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An Example of Doing a Background Check
Social Security
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Conducting a
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Steps to Conducting
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Steps to Conducting a Criminal Background Check

So how do you conduct a criminal background check? First, you have to obtain identifying information about the subject of the investigation. At a minimum, this includes his or her full name and date of birth. A criminal record matching only a name may belong to someone else with the same name. There are online research systems or the public records databases that can help you find such identifying data.

Next, determine where the individual has lived for the past seven years, at a minimum. Internet research systems have particularly good historical address data.

Then use free online resources like Criminal Records at The Virtual Chase, SearchSystems.net or BRBPub.com to find available electronic criminal record sources in the jurisdictions where the individual has resided for the past seven years. Look for criminal data from county and federal district courts as well as state repositories and state corrections agencies.

Be aware, only a small percentage of criminal data is available online. Experts estimate that only 25% of our country's public records are available online. Criminal data makes up just a piece of this pie.

Moreover, some government databases—and even some commercial research systems—lack data like a birth date that distinguishes one individual from another. Many online records also lack information about the disposition of the matter. But even though problems exist with using these online sources, if you find matching criminal records, they should save you time in tracking down the disposition.

Finally, to conduct a thorough criminal background investigation, you must consult the original information source. That is, you must request a manual search of the court or agency's records or do it yourself.

Those who want to conduct the research themselves will find help from BRB Publications. The Criminal Records Book provides information about the legal use of criminal records. Additionally, it explains where to find records on the county, state and federal levels. The Sourcebook to Public Record Information (5th ed.) offers a primer on public records research. It also contains a directory of government sources, which provides information about the availability of public records in each state and how to retrieve them.

Finally, if you want to hire someone to retrieve the records, BRB offers the Public Record Retriever Network (PRRN). PRRN is a free database of contact information for independent researchers and local document retrievers across the nation.