Author Archives: Criminal Background Check

Evolution of Sex Offender Registry System and Megans Law

Extensive paper chronicles major legislation since 1990 on the evolution of the United States Sex Offender Registry System.  Giving detailed information on each work of law from Washington State’s Community Protection Act, the Jacob Wetterling Act, Megan’s Law and finally the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.  The incredibly informative paper does a superb job at illustrating the events over the past two decades leading to the modern day robust National Sex Offender Registry.

Now all 50 US States each have and maintain their own sex offender registry.  Sites like CriminalBackgroundRecords.com give the full 50 State Sex Offender Registry Search for free to all its customers who place a criminal background check.

The paper also goes into extra detail into Megans Law, the story behind the rape and murder of seven year old Megan Kanka, and how Megan’s Law became the catalyst for sex offender registration and community notification within each US State.

Breakdown of term FBI Background Check

How background check sites like CriminalBackgroundRecords.com include FBI Most Wanted Records for free with each criminal background check ordered.

The FBI Background Check press release gives multiple scenarios where the term, “FBI Background Check” is used along with each of their respective meanings.  This term is used to describe varying forms of background checks that involve some level of FBI records or lists maintained by the FBI.  One such list is the FBI Most Wanted List which is a free background check by CriminalBackgroundRecords.com for each of its customers every time they place a criminal background check.

For the curious, the press release also gives a concise summary of the creation and history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) formerly known as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI).  The paper also gives detailed step by step information for accessing and getting Federal Records, especially FBI Records.

Full article: FBI Background Checks

History of the National Background Check

It has only been in recent history that a national criminal background check can be performed instantly through a site like CriminalBackgroundRecords.com.  Although, as the article explains, the current national background check being offered is not in fact a true 50 state national background check.

Currently there is not a full 50 state criminal background check available in the USA.  However, the press release does outline the history of the gradual integration of new states into the national background check; which has caused the national search to become closer and closer to a true 50 state criminal background check.

The current instant national background check available today does include a true 50 state sex offender registry search for free in addition to the standard 46 state criminal conviction search included with a national background check ordered online today at CriminalBackgroundRecords.com  (including felonies and some misdemeanors).

Full article:  National Background Check

International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL

All our Background Checks include a Free Background Check of the Interpol Most Wanted List Check

International Criminal Police Organization – Most Wanted (Interpol Most Wanted)

Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization, is an international group that facilities the cooperation of police agents worldwide.  Established in the early 1920’s as the International Criminal Police Commission, it has since been known as INTERPOL – the International Criminal Police Organization.  This new name became adopted in 1956 and is still in place today.

Interpol’s headquarters is located in Lyon, France, and currently has 188 countries around the world with active membership.  The organization is funded through annual contributions and takes in almost $60 million per year.

Interpol hails as one of the largest intergovernmental organizations ever created, second only to the United Nations.  Being an inter governmental cross-country police force, Interpol must remain politically neutral as to avoid accusations of only serving the will of the people of one country or some countries and thereby neglecting the others.

Interpol’s constitution forbids them from involvement in these following categories:

  • Involvement in crimes that do not overlap several member countries
  • Involvement in Political Crimes
  • Involvement in Military Crimes
  • Involvement in Religious Crimes
  • Involvement in Racial Crimes

Interpol instead focuses on international  public safety concerns that overlap country borders including terrorism, organized crime, crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes, piracy, illicit drug production & trafficking, weapons smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, white-collar crime, computer crime and intellectual property crime.

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com includes a free Interpol search with all of its criminal background checks.  This search looks for Individuals wanted by national jurisdictions or the International Criminal Tribunals.  If a match is made our system will return the details concerning the individual including their photo and date of birth.   Interpol’s role is to assist the national police forces in identifying or locating these people.  When found Interpol seeks to arrest them and start the extradition process (i.e. the term “extradition” used here means the official surrendering of a suspected or convicted criminal by a state or nation).  Interpol circulates its warrants worldwide requesting that the wanted person(s) be arrested so the extradition process can commence.
Interpol releases two types of notices into circulation:

  • When there is an arrest warrant issued for a person wanted for prosecution.
  • When there is a court decision for a person wanted to serve a sentence.

A current case published on February 23, 2010 requested the intervention of Interpol by the government of Brazil to help track down fugitives believed to have fled the country.  Brazil’s judges will then send a national arrest warrant for these fugitives directly to Interpol (they will send it to Interpol’s branch in Brazil).  Then following the review of Interpol officials, Interpol will publish notices to all its 188 member countries, causing instant international police visibility, giving worldwide focus to the arrest and extradition of these fugitives.

