Criminal Record..where To Find It

By Author: Mark Reardon
Total Articles: 2
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If you are an employer and you have a prospective employee that you are interested in hiring you might want to do a criminal background check and the information is often readily available. You can acquire the information in various ways including using the internet but the most important factor is the jurisdiction that the crime falls under. These national records can typically be acquired by the public without having to procure the approval of a government authority.

The records that fall into the non-public category are maintained by government agencies and are typically only available to firms involved in criminal justice that have received approval and also a variety of government agencies have access.

Government Agencies

Most state law enforcement agencies, county and city law enforcement agencies and federal courts keep their own criminal record databases and some of them are available on websites. Some are available to the public and a number of the government agencies' databases are primarily shared by law enforcement agencies and are not available for public review. Some of the agencies that allow ...
... public access charge a fee while others allow access to their databases for free.

Criminal Histories Online

In the old days a person might go to a courthouse to search for criminal records but now you can search online. There are private companies that have compiled large criminal databases and most of these firms charge a fee however some let you access the criminal records for free. The internet has created a situation that gives people the opportunity to shop around the internet for the best deals for viewing the records of individuals. Employers can do employment background checks on potential employees.

The typical information available for the public at government law enforcement agencies websites are items such as names of defendants, their case numbers and a date. Some law enforcement agencies do provide the disposition and penal code violations while others do not make them available to the public.

If you choose to not use the internet while searching for information about an individual's criminal record it can become very time consuming. You have to request the criminal records from every jurisdiction that the individual resided in during his adult lifetime. To do a competent search you will also have to check with state and federal agencies.

Most of these agencies will charge you a fee to have access to the records. To make sure you receive the correct records as well as all the criminal records for an individual you need to have the person's legal name, other names he might have used for identification, a social security number as well as a date of birth. The process for acquiring the criminal records offline vary depending on the government agency that you are dealing with and the reasons you give to the agency for desiring the criminal records.

Instant Search and Delayed Search

Two variations used for searching for criminal records on the internet: the instant search and what is known as the delayed search. If the state law enforcement agencies you are interested in have an instant search program available you will receive your records very quickly, however instant search is not available in all states. The advantage of using a website that uses the delayed search approach to obtaining records is that they usually provide you with more information.

While searching the criminal history of a person on government websites you will notice the procedure is different from states to state, from county to county and the options for searching at the different federal agencies differ. Some of the useful websites for gathering information from criminal records are virtualchase.com, freerepublic.com, searchsystems.com and efindoutthetruth.com. You can also find information concerning a person's criminal history at journalismnet.com. The internet has made searching for criminal records fast and easy.
If you are an employer and you have a prospective employee that you are interested in hiring you might want to do a criminal background check and the information is often readily available. You can acquire the information in various ways including using the internet but the most important factor is the jurisdiction that the crime falls under. These national records can typically be acquired by the public without having to procure the approval of a government authority.

The records that fall into the non-public category are maintained by government agencies and are typically only available to firms involved in criminal justice that have received approval and also a variety of government agencies have access.

Government Agencies

Most state law enforcement agencies, county and city law enforcement agencies and federal courts keep their own criminal record databases and some of them are available on websites. Some are available to the public and a number of the government agencies' databases are primarily shared by law enforcement agencies and are not available for public review. Some of the agencies that allow public access charge a fee while others allow access to their databases for free.

Criminal Histories Online

In the old days a person might go to a courthouse to search for criminal records but now you can search online. There are private companies that have compiled large criminal databases and most of these firms charge a fee however some let you access the criminal records for free. The internet has created a situation that gives people the opportunity to shop around the internet for the best deals for viewing the records of individuals. Employers can do employment background checks on potential employees.

The typical information available for the public at government law enforcement agencies websites are items such as names of defendants, their case numbers and a date. Some law enforcement agencies do provide the disposition and penal code violations while others do not make them available to the public.

If you choose to not use the internet while searching for information about an individual's criminal record it can become very time consuming. You have to request the criminal records from every jurisdiction that the individual resided in during his adult lifetime. To do a competent search you will also have to check with state and federal agencies.

Most of these agencies will charge you a fee to have access to the records. To make sure you receive the correct records as well as all the criminal records for an individual you need to have the person's legal name, other names he might have used for identification, a social security number as well as a date of birth. The process for acquiring the criminal records offline vary depending on the government agency that you are dealing with and the reasons you give to the agency for desiring the criminal records.

Instant Search and Delayed Search

Two variations used for searching for criminal records on the internet: the instant search and what is known as the delayed search. If the state law enforcement agencies you are interested in have an instant search program available you will receive your records very quickly, however instant search is not available in all states. The advantage of using a website that uses the delayed search approach to obtaining records is that they usually provide you with more information.

While searching the criminal history of a person on government websites you will notice the procedure is different from states to state, from county to county and the options for searching at the different federal agencies differ. Some of the useful websites for gathering information from criminal records are virtualchase.com, freerepublic.com, searchsystems.com and efindoutthetruth.com. You can also find information concerning a person's criminal history at journalismnet.com. The internet has made searching for criminal records fast and easy.