Background Checks And Criminal Records

Background checks can be done at national, state as well as on international level. Centralized databases serve as a ready reference point for both the background check as well as the criminal record of an individual.

Two main areas which are pivotal in searching for crimes are:

1. State crimes are offences that violate state or local laws and regulations. Every state in the US maintains a record of all criminal charges within its jurisdiction. Few examples of state crimes include offences like murder, robbery, fraud, domestic violence, assault, embezzlement etc.
2. Federal crimes are offences that violate the laws contained in the United States Criminal code. Few of the federal crimes include computer and internet crimes, drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, and securities fraud.

Centralized databases are available, that require every citizen to furnish certain details about himself or herself for easy identification and verification. All the information supplied by the individual is cross checked (using actual documents and evidences) for authenticity before being incorporated into the database. All the background checks are done based on the information provided by the individual.

In order to conduct the background check of an individual or to search for a person’s criminal records, his or her primary name (or all the other names used by the individual) is entered in the database, in the records of all the countries where the person has been residing for the past seven years. If no match is found, then an extensive search can be made in the databases of the neighboring countries also.