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A
criminal record is an
official
record of a person's criminal history. Criminal history and
criminal record searches are often used by potential employers, lenders
etc. to assess the worthiness of an applicant. The information
included in a criminal record varies between countries and even between
jurisdictions within a country. In most cases, a criminal record
lists the non-expunged criminal offenses and may also include traffic
offenses such as speeding and drunk-driving. In some countries,
criminal records are limited to actual convictions (where the individual
has pleaded guilty or has been proven guilty in court of law). In
other countries, the criminal record includes arrests, charges
dismissed, charges pending, and even charges of which the subject has
been acquitted.
In the United States,
criminal records are compiled and updated on local, state, and federal levels by
various law enforcement agencies. Their primary goal is to present a
comprehensive criminal history. Criminal records may be used for many purposes,
including identification, employment, security clearance, immigration,
background checking, assistance in developing suspects in an ongoing
criminal investigation, and for enhanced sentencing in criminal
prosecutions. In the United States, these compilations are unlikely to
be admissible in court as proof of arrest or conviction.
Search Criminal Records Now
Criminal histories are
maintained by law enforcement agencies in all levels of government.
Local police departments, sheriffs’ offices, and specialty police
agencies may maintain their own internal databases. On the state level,
state police, troopers, highway patrol, correctional agencies, and other
law enforcement agencies also maintain separate databases. Law
enforcement agencies often share this information with other similar
enforcement agencies and this information is usually made available to
the public. Registered sex offenders have information about their
crimes or misdemeanors readily available, and Department of Correctional
Services in many states disseminate criminal records to the public,
through media such as the Internet. Usually, the only group in
society that is not subject to dissemination of any criminal records is
juveniles. Some adults can also be eligible for non-disclosure of
their records through the process of Record sealing or expungement.
Some states have official "statewide repositories" that contain criminal
history information contributed by the various county and municipal
courts within the state. These state repositories are usually accurate
so long as the state requires and supervises the uploading of data from
the local courts. Some states make reporting to the repository
voluntary. The information obtained from these repositories can be
incomplete and the use of this information has associated risks.
The federal government maintains extensive criminal histories and acts
as a central repository for all agencies to report their own data.
The National
Crime Information Center - NCIC is one such database. Generally, and
with a very few exceptions, the records compiled by the federal
government are not made available to the private sector. Some private
re-sellers claim to offer an
NCIC record search. In most cases these
claims are fraudulent. Though
NCIC records may not be available to
private sector companies, they still may hold very accurate criminal
records bought from other reporting agencies.
Criminal Records Resources
Following are resources for
searching
criminal records, doing criminal background checks, and
obtaining criminal histories. See also -
Background Checks.
To hire a private investigator
that specializes in criminal records searches, please visit our
Private Investigator Directory.
Also, you may wish to post a message in our
Private Investigation Discussion
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