Who has access to felony records?

It would depend on the type of job applied for, the type of company and the company's background check policy.

Very few companies do anything beyond a statewide check. Some not even going beyond local county checks.

ETA: Although the government is slowly working on a federal database and has been for some time, a company would literally have to check each state unless the felony conviction involved a federal crime.

As I said above many companies don't do a federal check and most are not going to entertain the thought of the cost of doing a check of each state and concerned counties.

#1Pencil said:

Research question: who has access to felony records? Does this vary depending on state that felony was committed in? (ie do they have different policies?)

In a story, a young man with a felony conviction applies to school and for jobs. Who, or how, could they find out about his past record, if in another state?

Is there a national repository or database of all these? or would they have to know to check each state?

Click to expand...

In today's Internet world you can get a complete pre-employment background check done on anyone in a matter of minutes. Check a few sites out...scary really.

ETA: Anyone with an Internet connection and a credit card!

Lawyers have access to all kinds of background records and checks, especially for digging up dirt on the opposing side. For example, LexisNexis Analyzer says it "helps you increase your strategic advantage when you dig even more deeply as you perform critical due diligence on key players in a case." Also, "it combs through billions of public records with a single search; finds names, addresses, phone numbers, and other information".
On the personal-personnel side, it says "you get in-depth verification and analysis of high risk elements like education, professional license verification, employment history, and criminal records."
Skeleton? In what closet?

Any employer willing to pay a background check firm, and to get a release form from a prospective employee, can run a background check. Most states also provide paid access to criminal records once you've proved you're an employer, but that's pretty hit or miss: the best bet is to use a firm, where they have people who check the court records county by county, and can interpret what they get back. And yep, the ordinary citizen with a credit card and internet access can usually run a rudimentary check from a more questionable source.

For a felony, and applying to a school, it's likely they'd catch it unless somebody really dropped the ball (which does happen). Every school I've dealt with up here in ME does a county-level and a national criminal check based off SSN trace, which makes it pretty likely they'd get something; especially if it's a felony. Most also run fingerprints (I think state-run/supported institutions may have to, though I may be off on that one), which would definitely catch a felony.

There is indeed a national database, though it's very much a work in progress. But if your character committed a felony, the chances of him hiding that fact from a school are slim. They would have to either not run a check, or not run a very comprehensive one.

Also, depends on the felony, how long ago, classification. Some records can be expunged, which will not show in a basic check.

#1Pencil said:

Research question: who has access to felony records? Does this vary depending on state that felony was committed in? (ie do they have different policies?)

In a story, a young man with a felony conviction applies to school and for jobs. Who, or how, could they find out about his past record, if in another state?

Is there a national repository or database of all these? or would they have to know to check each state?

Click to expand...

They would ASK HIM on the employment app, and run a background check for the states he had lived in. If he lies about the conviction, they can fire him.

Convictions are public records, and are available online or at the relevant state court's records office.

If the conviction was for a sex crime, there are many databases that anyone can search to find the information. You can find these databases here:

http://www.publicrecordswire.com/categories/Criminal

GAWD, I want a LexisNexis account.

Just sayin'...

A couple of things that may interest you, 1. To get felony information: an example might be if you were looking to get info on a murder, or to see if a perp had been caught, you have to go to the police and get written permission from the victims family to access the police files. HARD TO DO. Also, all felonies go on the homeland security data base and are shared with both the mexican and canadian gov'ts. Moral of the story is that if you have a felony on your record even if you paid your debt, you will be prohibited from entering either country.

FBI has the NCIC database for felonies. Local police do not have permission and must go through FBI with a number and for a opened investigative case which they are working on to get additional history.

#1Pencil said:

Research question: who has access to felony records? Does this vary depending on state that felony was committed in? (ie do they have different policies?)

Click to expand...

I understand that all felony convictions, in fact all criminal convictions, even minor things such as speeding tickets, are public record. That doesn't neccesarily mean they're easy to access, but it's certainly possible.

#1Pencil said:

In a story, a young man with a felony conviction applies to school and for jobs. Who, or how, could they find out about his past record, if in another state?

