I would like to see exactly what an employer doing a background check on me would see.
How would one go about researching their crimminal record? I would like to know what is on mine (will be applying for jobs). I called my county courthouse, and they only do your record for that county, which doesn’t do me any good. How would I find my permanent record? (The lady at the courthouse didn’t know . . . imagine that).
Your permanent record? What is this, high school?
Probably the easiest way to find out what’s on your criminal record is to contact the clerk of courts for each county in which you’ve been convicted of a crime. Or you could contact the lawyer(s) who unsuccessfully defended you and ask.
But really, don’t you remember what you’ve been convicted of?
There are many companies that will run background checks on people (applicants) for a fee.
One that I frequently use is Clarence M. Kelly and Associates out of Kansas City.
You can contact one and they’ll dig as deep as you’re willing to pay.
Contact the FBI. I couldn’t find exact instructions, but they will send you a copy of any files they have on you. There might be a small fee involved. I would assume that they won’t send you everything if you’re currently being investigated. It’d be bad business to let you know that they’re tapping your phones. Hopefully you don’t have to be concerned with that.
I’d bet that this is where the prospective employer will get their information from as well, though some intermediary will probably be involved. The FBI is in control of the National Instant Criminal background check System (NICS) used for gun purchases, and I’m assuming the employers search uses something similar.
Corrollary to this, I got a junk email a few weeks ago (from some site with a url similar to www.wordofmouth.com, but I can’t remember the name of it) saying that someone was looking into me. The site was more of a “does anyone know this guy?” sort of place, but I thought that it was odd that someone was looking into me like that.
I mean, I’m not looking for employment. I’m not trying to get a gun, nor have I engaged in any illegal activities to my knowledge.
Superdude, look here http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/wordofmouth.asp
Nothing to worry about.
Whew
Thanks, SendIt
Thank you all for your input!
Oh, I’m sorry, you are right. This is just a message board. And this whole time I thought I was getting high school credits. I feel so foolish!
Let’s see . . . your crimminal record, for the most part, is . . . permanent.
Actually, that’s the most inconvenient way. The purpose of my post was to avoid this course of action.
You are making the incorrect assumption that I’ve ever been on trial. The only purpose of your comment was to be condescending.
Thanks, this is helpful information.
Otto,
For whatever reason, you decided to be as condescending as possible, and I don’t appreciate it. Apparently, you think that you are above people that have anything on their permanent record.
Darn. I had SO hoped it would be erased upon my death.
Not that I have a criminal record. The only thing I have ever been accused of is stealing someone’s thunder.
You’re assuming that there’s a central database where all criminal (one “m” in “criminal”) records are forwarded, and that you have some right to access that database. There may be such a database and you may have the right to access it, but unless you’ve been a merry little law-breaker in multiple jurisdictions, it’s probably easiest to go through the couple of counties where you’ve been convicted.
Actually, the purpose of my comment was to provide you with a method of obtaining your criminal record, since your lawyer will keep files on you including (most likely) the outcome of any criminal proceeding in which you’ve been involved. If you found it condescending, then that’s just a little bonus for me.
And, in case you were wodering, one doesn’t have to have been on trial in order to have been convicted of something. There is this thing called “plea bargaining” in which you agree to plead guilty to avoid an actual trial.
I have to wonder why you think you have a criminal record if you’ve never been on trial for anything. Have you ever been arrested? Did you plead guilty or no contest to a charge? If the answer to the second question is “no” then it’s pretty darn unlikely that you have a criminal record.
Oh, this is hardly as condescending as possible. It’s a completely reasonable question. If you remember what you’ve been convicted of, then you know what’s on your criminal record.
One reason someone might want to look at their criminal record is to see if anything is posted that is incorrect, like sometimes happens on credit records. It would be prudent to know about this and fix it in advance rather than having it sprung on you at an inopportune moment.
That is exactly what I’m assuming.
Another correct assumption.
There is no “maybe” about it; there is such a database, and I do have the right access it.
From my OP - “I would like to see exactly what an employer doing a background check on me would see.” Potential employers would not go through county courthouses.
Who wouldn’t find it condescending? You say that the purpose of your statement was to provide me with information, and you present yourself as if you had nothing but the best intentions. The purpose of your statement was to be condescending under the not-so-subtle guise of providing information.
(“Wondering” is spelled with an “n” before the “d.” ) The fact that I’m looking into my criminal record makes it obvious that I’ve been convicted of something. I already mentioned that I’ve never been on trial . . .
You just pointed out, in case I was wondering, that “one doesn’t have to have been on trial in order to have been convicted of something.”
No, I think that you were as condescending as possible. Now you are presenting yourself as if you were “letting me off easy.” Apparently, you view yourself as the Master of Condescension.
Reasonable, yes. Helpful, no. From my OP - “I would like to see exactly what an employer doing a background check on me would see.”
Potential employers DO go through the individual county courts. This is part of what I do for a living. There is no central database that is used. If you notice the background check forms it asks you to list your current and previous address. These two counties (or one if they are the same) are then contacted by the third party company that is a vendor of the employer. The FBI is not contacted, nor is any other federal agency.
So go access it already and stop wasting everyone’s time.
Potential employers DO go through the individual county courts. This is part of what I do for a living. There is no central database that is used. If you notice the background check forms it asks you to list your current and previous address. These two counties (or one if they are the same) are then contacted by the third party company that is a vendor of the employer. The FBI is not contacted, nor is any other federal agency.
If there is no central database, it seems to me that all one would have to do is lie about where they lived in the past to avoid having anything show up during a background check.
I’d be curious about the central database thingy…is this a real database? If so, who administers it? Seems like whoever is in charge of something like that would have some pretty tremendous power over people.
I don’t know if there is one, I just assumed. I don’t know how anybody’s crimminal record could be accurately checked if there wasn’t.
There are central records kept for most individual states.
Mr. Adoptamom and I discovered this while going through our first homestudy to adopt our son. DH had a speeding ticket in another parish (county to anyone outside of Louisiana) from years prior that showed up on his criminal background check. He had forgotten to pay the ticket, a warrant was issued for his arrest, he paid the ticket, and the darned warrant was still there 20 odd years later - a big hullabaloo when you’re adopting a child!
So let’s say I live nowhere near South Dakota and never have. But one fine day, while detouring thru South Dakota, I get a traffic ticket, which I never pay.
Now I apply for a position in Florida, forgetting about and not listing any travels, employment or domicile north of the Mason-Dixon Line. How likely is it that my SD transgression will show up if there is no national database?