Whether you are about to rent out your apartment, are in the process of recruiting new staff for your office, or planning to hire a new babysitter, you might want to perform a criminal background check to make sure you're getting the best people for the job.
Edit Steps
Edit Method One: As an Employer or Landlord
Understand the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA.) This act regulates who can access a person’s consumer report and the collection of that information. Consumer reports include criminal records, as well as credit and employment history. It was passed in order to ensure that the files held by consumer reporting agencies were accurate and fair. It also states that anyone who wants to access a person’s reports must have a valid reason for doing so. As an employer, the easiest and legally safest way to do a criminal background check is to go through a Consumer Reporting Agency.[1]
The FCRA is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. The FCRA allows CRA to report arrests that go back seven years, but some states do not allow employers to consider arrests that didn’t result in a conviction.
Know what a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) is. CRAs are the agencies that collect background information on people and create ‘consumer reports’ which they sell to businesses (like yours) under the regulations of the FCRA. Generally, CRAs cannot put arrests that didn’t result in a conviction in their reports.[2]
CRAs generally maintain databases that compile information found through the sources that they have paid to gain access to. CRAs will maintain databases that can be based on geographic location, the type of information listed (arrests, convictions, time spent in prison, etc.), the type of sources used (records from law enforcement agencies, sex offender registries, etc.), or specific information (like in-store theft reports, which are generally supplied to retail stores.)
Know what you need to do before you hire a CRA.[3]
Tell the employee or applicant that you might use information in their consumer report to make a decision about their employment status. You have to write this information down on its own page (i.e. it cannot be contained in an application--it has to stand alone on a separate page.) If you want to be able to able to check up on the person’s reports throughout the time that they work for you, that should also be stated in the document.
Get written permission from the person you want to investigate. Once you have told them you might use info listed in their consumer report, you have to get their written permission to use it. This can be placed on the document informing the person of your desire to use their consumer report.
Certify that you did the steps listed above with the CRA that you hire. You will need to certify that you complied with FCRA regulations by informing the person of your wish to use his/her report and obtaining the person’s signature. You will also have to certify that you will not break any discrimination laws based on the information in the person’s consumer report.
Hire a CRA. When you decide that your company wants to hire a CRA, you will need to consider a few things to determine whether the CRA you want to hire is reputable enough. Above all other things to be considered, you must be sure that the CRA complies with FCRA regulations. If they do not, your company could get in legal trouble if you make employment decisions based on the info the CRA provides you.[4]
Find out if the CRA is a member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS). This is the best known and most respected association in the industry.
Does the CRA have a business license and can it provide you with references? Is the company insured? If the answer is no to either of these questions, you may want hire a different CRA, as you cannot be sure that this company is reliable.
Know what you need to do if the report contains negative information. If a consumer report contains information that makes you think you do not want to employ that person, you will have to go through a couple of steps in order to keep within FCRA regulations. You must[5]:
Give the person a copy of his/her consumer report. Doing this allows the person to review the report and make sure that the information contained in it is correct.
Give the person a copy of the “Summary of Your Rights under the FCRA” paper that the CRA should have given you when you hired them.
Use other methods to learn about a person’s criminal record. Companies also have the option of running their own criminal record checks by going through specific government channels. These include[6]:
Using the Interstate Identification Index (III). The III is the FBI criminal records list that combines state, federal and international criminal records. However, this can only be accessed by the government and certain employers that have been mandated by the state to get criminal background checks (such as employers who work in daycare, securities, nuclear energy, etc.).
Checking watch lists, registries, and court records. Some crimes get the person who commit them added to a list of people who have committed similar crimes (such as sex offenders or people with outstanding warrants). These lists must be made public by the government for them to be considered valid sources of information.
Accessing law enforcement records. Some police departments will allow the public access to their records.
Looking at state criminal records. Most states keep their own lists of criminal records that can generally be accessed by the public. Most states will allow employers to access these records for a small fee.
Edit Method Two: As a Private Citizen
Visit your state government's website. They are listed under many different titles, and are sometimes served by the state government, and sometimes by the state police. An effective Google search phrase is "obtain a criminal history in [your state]." Look for the URLs that end with ".gov" for the most relevant results. You could also do a search on the National Center for State Courts website. If you use this website, you will have to search every state that the person has lived in.
Some states will have online searches available, while some will require you to fill out and mail in a form. These services generally require you to pay a fee.
Search court records. Most criminal records can be accessed by private citizens at a county, state and federal level. The Federal court system has online records that can be accessed on the ‘Public Access to Court Electronic Records or Case Management/Electronic Case Files’ page (simply type that into your search browser.) County courts will often require you to go to the court to view the files, but some of them have records online.[7]
Use a commercial people-search service. Many of the "people finder" services will include a public-records criminal background check, as well as a lot of other relevant information, although the criminal background check might require you to pay a small fee. While their prices can be higher, you may end up with a more complete picture than a criminal background check alone. Check the reputability of the business by finding their Better Business Bureau rating and how long they have been in business.[8]
Compare the prices of different “people finder” services to make sure you are not getting scammed. Type the company’s name into a search engine along with the word ‘scam’ and see if any results pop up showing that the company is trying to rip you off.
Use a criminal background check service. Like the more generic people-search services, they do a search online for a small fee. However, they focus specifically on criminal background checks from a variety of official sources.
Use Google. Searching for a person on Google can have mixed results, especially if the person you're searching for is named "John Smith." In that case you would want to narrow it down by city, state, and any other unique identifier you might have—driver's license, social security number, etc. If the person has a more unique name, such as Melvyn Snipburger, you're pretty much guaranteed unique results. Most people will lie between the two extremes.
You may find newspaper or recorded clips about the person if a crime was recorded at some point.
This is a very good tool for carrying out a nationwide criminal background check, as it is quite possible for the subject to have committed a crime outside of the state you live in.
Visit your county courthouse. They will have public records available that you can search. The information is generally free, though limited to the county or city where you are searching.
Search social media for a clue into this person’s past. Try to find the person on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. Do some old fashion ‘cyber-stalking’--look at their pictures, posts, etc. to see if you can find anything about their past. While you might not find proof of a criminal past, you may be able to build a more developed picture of the person that will help you in your research.
You can also use sites that compile information found on every social media platform that the person you are looking into uses. These types of institutions include places like PeekYou and White Pages Neighbors.[9]
Hire a private investigator. A private investigator is more than likely going to be the most expensive option--but also most likely the most accurate medium to go through if you don’t want to do the research yourself. Private investigators specialize in finding things out by combining all the possible methods, as well as using their own experience and intuition to ferret out the truth about somebody. They can also be expensive and cannot necessarily accommodate all budgets, especially if multiple background checks need to be carried out.
Edit Tips
Criminal background checks are generally mandated by federal law for applicants who will work in childcare, hospitals, disability centers, and nursing homes. This is in response to growing reports of child violence, including sexual assault, kidnapping, and molestation.
Edit Warnings
If you are uncertain of whether or not you are doing everything you can to remain within FCRA regulations, you may wish to consult with a consultant or government official.
Edit Related wikiHows
How to Check a Background for a Tenant
How to Find a Current Address for Someone
How to Find a Criminal Record
How to Search Public Records (USA)
How to Easily Perform a Criminal Background Check
Edit Sources and Citations
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