Litigation records

Employers may want to identify potential employees who routinely file discrimination lawsuits. It has also been alleged that in the U.S., employers that do work for the government do not like to hire whistleblowers who have a history of filing qui tam suits.

Driving and vehicle records

Employers in the transportation sector seek drivers with clean driving records--i.e., those without a history of accidents or traffic tickets.

Drug tests

Are used for a variety of reasons--corporate ethics, measuring potential employee performance, and keeping workers' compensation premiums down.

Education records

These are used primarily to see if the potential employee had in fact received a college degree. There are reports of SAT scores being requested by employers as well.

Employment records

These usually range from simple verbal confirmations of past employment and timeframe to deeper, such as discussions about performance, activities and accomplishments, and relations with others.

Financial information

Credit scores, liens, civil judgments, or bankruptcy may be included in the report.

Are records of life events kept under governmental authority, including birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates. In some jurisdictions, vital records may also include records of civil unions or domestic partnerships.

In the United States, vital records are typically maintained under state law by a county clerk, county recorder, or similar municipal-level official.

In the United Kingdom, vital records are recorded in the civil registry.

Various European countries are members of an International Commission on Civil Status which provides a mutually recognized Convention on the coding of entries appearing in civil status documents, with common codes and translation tables between the language of the member states. They also provide an English unofficial translation.

In many countries, vital events (eg. births, deaths, and marriages) are required by law to be formally recorded in registers maintained by government officials.

United States

In the United States, vital records such as birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage certificates are maintained by the Office of Vital Statistics or Office of Vital Records in each individual state. Other documents such as deeds, mortgage documents, name change documents, and divorce records are maintained by the Clerk of Court of each individual county

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, mandatory civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths was first introduced in 1837 for England and Wales. Subsequent legislation introduced similar systems in Ireland (which was then part of the United Kingdom), and Scotland.

The administration of individual registration districts is the responsibility of registrars in the relevant local authority. There is also a national body for each jurisdiction. The local offices are generally responsible both for maintaining the original registers and for providing copies to the national body for central retention. A superintendent registrar facilitates the legal preliminaries to marriage, conducts civil marriage ceremonies and retains in his/her custody all completed birth, death and marriage registers for the district. The office of the superintendent registrar is the district Register office, often referred to (wrongly) in the media as the "Registry office".

Today, both officers may also conduct statutory civil partnership preliminaries and ceremonies, citizenship ceremonies and other non statutory ceremonies such as naming or renewal of vows. Certified copies of the entries made by the registrars over the years are issued on a daily basis either for genealogical research or for modern legal purposes such as supporting passport applications or ensuring eligibility for the appropriate junior sports leagues.

England and Wales

Births in England and Wales must be registered within 42 days, whilst deaths must be registered within 5 days unless an inquest is called or a post mortem is held.

Marriages are registered at the time of the ceremony by either the officiating minister or an authorised person or registrar.

The official registers are not directly accessible by the general public. Instead, indexes are made available which can be used to find the relevant register entry and then request a certified copy of the details.

The General Register Office—now merged into the Office for National Statistics— has overall responsibility for registration administration.

Scotland

Civil registration came into force in Scotland on January 1, 1855. A significant difference from the English system is the greater detail required for a registration. This means that if a certified copy of an entry is requested, it will contain much more information.

The General Register Office for Scotland has overall responsibility for registration administration and drafting legislative changes in this area (as well as census data). They are governed by the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965 and subsequent legislation (responsibility for which has now been devolved to the Scottish Parliament).

A background check is the process of looking up official and commercial records about a person. This is often done when someone applies for a job that requires high security like a school or a bank. It is traditionally done by the police but is now most often purchased as a service from a private business. Information usually includes the following: past employment, credit worthiness, and criminal history. These checks are important because they allow better informed and less-subjective evaluations to be made about a person but also pose risks. Other uses include improper and illegal discrimination, identity theft, and violation of privacy.

Pre-employment screening

Pre-employment screening is used to verify the accuracy of an applicants’ claims as well as to discover any possible criminal history, workers compensation claims, or employer sanctions.

Usefulness

Employment screening can be a practical, low-cost way to significantly reduce employee theft and dishonesty and notably increase productivity and safety. Certain industries require employment checks on all employees. Examples include the banking, financial, and security industries, transportation industries, childcare, healthcare, and teaching industries, police, law enforcement, and certain military positions. The level of background investigation may vary from industry to industry or position to position. Employers who actively screen their applicants before hiring also face less liability in the event of a workplace accident or crime. Pre-employment screening is a primary way of eliminating or minimizing negligent hiring liability.