Is there a national repository or database of all these? or would they have to know to check each state?

Click to expand...

Presuming they DO the background check (it may be 'required' for the job but there are probably a few horror stories of convicted child molestors getting hired as puiblic schoolteachers), I imagine a Lexis-Nexis check would find all state convictions, presuming they use that. Any competent P.I. or background checker should do that, as well as other similar databases and do general Internet searches.

Horseshoes said:

Also, depends on the felony, how long ago, classification. Some records can be expunged, which will not show in a basic check.

Click to expand...

I was wondering about that. With physical records, you can physically remove the sheet of paper from the courthouse records that state the conviction (though this doesn't remove any possible news stories about the conviction). But with more and more public records being made available on the Internet, and with caching (by Google, archive.org and who knows who else), info that was once on a webslte with any popularity can quite likely be currently found somewhere else.

Tsu Dho Nimh said:

They would ASK HIM on the employment app, and run a background check for the states he had lived in. If he lies about the conviction, they can fire him.

Convictions are public records, and are available online or at the relevant state court's records office.

Click to expand...

Perhaps not everything (yet), but more and more of this stuff is indeed available online.

giusti said:

GAWD, I want a LexisNexis account.

Just sayin'...

Click to expand...

It's surely neccesary if you're in any business related to law, but as I was just saying, much public and government info is available for free and is conveniently indexed by Google (and other search engines).

Don Allen said:

A couple of things that may interest you, 1. To get felony information: an example might be if you were looking to get info on a murder, or to see if a perp had been caught, you have to go to the police and get written permission from the victims family to access the police files. HARD TO DO.

Click to expand...

I suppose it depends on what you want, but it seems to me that basic info on a murder would have been reported in local newspapers (and thus can often be found online).

Don Allen said:

Also, all felonies go on the homeland security data base and are shared with both the mexican and canadian gov'ts. Moral of the story is that if you have a felony on your record even if you paid your debt, you will be prohibited from entering either country.

Click to expand...

A few years ago there was a big international Alcoholics Anonymous convention in Canada, and many US members who wanted to go couldn't because they had DUI and other convictions and Canada wouldn't let them in.

#1Pencil said:

Research question: who has access to felony records? Does this vary depending on state that felony was committed in? (ie do they have different policies?)
In a story, a young man with a felony conviction applies to school and for jobs. Who, or how, could they find out about his past record, if in another state?
Is there a national repository or database of all these? or would they have to know to check each state?

Click to expand...

A lawyer could probably find out. Online legal databases (Westlaw/Lexis) have a LOT of records--public records (marriage etc.), property ownership, records of people who have ever sued someone or been sued, and yes, criminal records. The records in the databases are imperfect because different states handle them differently, but any lawyer in the country--any ACTIVE lawyer that is, one who works as a lawyer or law professor and thus has access to online legal databases--can get what's on there. And it's not just felonies; I once found a record of a speeding ticket a friend got over twenty years ago. You may have to check state by state for some types of records, but that's not hard, it just takes more time.

A couple of years ago even law students could access these records, but it's possible that Westlaw and/or Lexis have changed that by now.

ETA: "what they said" (about how anyone can get this info if they have web access and a credit card...)

http://www.johnhoward.ab.ca/PUB/A5.htm
might help

Not saying that my employer might do this or anything because it's questionable legal, but I know that in my state, you can type in a phrase in Google and there is a link to the state records. It's public information and you can check out anything on anyone within mere moments.

Hypothetically speaking, there may have been an incident where an employer did this while a certain manager was getting ready to interview someone and, luckily, called the manager for a "phone call" mid-interview because the check turned up armed robbery, cocaine possession w/ intent to deliver, and 1st degree sexual assault.

Technically, I think an employer is supposed to have potential employees sign a release form for what information they are looking at, but with the internet, I'm sure there are many companies who don't!

From KIMMI:
<i>FBI has the NCIC database for felonies. Local police do not have permission and must go through FBI with a number and for a opened investigative case which they are working on to get additional history.</i>

This is untrue.

