Everything Employers Need to Know About Criminal Record Searches
Do you need to run reliable and fast background checks for your organization?
At Veriswift, you’re more than just a number. We work with each client to ensure the unique demands of your organization are met and that you speak with a real person every time you reach out.
We are committed to delivering accurate reports with rapid turnaround times and fair pricing.
As an employer, you can access an array of tools to evaluate prospective candidates. Searches of court records are an essential component of most background checks.
But of course, there are many different types of courts to search, including Federal Criminal Court searches, National Criminal Database searches, and Statewide Criminal Court searches.
Here’s everything employers need to know about these type of search.
What Is a Federal Background Check?
This kind of background check pulls up any criminal cases that went through the federal courts. This is not to be confused with a national background check, which pulls up court records from various states and counties throughout the U.S.
The search may include records of any cases held by the federal court system in a specific district, or the search can be widened to include all the districts within a particular state or region. In many cases, you might choose to supplement a federal background check with state or local searches to get a more comprehensive picture of a candidate.
What Can You Find Out from a Federal Background Check?
A federal background check will uncover any convictions on a federal level. They are a handy way to reveal cases of fraud, embezzlement, or other white-collar crimes.
This kind of search gathers information from 94 federal courts throughout the country. Here is a partial list of the information you might find.
- Identity theft (using someone else’s identifying information without their permission)
- Embezzlement (withholding something of value from its rightful owner without their permission)
- Tax evasion (illegal attempts to avoid paying taxes)
- Kidnapping (confining and/or transporting someone against their will)
- Interstate trafficking (unlawfully transporting goods across state lines)
- Counterfeiting (creating fake currency and attempting to pass it as real)
What Are the Components of a Federal Background Check?
A federal background check is a requirement for anyone seeking a position with the federal government. It involves searches of criminal background as well as credit history. However, a federal background check may have different components depending on the agency conducting them. Some searches are more extensive than others. For example, if the prospective candidate is applying for a position in federal security, the background check may be exhaustive.
Some possible components include:
- Address history
- FBI fingerprint database
- Social media presence
Why Should You Hire Veriswift For a Federal Criminal Court Search?
If you are hiring for a law enforcement position, or for a financial/executive role, a federal criminal court search is an essential piece of the pre-employment screening process. This is the most reliable way to discover any federal criminal history or lawsuits, giving you the confidence you need to hire the right people for high-stakes roles in your organization.
Veriswift has the expertise you need to conduct a thorough and accurate federal criminal court search with the quick turnaround time you need, ensuring you get the right candidates into the right positions.
What Is a National Criminal Database Search?
This is the most common type of pre-employment background check, and forms a starting point when looking at a candidate’s criminal history. It’s valuable because it brings up information from states and jurisdictions besides where the candidate has lived or worked.
This type of search pulls up records from a wide array of sources including:
- State criminal databases
- Sex offender registries
- County jail records
- The Office of Foreign Assets Control
- Probation/parole records
- State criminal information repositories
- County court records
- Terrorist and other watch lists
- The state department of corrections
- The FBI Identity History Summary Checks
- State Department of Corrections records
- State licensing boards
- The Administrative Office of Courts
- Fugitive lists
- And much more
If any criminal history is found through a National Criminal Database search, it must be verfiied with information from other sources, such as local and state court records, as well as an SSN trace to uncover any aliases.
Benefits of a National Criminal Database Search
Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the average American can expect to move more than 11 times in his or her lifetime.
Given this fact, each of your candidates has likely lived and worked in many different states and/or regions. Discovering any record of criminal history then becomes challenging simply because you don’t know where to look. If you only search the area in which the candidate currently lives, you run the risk of omitting problems that may have occurred in multiple states or jurisdictions.
A National Criminal Database search provides a much-needed starting point, flagging issues so that you know where to look next.
Ultimately, this information empowers you to make the best possible hiring decisions, ensuring that new hires are trustworthy and honest. In addition, it gives you confidence that you have a safe working environment in which all your assets, employees and customers are protected.
What a National Criminal Database Search Reveals
Searching state and local records across multiple jurisdictions turns up data that is useful to inform hiring decisions, such as:
- Convictions of misdemeanors (like trespassing, prostitution, vandalism and disorderly conduct)
- Any arrests that are pending prosecution
- Convictions of felonies (like rape, theft, murder and arson)
- Any history of incarceration
- Infractions
- Any criminal cases that are pending
- Active warrants
This knowledge helps you understand exactly what kind of person you’re about to onboard with the company and to get a feel for how trustworthy they are.
Not sure how to get started with a National Criminal Database search? Contact Veriswift today. We have the expertise you need to conduct the most accurate and thorough background checks on candidates and employees.
What Is a County Criminal Record Search?
County record checks are (in most cases) the most accurate. That’s because all felonies and misdemeanors are processed in local courts and filed in the county courthouse. Each of the 3200 counties in the U.S. maintain and update information about these crimes.
A county court search yields a wealth of detailed information on felony and misdemeanor records. It reveals convictions, adjudications withheld, and pending cases. Individual records show details like the level of offense, the sentencing received, and any identifiers used to match the candidate to the record.
These findings can only be reported within the limits established by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
What Is a Statewide Criminal Record Search?
Not as detailed as a county criminal search, a statewide criminal court search simply yields a big-picture view of any criminal history in a specific state. It’s a helpful supplement to a county criminal search, because it often catches criminal history that county records may miss.
However, the accuracy of statewide court searches can vary greatly from one state to another. In most cases, counties report to state databases regularly to keep these records up-to-date. However, the types of records available differ from state to state.
Why Do You Need a Statewide Criminal Record Search?
Sometimes you need information about a candidate that goes beyond the county where they live. A statewide criminal court search is helpful if you need to search for records outside the applicant’s home county.
However, it is somewhat limited due to the fact that each state has different laws regarding reports from various counties. Some states, like New York, require the reporting of all county criminal records to the state database. But others, like California, have no such requirement.
Because of such inconsistencies, a state criminal record check should not replace a county court search.
Why the Company You Use Matters
When it comes to background checks, there is very little consistency in the service that third-party companies provide. For example, each company has different methods for performing county-level searches, and this impacts the turnaround time. In some cases, searching the state database is a much quicker way to access accurate records; but in other cases, it is not.
A statewide search in Colorado will immediately pull up all county records in the state. But in other states, like North Dakota, a time-consuming mail-in process lengthens the turnaround time to 10 times longer than a county search.
In addition, weather emergencies and illness can result in temporary court closures, further impacting the turnaround time of results.
At Veriswift, we have the knowledge and expertise to conduct statewide and county level searches in the manner that is most effective for your state. Contact us today.