EIS performs hands-on, in-person county courthouse records search or accesses official court or state maintained automated criminal records repositories – felony and misdemeanor as available. If records applicable to your applicant/employee are found, a clear, concise semi-narrative synopsis of case details as to the nature of the offense, date of offense, date charges filed and last recorded court date and final disposition of the case will be reported. Court records are generally searched back a minimum of 7 years and cases that did not result in a criminal conviction can be reported within the parameters of applicable state laws.
In addition, records of arrest that did not result in a conviction may be reported if state law allows and the defendant has been charged with a crime and court proceedings are still pending – as in the case of the arrested person released from custody awaiting arraignment or trail. Arrest warrant information is also reportable if the warrant has been verified and confirmed to be currently active.
Industry Notes: Direct in-person county courthouse felony and misdemeanor criminal record search or direct access to the official records repository is considered best Industry practice. Records are checked by full name and date of birth and each name is a separate search. So, job applicants who have adult history under different names such as former name, married name or also known as names (AKA’s), should be checked under aliases as well – in order to maximize thoroughness.
Secondary sources of criminal record information may be employed to broaden the depth and scope of a criminal records search, such as the multi-jurisdiction, multi-state criminal record database. In addition, depending on individual court policies, there may be court imposed record search fees or access fees that will be billed in addition to our base service fee. (This occurs in relatively few cases however.)
Our report to you will indicate the unique personal identifiers that were used to match your applicant to the criminal record, and our experienced screening specialists will review the particulars to ensure maximum accuracy of information reported.
Statewide criminal records search is available in most, but not in all 50 states. Statewide records repositories are administered by the courts, state police or other designated state agency as authorized by state statutes. Statewide records may be thorough and report all felony and misdemeanor cases, or records could be limited to felony cases only – or felony and serious misdemeanor cases only. In any event, including a statewide official records search component to your background checks, will significantly enhance the scope of your diligence and could uncover criminal records pertaining to your candidate that would not be found during a county courthouse level record search.
Your EIS representative can explain the search variables and record retrieval parameters for any particular state.
(U.S. District Court Case Filings.) Federal courts have jurisdiction over matters alleging violations of federal criminal statutes or constitutional guarantees e.g. illegal drug or firearms trafficking, terrorist acts, economic espionage, interstate flight to avoid prosecution, wire fraud, mail fraud, civil rights violations, racketeering, taxation matters and many more crime classifications.
EIS utilizes the Federal Public Access to Court Electronic Records (P.A.C.E.R.) system to check federal district court criminal and civil case information.
Industry Notes: In addition to the above general federal offenses, crimes committed in national parks, military installations, federal buildings or on Native American land, typically fall within federal jurisdiction.
A search of the US Department of Justice database of registered sex offenders combined with state-specific registered sex offender index search. Records will be verified by unique personal identifiers such as full name and date of birth and last known address, prior to inclusion in our background reports. Photographic verification is often available from this record source.
(Often Erroneously Referred to as: “National Criminal Records Search.”)
This is a proprietary database, comprised of hundreds of millions of criminal records sourced from a myriad of municipal, county and state courts and other criminal record sources such as the Bureau of Prisons. When employed in conjunction with county or statewide criminal court record search, this multi-jurisdictional criminal database will provide a much enhanced records search parameter.
Industry Note: Due to the inherent limitations of this database, its use should be considered a
record search and never used as a sole source or primary probe for criminal records for employment screening purposes.Accordingly,any record found in this database pertaining to a particular individual, will be properly verified by accessing the official records from the originating court of record before we report to you. For the nominal fee charged for this search, it offers outstanding enhanced diligence value. Please ask your EIS representative for more information about this service.
EIS provides criminal record search in over 250 countries and territories. Record access may be countrywide, provincial or local and countries can differ on record keeping methodology, scope and thoroughness. Your Employer’s InfoSource client services representative can provide additional details.
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