Last updated: February 25, 2026
Our Sources
TNDocket aggregates criminal justice records from official government sources across all 95 Tennessee counties. Every record on our platform originates from a public government database or was obtained through a formal public records request.
Tennessee Public Records Act
Our primary legal authority for obtaining records is the Tennessee Public Records Act (T.C.A. § 10-7-503), which guarantees public access to government records including booking records, arrest records, and mugshot photographs. Tennessee courts have consistently upheld the public's right to access these records.
County Jail Records
The majority of our data comes from county jail booking systems. When a person is booked into a Tennessee county jail, the following information becomes part of the public record:
- Full name and date of birth
- Booking date and time
- Charges filed at the time of booking
- Booking photograph (mugshot)
- Bond amount and conditions
- Arresting agency
Each county in Tennessee operates its own jail management system. Data completeness varies by county — some provide detailed charge information, booking numbers, and facility details, while others provide only basic booking data. We display whatever information is available from each source.
Court Records
Court case information, including case numbers, court dates, and disposition status, is sourced from Tennessee court clerk offices and public court management systems.
TCA Charge Classification
We cross-reference all criminal charges against the Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) to provide standardized charge descriptions, severity classifications (felony, misdemeanor, violation), and links to the relevant statute. Our TCA database covers thousands of criminal offense codes. Browse our TCA Statutes index for details.
Data Freshness
Update frequency varies significantly by county. Some counties publish booking data through online jail management systems that we can monitor continuously — for these counties, new records typically appear on TNDocket within minutes to hours.
Other counties do not publish records online and are served through formal public records requests under the Tennessee Public Records Act. Tennessee law requires government agencies to respond "promptly" to records requests, but in practice response times range from same-day to several business days. For counties served by TPRA request, records may lag up to one to two weeks behind real-time — or longer if a county is slow to comply.
We are transparent about this. Each county page on TNDocket displays the expected update frequency and the date data was last received. We track actual response times and update these estimates as we gather more data. We cannot control how quickly a county fulfills records requests, but we request new data as frequently as possible.
Historical records are available from the date each county was added to our system.
Data Accuracy
TNDocket displays records exactly as received from government sources. We do not edit, alter, or embellish record content. If a source record contains an error (misspelled name, incorrect charge code, wrong date), that error will be reflected in our display until corrected at the source.
If you find an inaccuracy that originated from a government source, we recommend contacting the issuing county directly to request a correction. Once corrected at the source, our records will update automatically. You may also contact us to report errors.
Coverage
TNDocket currently covers all 95 Tennessee counties. Coverage depth varies by county based on their data systems and records availability. We are continuously working to expand and improve coverage across all counties.