Every agency who signs on and becomes a user agency for NCIC is able to access any felony record a person has from any state. They do NOT have to ask the FBI for permission every time they run that person. All the officer needs is a *reason* to run that person and obtain their criminal history.

When a person does an NCIC check, there is actually three different levels. There's the NCIC wanted check...which is felony warrants from other states - this one is an automatic run whenever an officer does a 'records check' - even when they run a driver's license.

The next is to see if a felony record exists - it also gives out certain other information. This is the first step in obtaining the third option which is a full criminal history on the person. Okay, it may not have all the *details* of the crime...but it does list charge and disposition (conviction, sentence, not convicted, etc).

In my former job I probably ran about two or three of these felony record checks a month. Not once did I ever make a telephone call to the FBI or in any other way ask for their permission.

HOWEVER - there ARE guidelines for when/where/why you can obtain the third option. And misuse of this system is a federal crime.

As for the original post...I believe it's actually required now for anyone working in a school to have a criminal background done. Which the school system will contact their local sheriff's department (or large metropolitan police department) and ask to have that done. The person applying for the position will need to go down to the station and be fingerprinted.

Rabe...

Most companies that run background checks use a background check company. They'll run whatever the employer tells them to run (as long as they offer the service): county criminal checks, federal criminal checks, education verification, employment verification, SSN verification, etc.

What they run is based on information obtained from the potential employee. If you tell them you lived in X county but neglect to mention that you lived in Y county, they'll run X but won't know to run Y. If your guy lies on his application and instead of saying he lived in Michigan for five years and Ohio for five years he says he lived in Michigan for ten years, probably the company won't question this and will only run a Michigan criminal check. If he gets caught later, of course, he's screwed and will probably get fired for lying on his application even if they would've been okay with his felony.

I believe companies can only go back seven years (that's been the case at the ones where I've worked in CA), so if his felony was more than seven years ago, they can't legally take it into consideration. And they do have to get his permission to check his background. Of course, if he denies permission they'll deny consideration for employment.

#1Pencil said:

Who has access to felony records?

Click to expand...

I do and it looks like you've been bad... no wonder #2 is the standard operating pencil.

Rabe is correct (mostly -- I'd add the small nitpicky notes that it's not an agency user account but an individual one to get into NCIC, and that very often results will return "disposition unreported" which sometimes means the case is still open and sometimes means its outcome wasn't coded in a way the system could understand).

There's a lot of inaccurate information elsewhere in this thread, btw. I work in criminal justice and have used different parts of this process regularly across my various unit assignments, so I'm reasonably familiar with how the process works.

In real life, universities very rarely run students' background checks. Usually my office had to take the initiative and tell them that so-and-so was, in fact, a convicted drug dealer carrying around an illegal gun, and therefore just lost his federal financial aid. Otherwise it seems to be a really low priority. I honestly doubt that the big state schools bother checking their applicants. Running 20,000 background checks a year would be a pain in the butt, and I know kids with felony records (both juvenile and adult) get into college regularly.

Employers' policies vary, and what kind of searches they ran would depend on what kind of jobs your character was seeking and what type of employers had them. If he's applying to be an AUSA? Full background check, including calls to personal references and past employers. If he's going to be a burger flipper at McDonald's? Not so much.

LianeW said:

Rabe is correct (mostly -- I'd add the small nitpicky notes that it's not an agency user account but an individual one to get into NCIC, and that very often results will return "disposition unreported" which sometimes means the case is still open and sometimes means its outcome wasn't coded in a way the system could understand).

Click to expand...

I like being nitpicky so I'll put back that it's actually called a 'user agency' that has access. Within that agency are those who are given access via their own personal account and password. This is done to create a system of responsibility.

After all, you wouldn't want to send the *wrong* person to federal prison would you! Well...if I were misusing the system, then yes, yes I would want that!

As for 'no disposition on record' - I like how you cleverly avoided the 'lazy court clerk' syndrome! Which, as we all know (those of us who have to deal with court clerks mostly) is the more likely case!