Please Note: The material on this website is provided for informational purposes only. It is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by The Fair Credit Reporting Act and should not be used to determine an individual's eligibility for personal credit or employment, or to assess risk associated with any business transactions such as tenant screening.

When you have interactions with a particular person for business or in your private life, you would like to know whether he is honest and reliable. While the criminal background checks may seem like tools which are reserved only for specific public and private organizations, they are actually accessible to all. Find out who can perform them and how.
Service Providers
Employers, landlords, credit providers and insurance companies are legally required to use special services for criminal background checks. These services must meet specific legal standards in their work so as to ensure that the rights of the people who are checked are effectively protected. If you fall into any of these categories, you have to ensure that you will work with an appropriate service provider. Otherwise, you can get into serious trouble yourself.
Unless you have to adhere to the requirement for selecting a special service provider, you can hire any company which runs checks professionally. You have to ensure that you will pick a reputable service provider that has the legal right to perform such checks. The check must be extensive and cover the whole past of the person. The service provider should use all possible sources of information. Ideally, the service will be fast as well as thorough.
Private Persons
It is possible for any person to perform criminal background checks individually. This is now easier than ever before given that the information from vital records and many court records can be accessed directly online. You can start by finding the full name and birth date of the person. If you do not have these details at hand, you can check the birth records to obtain them. Then you can search through the available databases of court records to find out if something will pop up.
Government and law enforcement authorities usually also keep records which can be of use to you. In many cases, these public records can also be found online. National and local sex offender registries are readily available on the web. You can perform a search using the person’s name to see whether he has had any such criminal offences. Generally, you should try to use as many web-based sources as possible provided that they are dependable, of course.
As you can see, there are many ways to perform criminal background checks. You can readily select the one which is most appropriate for you. The most important thing is for the method to be accurate and reliable.