Interpol members also spend time training individuals from member countries on many topics including how to prevent and prepare for bioterrorist attacks.  Interpol’s anti-bioterrorism efforts included a five day bioterrorism prevention and preparation course in Wellington, New Zealand held last month from February 15 -19 2010.  Bioterrorism is a threat that does not care about country borders as its affects are linked to proximity not political boundaries.  If chemical weapons were used in a bordering state or nation, the impact would surely affect neighboring nations.

Interpol’s website (www.interpol.int) receives approximately 2.2 million page visits every month.  In 2008 Interpol issued over 3,000 notices which led to the arrest of 718 people.

According to the Constitution used by INTERPOL, the organization is comprised of the following:
(The General Assembly and the Executive Committee form the organization’s Governance)
  • General Assembly
  • Executive Committee
  • General Secretariat
  • National Central Bureaus
  • Advisers
  • The Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files

General Assembly – INTERPOL’s supreme governing body, it meets annually and comprises delegates appointed by each member country. The assembly makes all important decisions related to policy, resources, working methods, finances, activities and programs.

Executive Committee – this 13-member committee is elected by the General Assembly, and comprises the president, three vice-presidents and nine delegates covering the four regions.

General Secretariat – located in Lyon, France, the General Secretariat operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is run by the Secretary General. Officials from more than 80 countries work side-by-side in any of the Organization’s four official languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish. The Secretariat has seven regional offices across the world; in Argentina, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Kenya, Thailand and Zimbabwe, along with Special Representatives at the United Nations in New York and at the European Union in Brussels.

National Central Bureaus (NCB) – Each INTERPOL member country maintains a National Central Bureau staffed by national law enforcement officers. The NCB is the designated contact point for the General Secretariat, regional offices and other member countries requiring assistance with overseas investigations and the location and apprehension of fugitives.

Advisers – these are experts in a purely advisory capacity, who may be appointed by the Executive Committee and confirmed by the General Assembly

Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF) – this is an independent body whose mandate is threefold: (1) to ensure that the processing of personal information by INTERPOL complies with the Organization’s regulations, (2) to advise INTERPOL on any project, operation, set of rules or other matter involving the processing of personal information and (3) to process requests concerning the information contained in INTERPOL’s files.

Information Source:  www.interpol.int/public/icpo/default.asp

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CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is “An Information Enterprises Solution”

Now Offering Professional Verification Services including Education Verification, Employment Verification, and Credential Checks

We are now offering all types of verifications to our monthly billed clients including Reference checks and Credential Checks like professional license verification.

A professional verification is where a trained staffed member seeks to validate certain information that an applicant has revealed, particularly on their application for employment or other signed form.  Renting or leasing an apartment also involves a person filling out and signing an application; which also makes it a prime candidate for professional verification to validate the applicant’s truthfulness.  In the multi-family industry (also known as the apartment management industry) employment verification requests on prospective renters are common practice along with performing a credit check and criminal background check.  Education verifications and specific credential or license verifications are common in employment screening policies to validate that a job applicant does in fact have the specific degree, license or certificate required for a specific position being sought to fill.  If a hospital is looking for an LPN (licensed practical nurse) they need to be confident that the person they are considering for hire is indeed qualified for the position.  This confidence is gained by verifying that such an applicant does in fact have the specific credentials, degree or license required to practice such line of work.

ALL VERIFICATIONS AND REFERENCE CHECKS PERFORMED THROUGH THIS WEBSITE ARE CONDUCTED BY TRAINED PROFESSIONAL VERIFIERS THAT ALL LIVE AND WORK IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Verifications are not performed instantly as the nature of this business requires verbal communication between a trained professional verifier and the verifying party.  The verifying party could be an institution, business, organization or specific person.  When performing an employment verification the previous employer (typically HR, human resources) is contacted.  The verifier seeks to validate information with the respective verifying party.  Professional verifiers (including those used by CriminalBackgroundRecords.com) proactively attempt to speak with the verifying party to gain specific information regarding an applicant, usually to confirm that what the applicant put on their application is indeed accurate and correct.

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is now offering the following Verification Checks:

Employment Verification Check – Our employment verification background check verifies an applicant’s previous or current employment, start date, end date, title, salary, reason for leaving, and eligibility for rehire.  We will also supply the name, title and phone number of the verifying source usually HR (human resources).

Education Verification Check – Our education verification background check verifies an applicant’s school, dates of attendance, and degree or major, and GPA (when requested).

