On-Site County Criminal Search
This search is the most reliable and accurate to determine if in fact an applicant or employee has a criminal record, since all felony and misdemeanor records are held at the county level in either the superior or municipal courts nationwide. After establishing which counties to conduct this search in, a qualified researcher will then access the county court records and search under the name and date of birth of the applicant or employee.
If a case is reported, and after EmployersChoiceOnline.com has reviewed it for quality assurance it will then be reported to our client. The case will reveal information such as; case number, type of crime (felony or misdemeanor), filing date, disposition date, disposition, sentence, and identifiers on file (name and date of birth match). Reporting period for this search is 7 years (based on what the current State law dictates) from the date of conviction or release from prison.
There are two types of criminal records searches: index searches and hand searches in real-time. An index search is a jurisdiction-specific database search which can be used to quickly find all records associated with a name and date of birth. However, index searches generally provide access to less information about the cases on file – for example, an index search may provide the case number, specify the charges and provide a disposition date for a criminal record, but may not provide sentencing information, which is usually valuable information in making an employment decision. Not all index searches are the same; some jurisdictions offer more information than others and not every jurisdiction has an index available. Many counties in several states do not offer index searches, necessitating the use of hand searches in these jurisdictions.
Still, index searches are great for a quick snapshot, identifying how many cases exist which reference your subject. However, they are not as accurate as a hand search. For example, if a case was filed very recently, a researcher could “miss” the record if the case had not been added to the index prior to the time of conducting the search.
Hand searches are best for finding the specifics of a case: the exact sentencing, probation violations, diversion programs etc. However, they are more expensive and time-consuming because someone is physically conducting the search at the court of record.
