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How to Do a Criminal Background CheckAs an Employer or Landlord As a Private Citizen

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.

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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.

Method 1 of 2: As an Employer or Landlord

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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.

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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.

Method 2 of 2: As a Private Citizen

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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.

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.

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.

Tips

Warnings

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1. ↑ http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fair-credit-reporting-act-fcra.asp

2. ↑ http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm#IIIA

3. ↑ http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus08-using-consumer-

reports-what-employers-need-know

4. ↑ http://www.diversifiedriskmanagement.com/articles/hiring-a-cra.html

5. ↑ http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus08-using-consumer-

reports-what-employers-need-know

6. ↑ http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm#IIIA

7. ↑ http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm#IIIA

8. ↑ http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/04/13/how-to-do-free-online-

background-check/

9. ↑ http://www.komando.com/coolsites/index.aspx?id=13919

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 41,299 times.

FeaturedArticle

Categories: Featured Articles | Criminal and Penal Law Procedure

Recent edits by: Krystle, Colecrane, ELamson38

In other languages:

Deutsch: Eine polizeiliche Hintergrundüberprüfung vornehmen, Español: Cómo hacer un

chequeo de antecedentes criminales, Français: Comment faire une vérification

d'antécédents judiciaires, 中文: 进行犯罪背景调查, Português: Como Fazer uma

Verificação de Antecedentes Criminais

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