Professional Reference Verification – Our professional reference check verification seeks to obtain a professional reference from a single specified source such as a previous co-worker, direct supervisor, or associate.

Personal Reference Verification – Our personal reference check verification seeks to obtain a personal reference from a single specified source such as a friend or associate.

Credentials Verification Check – Our credentials verification background check verifies the authenticity of an applicant’s license, certification or credentials and gives the date issued, expiration date and status with the issuing authority.  Our credentials verification (credential check) service includes medical license verifications.

More Information about our Verification Services:

  • Most verification requests are completed within 3-business days
  • CriminalBackgroundRecords.com uses full-time professional background researcher’s who are real people living in the United States of America who specialize in employment, education and credentials verifications.
  • Employment checks are conducted under the strict guidelines of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).  Each monthly billed customer using us for employment screening is provided with important employment screening information and sample forms.  Once they are logged in as a member they get access to the following forms for download:
    • What Employers Should Know About Federal Laws Governing Consumer Reports
    • A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
    • Sample Authorization and Employee Release Forms
    • Sample Pre-Adverse & Adverse Action Letters
  • Over 90% of verification and reference attempts performed by professional verifiers return definitive conclusions, with 3/4’s of those results containing completed verification and/or reference reports.
    Definitive Conclusions are defined by the following:

    • An order that is completed with relevant data
    • Verifier did not have a record for the applicant
    • Verifier could not be located or is no longer in business
    • Verifier could not provide a reference due to company/organization policy
    • Verifier could not provide results for another legitimate reason

In the background verification line of business it is commonplace to have to pay additional third party fees in order to complete verification requests.  At CriminalBackgroundRecords.com we pay these fees as they come up for our customers and only charge them $19.95 per verification regardless of the costs we incur.  This is a preferred method as it gives our customers one flat fee with no hidden charges so they know exactly what their fiscal exposure will be, and can budget accordingly.

This has been a CriminalBackgroundRecords.com News Publication – All rights reserved
CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is “An Information Enterprises Solution”

County & Statewide Background Check vs. National Criminal Background Check

County Criminal Background Check & Statewide Background Check vs. National Criminal Background Check

Why there are advantages to using county and statewide criminal checks and why the best
solution maybe to incorporate a screening policy that uses both!

Statewide criminal background checks (with the exception of 4 states) currently can be performed in seconds through a background check provider like CriminalBackgroundRecords.com.  Statewide criminal background checks are currently the most popular criminal background check.  Statewide criminal checks in Wyoming, South Dakota, Massachusetts and Delaware either take days to complete or have to be researched county by county within the state.  County criminal background checks can be performed in all US Counties and take between a few hours to multiple days to complete.

Statewide background checks (at least those offered on CriminalBackgroundRecords.com) include other free searches in addition to checking court criminal records (usually felony or misdemeanor convictions).  These additional free searches pull data from the Department Of Corrections DOC, national sex offender registry (this is a 50 state search) and other independent databases like the International Terrorist Database.  Criminal records found in a statewide background check and the national criminal background check can go as far back as 70+ years.

There are over 3,100 counties in the USA (including parishes and atypical communities) and every standard county criminal background check researches the past 7 years of the person being investigated.  In some cases you may be able to have a court researcher go back 10 years. However, employers typically use the 7-year county criminal check as a standard and can not just periodically run a  10-year county criminal check on some applicants as that would make their employment screening policy inconsistent.  CriminalBackgroundRecords.com can perform county level criminal background checks in ANY United States County and has court researchers available whenever courts are open.

Here is a question that gets asked a lot along with the answer:
Why would you order a county criminal background check or statewide criminal background check when you can order a national background check?

Some of the main reasons include the following:

  • National criminal background checks cost more to perform
  • National criminal background checks currently do not include all 50 US States
  • National background checks are not as current and accurate as a county level criminal background check

It is standard policy for CriminalBackgroundRecords.com employment screening customers to first run either a statewide background check or national criminal background check; and then if a record is found that needs further clarification, CriminalBackgroundRecords.com will conduct a county level criminal background check in the county in question FOR FREE for their monthly billed employment screening clients.  Then the results of the county check goes to the employer and they now have the most current and accurate record available and can therefore make a hiring decision based on it.

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com premier members (members who meet certain requirements – like specific volume amounts) get billed monthly, get discounted pricing and are offered other special features and benefits that can help keep them efficient and effective.  Employment Screening customers get a platform that assists them to be compliant along with documents such as, “Your Rights under the FCRA” and “Adverse Action Letters” etc…   CriminalBackgroundRecords.com offers these documents and others like them to its employment screening customer’s every day.

