There is a misconception between employers and their Human Resource professionals that a National or Nationwide criminal inquiry yields all criminal history information on a subject.
Those that utilize those search methods only are potentially lacking key criminal data on their prospective employees. Therefore, it’s imperative for employers to know that there are four additional levels of criminal information available, each described below.
County, State, Federal, and International each provide different levels of detail and information about an individual's criminal history.
Human Resource professionals should ensure they understand the differences between these levels and be cautious when using this information in the hiring process.
County Criminal
A County criminal search is the most common level used by employers. These inquiries search only a specific jurisdiction within a state and therefore, do not consistently capture all convictions.
In New York, for example, County courts do not hear misdemeanor cases at all. Misdemeanor cases are heard at the local, town, or city court level instead.
If an employer is only utilizing a County criminal inquiry in New York, then they are only obtaining felony conviction information. Occasionally, there will be a felony conviction within the County court records.
The only time this happens though is when a conviction started as a felony, was pled down to a misdemeanor, and then was closed all in the same court. This does happen every so often, but it is not common.
Pled down cases are generally sent to the lower court for hearing from the County court in New York. The vast majority of misdemeanors are not captured by a County criminal inquiry in New York. However, in most other states they are.
State Criminal