Laws

Due to the sensitivity of the information contained in consumer reports and certain records, there are a variety of important laws regulating the dissemination and legal use of this information. Most notably, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates the use of consumer reports (which it defines as information collected and reported by third party agencies) as it pertains to adverse decisions, notification to the consumer, and destruction and safekeeping of records. If a consumer report is used as a factor in an adverse hiring decision, the consumer must be presented with a “Pre-adverse action disclosure,” a copy of the FCRA summary of rights, and a “notification of adverse action letter.” Consumers are entitled to know the source of any information used against them including a credit reporting company.

Types of Checks

There are a variety of types of investigative searches that can be used by potential employers. Many commercial sites will offer specific searches to employers for a fee. Services like these will actually perform the checks, supply the company with adverse action letters, and ensure compliance throughout the process. It is important to be selective about which pre-employment screening agency you use. A legitimate company will be happy to explain the process to you.

Many employers choose to search the most common records such as criminal records, driving records, and education verification. Other searches such as sex offender registry, credential verification, reference checks, credit reports and Patriot Act searches are becoming increasingly common. Employers should consider the position in question when determining which types of searches to include, and should always use the same searches for every applicant being considered for one position.

Reasons

They are frequently conducted to confirm information found on an employment application or résumé/curriculum vitae. They may also be conducted as a way to further differentiate potential employees and pick the one the employer feels is best suited for the position. In the United States, the Brady Bill requires criminal checks for those wishing to purchase handguns from licensed firearms dealers. Restricted firearms (like machine guns), suppressors, explosives or large quantities of precursor chemicals, and concealed weapons permits also require criminal background checks. Checks are also required for those working in positions with special security concerns, such as trucking, ports of entry, and airline transportation. Other laws exist to prevent those who do not pass a criminal check from working in careers involving the elderly, disabled, or children.

Possible Information Included

The amount of information included on a check depends to a large degree on the sensitivity of the reason for which it is conducted—e.g., somebody seeking employment at a minimum wage job would be subject to far fewer requirements than somebody applying to work for the FBI.

A government authority that has some oversight over professional conduct of its licensees will also maintain records regarding the licensee, such as personal information, education, complaints, investigations, and disciplinary actions.

Although not as common today as it was in the past fifty years, employers frequently requested the specifics of one's military discharge.

Social Security Number

(or equivalent outside the US). A fraudulent SSN may be indicative of identity theft, insufficient citizenship, or concealment of a "past life".

Polygraph test

Also known as a psychophysiological detection of deception (PDD) examination.

Employers will usually wish to speak with potential employees' references to gauge employability. More intensive background checks can involve interviews with anybody that knew or previously knew the applicant--such as teachers, friends, coworkers, and family members.

There are many companies that you can use for background screening.

A criminal record or rap sheet (an acronym for Record of Arrest and Prosecution), is a compilation of an individual's identification, arrest, conviction (law), incarceration, legal status, sex offender registration, warrant information, and other relevant criminal history. In the United States, these compilations are maintained and updated on the local, state, and federal levels by various law enforcement agencies. Its primary goal is to provide a comprehensive criminal history for an individual to be used for many purposes, including for identification, assistance in developing suspects in an ongoing criminal investigation, and for enhanced sentencing in criminal prosecutions. In the United States, these compilations are unlikely to be admissible in court as proof of a prior arrest or conviction.

Criminal histories are maintained by law enforcement agencies on all levels of government. Local police departments, sheriff's offices, and specialty police agencies may maintain their own internal databases. On the state level, state police, troopers, highway patrol, correctional agencies, and other law enforcement agencies also maintain separate databases. Law enforcement agencies often share this information with other similar enforcement agencies and this information is usually made available to the public.[1] Registered sex offenders have information about their crimes readily available, and Department of Correctional Services in many states disseminate criminal records to the public, in mediums such as the Internet.[verification needed] Usually, the only group in society that is not subject to dissemination of any criminal records is juveniles.[verification needed]

Some states have official "statewide repositories" that contain criminal history information contributed by the various county and municipal courts within the state. These state repositories are usually accurate so long as the state requires and supervises the uploading of data from the local courts. Some states make reporting to the repository a voluntary activity. The information obtained from these repositories can be incomplete and the use of this information has associated risks. Criminal history information contained in official state repositories is generally available to the public.