This has been a CriminalBackgroundRecords.com News Publication – All rights reserved
CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is “An Information Enterprises Solution”

NICS – National Instant Criminal Background Check System

What an NICS Background Check is and related law like the Brady Act

An NICS background check is a search of the national instant criminal background check system maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the purposes of screening potential firearms and explosives purchasers.  In the United States the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act) of 1993 mandates that anyone looking to buy firearms or explosives in the USA now have to have a NICS background check performed on them before being allowed to complete their purchase.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a point of sale system used wherever firearms or explosives are sold in the USA.  An NICS background check is initiated by a seller through an automated electronic system or by telephone.   The request then goes to the FBI who then determines if the applicant should be approved or denied purchase of the firearm(s) or explosives being sought.   The NICS uses the criteria outlined in the Gun Control Act of 1968 to determine if a potential buyer is allowed to purchase firearms or explosives.  In addition to criminal records, the NICS index search checks for other disqualifiers that would prohibit someone from owning a gun.  The law requires Federal Firearms License holders (FFLs) to get the green light from running an NICS background check before transferring a firearm.  If the NICS background check comes back negative then the seller has to deny sale of the firearm to the buyer.

The national instant criminal background check system was officially launched by the FBI on November 30, 1998.  It was then immediately used by all the Federal Firearms Licensees, who since then have been able to accept or deny gun purchase requests instantly.  In certain cases where definitive denial records are not present, but significant red flags are raised, it could go into examination in which case the results would not be instant.   Prior to completing a firearms sale, merchants/cashiers either call in an NICS background check to the FBI/designated agency or perform the request online  to get confirmation on whether or not their customer has a criminal record or other item that would make them ineligible to complete the purchase and transfer of gun(s) or explosives.

NICS background checks are a necessary step in the sale of firearms and explosives.  It helps prevent criminals, illegal aliens and terrorists from gaining possession of deadly weapons that could compromise the safety of unarmed civilians.

* The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is located at the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and has made over 100 million NICS background checks in the last decade, leading to more than 700,000 denials.  It also ensures the timely transfer of firearms to eligible gun buyers. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/nics.htm

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com does not offer the NICS, but does offer the following services:

To purchase a copy of your FBI files please contact them at the following address and phone number:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Criminal Justice Information Services Division
Attention: Correspondence Group, Module D-2
1000 Custer Hollow Road
Clarksburg, WV 26306
Telephone Number: (304) 625-3878

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CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is “An Information Enterprises Solution”

Personal Background Check

Personal Criminal Background Checks

The reasons for performing an online criminal background check on oneself.

For the purposes of this article when we use the phrase personal background check or self-background check we mean personal criminal background check or self-criminal background check.  A personal criminal background check is when an individual person places an order for a criminal background check on themselves.  An example of why someone would order a personal background check is simple.  If someone just had their criminal record expunged for instance and wanted to pull their criminal record online to verify that is was no longer available, they would do this with an online criminal background check provider like CriminalBackgroundRecords.com.

Some people are simply unsure of whether or not they have a criminal record on file.  They may have been arrested in the past or went to court for a crime committed, but were unsure of how the court system works/worked or if they were ever found guilty of anything that may be considered a criminal record.  In this case they are just looking to see what, if anything is out there on them.  These are prime examples of why people perform personal background checks.

Placing an order for a personal background check on CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is easier than you might think.  You do not have to wait days or weeks for your order results; they are returned instantly for 46 of the 50 U.S. states.
Performing a self background check and discovering your own criminal history record is only one example of when pulling a criminal background check makes sense. Two other examples of criminal background check uses are Tenant Screening and Employment Screening. Tenant Screening is when a landlord or property manager conducts a background check on a prospective tenant. Employment Screening is when an employer performs a background check before hiring a new employee. Both tenant screening and employment screening can save a company from big headaches including monetary and legal costs.

About Criminal Background Records .com:
Criminal Background Records .com is a part of the Information Enterprises network (www.informationenterprises.com) and has partners all across the country working to ensure that its records are of equal or superior quality to any other criminal provider in the country. With a seasoned executive team, CriminalBackgroundRecords.com gets you the data you need, delivered electronically, right when you need it. The site empowers its customers by offering a convenient method to retrieving critical information that is not always easy to obtain. Criminal Background Records .com does this for you very quickly at an extremely affordable price.

