Criminal Background Checks.
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Summary
Essential for identifying candidates with a criminal history who may pose a risk to workplace safety and compliance. Frequently used in industries requiring high security and trust, such as financial services, healthcare, education, and government.
Typical Industries: Financial services, healthcare, education, government, retail, manufacturing.
Typical Org Level: HR managers, compliance officers, security directors, risk management teams.
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Criminal records searches separate the honest candidates from those with something to hide, serving as the backbone of any worthwhile background check. These searches span from neighborhood courts to international databases, revealing everything from petty misdemeanors to serious felonies that candidates conveniently "forgot" to mention.
The key to effective criminal screening lies in choosing the right search type for your needs. National searches provide broad national coverage as your foundation, while County searches uncover local courthouse records where most crimes get processed. State searches work brilliantly in states with unified databases, and Federal searches catch serious crimes that cross state lines.
Each search type serves a specific purpose in comprehensive screening—explore the options below to build the criminal background check strategy that protects your organization without breaking your budget. Skip these checks and you might as well hang a "Negligent Hiring Lawsuits Welcome" sign on your front door.
Learn More About CI's National Criminal Search
Learn More About CI's County Criminal Searches
In states like New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Vermont, these unified database searches are criminal record check goldmines, while elsewhere they're practically useless. Our investigators know which state searches deliver results worth the money and which ones are a waste of your time. In New York specifically, our proprietary Cursory Indicator New York™ search saves you $60 compared to the official OCA search while delivering the same comprehensive statewide criminal history.
Learn More About CI's State Criminal Searches
When it comes to catching the big fish—drug trafficking, embezzlement, kidnapping, and crimes that cross state lines—this specialized search is your deep-sea trawler. Our verification process incorporates date of birth and SSN to eliminate the false positives that plague searches for people with common names. County searches might catch the neighborhood dealer, but only federal searches will expose the candidate who was running a multi-state trafficking operation before applying to manage your company's finances.
Learn More About CI's Federal Criminal Searches
Learn More About CI's NY Checked™ Product
International criminal searches uncover serious offenses from all six continents that domestic searches miss entirely. Our global network of investigators navigates complex foreign court systems to reveal felony-level crimes from countries where candidates have lived or worked, ensuring comprehensive screening for your international talent.
Learn More About CI's International Criminal Searches
National Sex Offender Registry (Dru Sjodin)
This federally mandated database helps you identify registered sex offenders before they get anywhere near your workplace. The registry only includes level two and three offenders—the most severe cases—giving you critical insight into potentially dangerous candidates. Consider this check your first line of defense, but remember it's like fishing with a net that has large holes—you'll catch the big offenders, but the smaller ones might slip through undetected.
Learn More About CI's National Sex Offender Registry Search
Sex Offender Registry (State Specific)
When it comes to registered sex offenders, this state-level search is the fine-mesh net that catches what the national registry misses. These state-specific searches include all three risk levels of offenders, not just the highest-risk cases that make it to the national database. If you're only checking the national registry, you might as well be wearing a blindfold while screening candidates—you're missing critical information about level one offenders who could pose serious risks to your workplace.
Learn More About CI's State Sex Offender Registry Search
Cumulative Inquest provides multi-dataset criminal screening for government contracts and regulated industries requiring documented multi-source verification. Cost-effective compliance solution that satisfies bureaucratic multi-database requirements without the expense of separate platform searches.
Learn More About CI's Cumulative Inquest Inquiry
Learn More About CI's Federal Bureau of Prisons Search
Learn More About CI's Department of Corrections Search
FAQs
Find answers to your most pressing questions about our background screening services.
Focus: Searches a vast national database containing over 800 million records, including state criminal records, prison information, parole/release data, and more.
Benefits: Provides a broad, nationwide view of a candidate's criminal history.
Considerations: Lacks complete U.S. criminal court records; best used with State and County searches for full due diligence.
Recommendation: Use in conjunction with State Court Criminal Research and a County Criminal Check for comprehensive screening.
Benefits: Identifies theft, assault, DUI, and other local crimes that broader searches often miss or report late.
Considerations: New York county courts only handle felonies, requiring specialized searches for complete misdemeanor coverage.
Recommendation: Use for all counties where candidates have lived in the past 7-10 years for comprehensive local coverage.
Benefits: Identifies criminal activity across all counties within a state in one cost-effective search.
Considerations: Most states have poor or nonexistent statewide databases, making county searches more reliable.
Recommendation: Use in states like New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Vermont where state databases actually work.
Focus: Provides records of crimes prosecuted at the federal level by the U.S. District Court.
Benefits: Identifies federal crimes such as fraud, money laundering, crimes across state lines, and crimes on federal land.
Considerations: Should not be confused with a National Criminal Search, which does not include federal offenses.
Recommendation: Use consistently for positions requiring high security and financial trust.
Benefits: Identifies misdemeanors and felonies across almost all 62 NY counties while saving $60 compared to NYS OCA searches.
Considerations: CIChecked's proprietary search available exclusively through our platform with 2-4 hour results.
Recommendation: Use for all New York candidates instead of expensive OCA searches or incomplete county searches.
Benefits: Identifies serious foreign convictions that domestic searches miss entirely, covering all six continents.
Considerations: Requires 5-15 business days due to complex foreign court systems and manual record retrieval.
Recommendation: Use for candidates with significant international experience or multi-year foreign residence history.
Benefits: Identifies criminal activity across multiple independent databases in one cost-effective compliance search.
Considerations: Designed for regulatory compliance rather than comprehensive screening; doesn't include name variations.
Recommendation: Use when government contracts or regulations specifically require documented multi-source verification.
Focus: Provides Level 2 and 3 sex offender coverage across all 50 states through the Dru Sjodin database.
Benefits: Identifies high-risk sex offenders who have moved between states or registered in multiple jurisdictions.
Considerations: Excludes Level 1 offenders who only appear in individual state registries, not the national database.
Recommendation: Use as foundation screening, then supplement with state registries for complete sex offender coverage.
Benefits: Identifies Level 1 sex offenders that national registries deliberately exclude but still pose risks.
Considerations: Requires searches in each state where candidates have lived since registrations don't transfer between states.
Recommendation: Use in all states where candidates have resided for positions involving vulnerable populations.
Benefits: Identifies candidates currently in federal custody or recently released from serious federal crimes.
Considerations: Only covers federal inmates; state prison inmates require separate Department of Corrections searches.
Recommendation: Use to verify immediate candidate availability and identify serious federal criminal histories.
Focus: Provides current and recent state prison inmate information with detailed sentence and parole data.
Benefits: Identifies state-level incarceration that federal searches miss, including violent crimes and serious state offenses.
Considerations: Database quality and availability varies significantly by state, with some providing limited access.
Recommendation: Use in states where candidates have lived to verify availability and understand detailed criminal histories.
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