Criminal Background Check Information

When people hear the phrase "background check", they usually assume you are referring to a criminal background check. This is by far the most common type of background check.

This page discusses how criminal background checks work in general. If you are looking for information on how to obtain criminal records in a particular jurisdiction, please see our public record resource area.

What is a criminal background check?

To understand what a criminal background check really means, it is necessary to know how a criminal record is created. An arrest record is generated by the local police station when a person is arrested. Depending on the nature of the incident, there may be a lag of several months or more before charges are prosecuted. Once this happens, if there is a conviction a record of the conviction will be recorded in county files. Depending on the seriousness of the crime and the state in which it occurred, a copy may also be sent to the state-level files. If a defendant serves time in a state institution or is paroled, their record potentially ends up in additional databases.

We see, therefore, that there are at least four different levels of information in this simple example: arrest records, county records, state records, and correctional records. In fact, even more are possible. Certain offenses go straight into the federal court system. These records are separate from the county and state records. Convicted sexual offenders will often be added to separate registries which are usually fairly accessible. Juvenile records (offenses commited by people under 18) may not be accessible at all.

The problem for a criminal records researcher is that information can be lost at each stage. It is much easier to check state records than to check each county in that state, but often the county records do not make it up to the state level. Federal court records must be searched separately. And of course, it is always possible for data entry errors to occur at each stage.

With rare exceptions, a criminal background check will only give information on convictions, not arrests. If you need arrest records your best bet is to approach the police department involved.

The myth of the universal criminal database

One of the most persistent misconceptions about criminal background checks is that somewhere there exists a database with everyone's criminal record. The most common suspect for this is the FBI and its NCIC database.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, this simply is not true. Arrest records and convictions rarely make it all the way up the chain. Even when they do, they may not be acted upon properly. This was highlighted dramatically a few years ago when the Washington D.C. snipers were active. Even though one of the snipers had left a fingerprint at a brutal murder scene several months earlier, it was not acted upon until 10 more people died. (For those who want the full, horrifying story, we invite you to read our article on the DC snipers and the limits of law enforcement databases.)

Nevertheless, NCIC has built up a powerful mythology and that means that people will try to make money off of it. Beware. Only law enforcement officers acting for authorized law enforcement objectives are permitted access to NCIC. If anyone offers you access, they are probably lying, and if they are not then what they are offering is highly illegal.

The methods for doing a criminal background check can be put into two categories: manual checks and database checks. Manual checks are the more traditional method, but advances in computer power and data access have made database checks increasingly popular.

Manual criminal record checks

In manual searches, a court researcher is dispatched to the court to go through its records. Searches usually go back either 7 or 10 years. Checks may be done at the county or state levels, with county being the most common -- as discussed earlier, the state records may not be complete. This type of search is by definition limited to the area searched. Therefore, it is necessary to know where the subject has lived during that time period. Typically a social security trace is done to determine this.

Manual criminal record checks are the most traditional method, but they have certain disadvantages. These include:

Limited search area.

At best, this type of check will only include the counties where a subject has lived. If he or she committed a crime the next county over, it won't be caught. Because each search costs money, for most screening packages only a limited number of counties will be checked, even if the subject has moved frequently. Searches may also be performed at the state level for an additional fee -- but in that case, as mentioned earlier, some county records may be missed.

Limited time span.

Virtually all searches of this type go back only 7 to 10 years.

Expensive.

To conduct this type of search, it is necessary to do an social security number trace and physically send someone to each and every county courthouse where the subject has lived. If a large area is involved this becomes prohibitive. Many packages offer a fixed price with the tradeoff of only checking a limited number of counties. Certain counties, though not most, charge a fee for searching their records. In some cases the price can be quite hefty -- some New York counties charge over $50.

Results depend on the expertise of the researcher.

Good results require a trained and competent researcher. It is necessary to check for name variations and common errors such as swapping first and middle names on the the record. Various studies, and the experience of many background check companies, indicate that this is a key reason that so many records are missed. Since most researchers cover a very limited area, it takes time and effort to build up a good network.

Slow.

This is probably the number one complaint -- it can take up to several weeks to perform the background check. This may be helped by choosing a vendor with a guarantee of quicker results.

Database Criminal Checks

In the 1990s a number of companies began to computerize criminal records. They purchased court and correctional records in bulk directly from the counties and states and made arrangements for continued updates. Over time more and more jurisdictions were included until these databases grew to include hundreds of millions of records. Increased computing power allowed instant searches, including the ability to check for common name variations and errors such as first name / middle name swaps. Unlike manual checks, it is very easy to search a wide area and for a longer period -- most jurisdictions started computerizing their records far more than 10 years ago; some go back to the 1970's, and many go to the 80's.

Database criminal checks offer fast, inexpensive, and comprehensive results, and this has led to an explosion in their popularity. However, they are not perfect. Some of the disadvantages include:

Coverage is not universal.

While many jurisdictions participate in selling their records to online clearing houses, some do not. Others may impose limits on the data they sell, for example, releasing information on felony convictions but not misdemeanors. Once again, there is no universal criminal database.

Varying vendor quality.

Because database checks are easy to offer, the field has attracted a number of companies with lower quality data and misleading claims. A reputable vendor will always give a detailed description of coverage and update frequency somewhere on its site. Statements such as "Arizona is covered" are useless; the description should give specific sources, timeframes, and limitations. The more sources available for a particular region, the better. Whenever possible the best vendors will always try to obtain both state-level and county-level sources for their data.

Identity Verification

Another difficulty is that of identity verifcation: how do you know the background check information you receive applies to the person you are studying? This is harder problem than one might think, because of the way criminal records are stored.

Aside from the defendant's name, common identifiers include date of birth and social security number (SSN). SSN is extremely useful as each individual has their own number. Unfortunately, this is not always available on the criminal record, and even if it is, many jursidictions refuse to release it due to privacy concerns. Therefore date of birth is the most common method used to narrow a search. While this helps, for very common names such as Robert Smith, it is not always enough.

Sometimes a criminal record is under a different name than expected; for a woman, both married and maiden names need to be looked at, and men may change their names. Misspellings are extremely common, as is the habit in some jurisdictions of swapping first and middle names. A social security number trace can help with tracking down name variations.

Many criminal records will include details such as eye color and height. Sex offender registries may even include a photograph. Whenever possible, this secondary information should be examined to help ensure that you are looking at the correct person.

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