Each state has a federal court system. Federal courts are divided by territories within the state and broken down into and termed districts. Some states have as few as one district court. All cases prosecuted at the federal level are considered federal offenses and would never enter a county or state court system. The most frequent cases prosecuted at the federal level include:

• Federal drug violations
• Illegal firearm possession/cases
• Bank robbery/bank fraud
• Social Security/identity fraud
• Internet and child pornography

Federal court records are searched first by the records kept on file. Prior records must be obtained from national repositories, increasing the cost and turn-around time.