This has been a CriminalBackgroundRecords.com News Publication – All rights reserved
CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is “An Information Enterprises Solution”

Criminal Records Expungement

The role, process and reasons for expungement within the criminal background check industry,
along with why it uses and needs the criminal record expungement option.

An expungement proceeding is a legal action in which someone with a criminal conviction record gets approved by a court judge to have their criminal record sealed or destroyed.  The current dictionary definition of an expungement is “The process by which record of criminal conviction is destroyed or sealed after the expiration of time.”

There is not one universal way to get criminal conviction records expunged.  The laws surrounding expunging records from file are different from state to state and jurisdiction to jurisdiction.  The process itself is not a criminal proceeding, but a civil action where the person wishing to eliminate a certain criminal record goes before a judge as the plaintiff, and then makes a request for their criminal record to be removed as a public record.  Even if the request is granted the criminal record in question would still exist to certain government eyes, but would no longer be of public record.  To the person getting the expungement, they can go on as if the criminal record never existed and legally does not have to tell any future employer or anyone else about the expunged criminal record.  Criminal records are indeed public records as criminals are not a protected class and their criminal activity (crimes for which they have been convicted of in a court of law) remains available to the general public.

Most often, once a criminal record is sealed or expunged, all records relating to the court case get removed from public record.  In many instances online criminal data providers may still show expunged records in their repositories.  They do of course (by law) have to delete these records, but must be given notice first.  After a judge has formally expunged a criminal record on an individual, that person can then legally deny or fail to acknowledge ever having been convicted with that crime.  This means that the person whose record is expunged can treat the event as if it never occurred.

Eligibility for an expungement of a criminal conviction record is based on the current law of the jurisdiction/court in which the criminal record was created. The person to whom the criminal record is attached to is usually the only one that can petition for an expungement. In order to qualify for consideration of an expungement the individual in question must meet certain conditions before a formal hearing can take place.   Here are some general conditions usually in place in any US State or jurisdiction:

  • The seriousness of the offense convicted of and the type of offense committed (felony vs. misdemeanor etc.)
  • Completing satisfactorily the terms of any previous sentence
  • The amount of past incidents that are on your file
  • You must have completed all probation requirements without any incidents
  • Satisfying a certain waiting period between the incident and expungement
  • Cannot have any incidents that interfere or intersect with the criminal record in question
  • Cannot have any other ongoing or pending criminal investigations or proceedings at the time of request

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com gets requests all the time asking to remove criminal conviction records from its system and to permanently delete them from all source data feeds containing the criminal record.  CriminalBackgroundRecords.com always complies with these requests as long as they are backed up with the appropriate legal documents.  Only a United States judge can grant an expungement.

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CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is “An Information Enterprises Solution”

Data Relevancy and New Precision Search Matching

And other reasons why it is a good time to check out or re-visit CriminalBackgroundRecords.com

More and more of our prospective clients have been telling us that they want more relevant criminal history reports with higher precision and less frivolous and erroneous data.   They want to look at a report, know it is the person they have investigated and have the information they are seeking perfectly clear in front of them.  They do not want to spend their time trying to decipher complicated, confusing and poorly formatted criminal background record reports.

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com over the years has established its reputation as a company that not only listens to their customers requests, but also makes changes and product upgrades according to them.  Over the course of this year CriminalBackgroundRecords.com has made unprecedented upgrades to the overall quality of its criminal history reports.  The two major initiatives they focused on were report-formatting and data relevancy.  The site has also invested heavily in a new precision search algorithm that gives its clients the information that they are seeking without bogging them down with irrelevant or unnecessary data.   In addition to these achievements CriminalBackgroundRecords.com has also made significant advancements in its overall background checking retrieval system, making this a good time to visit or re-visit the site as a candidate for your criminal background retrieval requirements.

2 BIG Reasons why it is a Good Time to Visit or Re-Visit www.CriminalBackgroundRecords.com

REASON #1 – Along with offering monthly billing, packaged background check solutions (including Employment Screening packages), we are now giving better pricing than we were able to offer last year.

REASON #2 – Better quality criminal history reports with a better background retrieval system (which now incorporates precision search matching with higher data relevancy).

Our Proposal to your Company:
We are currently offering heavily discounted pricing for the following Background Check Package:

You get both of the above background checks plus a Free National Sex Offender Check, Free America’s Most Wanted Search and Free International Terrorist Database Search for one low bundled price.

If this is the solution you are looking for, please let us know by sending an email to:  bd@CriminalBackgroundRecords.com and a representative will then contact you straight away.

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CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is “An Information Enterprises Solution”