Criminal Background Check for Employment

County court records are an essential component of comprehensive criminal record checks. Records are searched back a minimum of seven years, however, the majority of court indexes go back much further. County court record searches contain all legally reportable information found during the course of the search- subject to any limitations set on a client-specific basis.

Benefits

• Contains the most accurate, timely, and complete data available
• Includes information on open cases, convictions, dismissals, and diversions
• Case records are matched with a minimum of two identifiers to ensure any case information found is accurately connected to the applicant

The National Criminal Database Search serves as a valuable tool and provides nationwide information that has been compiled by state courts, departments of correction, and statewide sex offender registries.  Offering a broad scope, low cost, and high speed, this is a popular tool to locate criminal record information throughout the country.  

Benefits

• Quick turnaround time, with results usually available within a day
• Records from many states & sources are contained in a single search
• Cost effective tool to help direct additional searches

A federal court records search is integral to the background check service. The United States is divided into 94 federal districts, with each district maintaining its own courts, judges, clerks, and indexes that handle cases in which the crime occurred on federal property and/or a federal law was violated.  These federal cases do not appear in local state records, making a federal search an important piece of the puzzle.

Benefits

• Finds federal cases that don't appear in local searches

Statewide criminal record checks can be a cost-effective alternative to conducting multiple county searches within the same state. Statewide criminal background checks are available in most states, and Justifacts performs searches in the states that have this information available to the public. These records are typically located in a repository maintained by the State Police or by the Department of Public Safety. Each state has its own requirements regarding the availability of its criminal records and the type of information released. As a result, some states provide extensive criminal record information while others are more limited.

Benefits

• Provide statewide criminal information where available
• Specific state waivers are built into our Applicant Portal process
• May be legally required for certain industries

Many states have implented a unified court system - a valuable resource allowing uniform access to county records.  Often created and maintained by the state's Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC),  a system often consists of a single database that is used by all counties in the state.  In general, the information provided by a unified court system is real time, with updates made as soon as court personnel enter data into the system.

Benefits

• Provides statewide criminal record information
• Typically has a much faster turnaround time than traditional state record searches

With the passage of a variety of legislation, particularly the 1996 “Megan’s Law” and the 1997 “Jacob Wetterling Improvements Act,” all 50 states have created and maintained sex offender registries. These registries are used to track the whereabouts of offenders required to be registered as part of their sentence. Each state has its own guidelines for accessibility and release of information from its registry. Many states release to the public only information on the most serious or “high risk” offenders, while others have all registered offenders on the public registry. Due to the nature of the registries, as an offender moves from state to state, the offender’s name is removed from the previous registry and added to the registry reflecting the new address.

In addition to the state registries, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) maintains the “Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website”. NSOPW is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and state, territorial, and tribal governments that allows a single national query to determine in which states a person is registered.

Benefits

• Provides information about individuals who have commited a sexual offense and have been required to register their whereabouts with their state
• Fast turnaround time, which records typically available the same day