a copy of the record can be ordered from the County in which the marriage occurred.
Most court records are public record. However, some judges may seal a court record, making the record no longer public. Arrest records are not public record. However, there are some databases that list recent arrests. Localcrimenews.com lists recent arrests on their website for certain cities in Central and Southern California. Arrests for minors are never officially documented as public record.
When defining the term "Public Records," the individual or group involved in the actual record needs to first determine whether the record is for "public knowledge." An example of this is when a corporate board of directors has a meeting and minutes are taken by the recording secretary. The question becomes "Who are allowed to view these minutes?" If there is something discussed that is confidential that may be harmful or incriminating to an individual, then the board has an "executive session." Minutes are usually not taken in an executive session and thus there is no public record of that discussion. If you want a copy of a corporations minutes, you must be a shareholder/stockholder to receive those minutes. However, those records can be subpoenaed for a pertinent court case. Minutes from a municipality council session are public.
Over the past decade, the internet has been a link farm for public records. There are millions of public records sites that either provide public records for free or charge a fee. The next question becomes what can the general public have access to? Obviously, social security number information is non public because of identity theft issues. However under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, private investigators, insurance companies, commercial banks and other industries that deal with consumer fraud have access to social security numbers. The agencies in these industries that have access to social security numbers and other personal records all sign documents that the information obtained will be used only for a legitimate purpose listed under the act.
All of this information may be confusing, but the bottom line is that what are considered public records are at the discretion of the court and we should all be thankful that we do have access to millions of public records that are online and many of them are free to the public.
