All about criminal record checks

1. Why check?

Crminal record checks are becoming more and more common as people from all walks of life discover that there are can be unpleasant things in the background of someone they might be thinking about employing, allowing to rent their property, entering into a close personal relationship with or in some other way giving their trust to another person.  Criminal record checks can help to establish that a person is free from any serious prior wrongdoing.

2. What are the major issues with criminal record checks?

In some jusrisdictions, privacy is a concern for agencies releasing criminal records although these restrictions are often not a strong for records such as health, financial and employment records because it is recognised that there is a strong public interest reason for allowing the general public to access criminal records.   Also, in some jurisdictions, criminal record checks will not show the juvenile criminal record of a person, because they are considered to have reached an age of majority and their record is wiped clean.

3. How do I do a criminal record check?

Before the advent of the internet, this was a time consuming and sometimes expensive process which only large organisations could really afford to do. However, these days, there are a massive number of online legal services which offer access to police criminal records.

A good example is Family Watchdog which is a site that offers access to a national database of registered sex offenders.  Sites such as these offer a cheap and effective way to look out for the most pernicious and threatening types of offenders which can reenter the community.

Also, many Courts now offer free technology which allows the public to lookup judgments, which can assist you with finding out if there has been any legal action brought against, you can simply use the search function in the court website.