Criminal Check
Comprehensive Criminal Background Check
Order an online employee criminal background check and view past criminal records, police reports, and a detailed criminal history record. An online criminal background screening is a great tool to examine the authority of an individual. Look up criminal records from your past and make sure they are correct and accurate.
What is a Criminal Background Check?
An criminal background check employee refers to a legal investigation involving someone’s past. This is usually part of an employment or a pre-employment background check and helps the employer to make informed hiring decisions. Various types of information can be included in a criminal background check or criminal record search. Depending on the kind of criminal history information required, the background check may involve a search of the state, county, federal, or national databases. Volunteer organizations and employers can use this particular background check to determine honesty, trustworthiness, and capability of a potential candidate. Based on the results employers also get to assess whether a candidate is a threat to others or not. Screening can go a long way in mitigating risk, protecting company assets, and avoiding lawsuits pertaining to negligent hiring. Employees can also take a personal criminal background check and present in front of the employers during the interview.
Volunteer organizations and employers can use this particular background check to determine the honesty, trustworthiness, and capability of a potential candidate. Based on the results employers also get to assess whether a candidate is a threat to others or not. Screening can go a long way in mitigating risk, protecting company assets, and avoiding lawsuits pertaining to negligent hiring.
Employees can also take a personal criminal background check and present in front of the employers during the interview.
What information will the employers check?
Online criminal background checks typically show up criminal records, including misdemeanor and felony convictions, warrants, arrests, incarceration records, court records, and sex offenses.
Here are a few types of background checks performed during criminal record search that employers get done for different types of criminal information:
- County criminal search: Local criminal record searches are focused on the jurisdiction within the boundaries of a particular county. They usually display a history of misdemeanors, felony, infractions, arrest records, warrants, dismissals, imprisonment, and probations. County criminal searches are usually the most effective type of search, but searching multiple counties looking where a subject has lived, worked, and gone to school is considered the gold standard.
- Statewide search: Statewide criminal record searches tend to reveal any criminal activity, such as traffic violations, misdemeanors, and felonies occurring within a state. This includes all counties within that particular state. Not all states however have access to all criminal records in the state. It is important to know which states can provide information that is useful.
- Federal search: Federal criminal record searches make use of data from United States courthouses, including district and appellate courts. There are 94 federal districts that are organized into 12 circuits each of which has a court of appeals. These background checks reveal all types of federal crimes, such as fraud, kidnapping, theft, and tax evasion among others.
- National criminal database search: This type of background check compiles data from all sources, including state sex offender registries and county and state repository databases for a broader look at a person’s criminal history.
What shows up on a criminal background screening
When you look up criminal records of somebody, different online personal criminal record checks can reveal different portions of an individual’s criminal history. Most employers ask for misdemeanor and felony convictions. They also look for pending criminal cases. In some instances, criminal background searches may reveal active warrants, incarceration as an adult, and infractions that occurred within the past seven years.
Background screening companies may not report conviction-less arrests so as to be in compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines. Sex Offender Registry check is almost always a part of criminal background checks and reveals whether an applicant is registered as a current sex offender in any state.
There are time limitations as imposed by state and federal laws that determine the kind of information that can be reported in a criminal background check when part of an employment background screening. Almost all background checks will report the nature of the crime committed, disposition date, and final disposition (pending, conviction, or non-conviction.)
How long does a criminal check take?
Typically, an online criminal background check does not take more than 72 hours. However, there are a lot of factors that determine the time taken when you look up criminal records. It depends upon the kind of searches required, the way data is stored, the area where the check is performed, and the way information is retrieved.
Criminal background checks restricted by the United States borders can be completed within 24 to 48 business hours. This is barring court staffing issues and business holidays. However, applicants with international histories may need anywhere from 72 hours to 30 days for a criminal background screening.
This depends upon the authorities involved, and the time is taken for the process to move forward. Manual record checking, multiple matches, and liaising with foreign authorities can delay the process.
How do I get started with a criminal background check?
Getting started on conducting a background check is easy and quite frankly crucial. You are not alone in wanting to ensure that your selected candidates have a clean criminal history. Almost 95% of employers make use of background screening firms before making a hiring decision.
The best way to go forward is to find a criminal background screening company that makes your job easy and provides the relevant information in the minimum possible time frame. You should look for a company with a user-friendly dashboard, built-in compliance tools, and intuitive workflows to make the entire process as simplified as possible. It is also essential that the company is PBSA Accredited.
Different firms offer different types of pre-bundled packages. You can pick one that best serves your purpose. For instance, you may want a Nationwide Criminal Databases search but not a Sex Offender Registry search.