Court administrators, at both the state and county levels, maintain arrest and conviction records for cases adjudicated in their courts. This information is considered public information and is available to employers and citizens who use appropriate procedures to make a proper request. Records retrieved directly from courts are called "original source records" and are the most detailed criminal records available. Some data re-sellers have compiled private third-party criminal databases. To establish these databases re-sellers purchase criminal information from repositories and counties and re-sell the data to employers and others.

The federal government maintains extensive criminal histories and acts as a central repository for all agencies to report their own data. NCIC (National Crime Information Center) is one such database. Generally, and with a very few exceptions, the records compiled by the federal government are not made available to the private sector. Some private re-sellers claim to offer an NCIC record search. In most cases these claims are fraudulent.

Department of Justice

National Crime Information Center

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) manages the official national criminal history database through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The NCIC stores information regarding open arrest warrants, arrests, stolen property, missing persons, and dispositions regarding felonies and serious misdemeanors. A serious misdemeanor is defined as a misdemeanor with a potential jail time of one year or more.

The FBI's compilation of an individual's criminal identification, arrest, conviction, and incarceration information is known as the Interstate Identification Index, or "Triple-I" for short. This is basically the FBI's rap sheet. It contains information voluntarily reported by law enforcement agencies across the country, as well as information provided by other federal agencies. It contains information on felonies and misdemeanors, and may also contain municipal and traffic offenses if reported by the individual agencies. Each individual who has an entry in the Interstate Identification Index has a unique "FBI number" that is used to identify a specific individual. It compensates for the fact that an individual may provide several false names, or aliases, to a law enforcement agency when he or she is booked. An individual may also lie about his or her date of birth or social security number as well, making an independent, unique identification key necessary. It is important to note that the information provided by the Interstate Information Index may come from the agency who "booked" the individual and not necessarily the agency who arrested the individual. Therefore, there may be discrepancies between the arrest date, location, and arresting agency listed in the database and the actual date, location, and agency who made the arrest. The Interstate Information Index may also contain incarceration information as well, listing each time an inmate is transferred from one correctional institution to another as a separate "arrest." The Interstate Information Index is only as accurate as the information reported to it by individual agencies, and frequently lacks comprehensive information on the dispositions of the various arrests it lists. It is best used as a guide on where to find more comprehensive information on a defendant.

National Instant Criminal Background Check System

Mandated by the Brady Bill, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is used by the FBI to screen potential firearms buyers. In addition to searching the NCIC databases, NICS maintains its own index to search for additional disqualifiers from gun ownership.

Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System

The FBI maintains the largest biometric database in the world with the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). Criminal submissions from arrests and civil submissions from authorized background checks are stored in IAFIS. Currently,

Combined DNA Index System

The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) stores DNA profiles for both convicted felons in the Offender Index as well as unidentified DNA found at crime scenes in the Forensic Index. CODIS was originally piloted in 1990 as a project among 14 states. Currently, all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the United States Government participate in CODIS.

Department of Transportation

National Driver Register

While not officially a criminal history repository, the National Driver Register (NDR), operated by the Department of Transportation, maintains information on drivers regarding convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances, failing to render aid at an accident involving death or injury, and knowingly making a false affidavit or committing perjury to officials about an activity governed by a law or regulation on the operation of a motor vehicle. Additionally, the NDR contains information on traffic violations resulting from a fatal automobile collision, reckless driving, or racing on the highways.

Secure Flight

Secure Flight, operated by the Transportation Security Administration, screens United States airline passengers to see if they are on terrorism watch lists. Unlike the predecessors Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) & CAPPS II, Secure Flight does not scan passengers for outstanding warrants nor does Secure Flight use computer algorithms to search for links to flagged terrorists.

Most states have a statewide agency who acts as a clearinghouse for all statewide arrest information. These so-called "state rap sheets" are usually much more detailed than the Interstate Identification Index; usually listing not only the arrest information, but the subsequent court action following that arrest.

National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System

The National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS), while not technically its own database, serves as an interface to search each state's criminal and driver records as well as the License Plate Reader (LPR) records going back one year maintained by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Thus through NLETS, a law enforcement agency in one state could search for someone's criminal and driver records in another state. NLETS potentially serves as a better tool to search for minor misdemeanors and traffic violations that would not be in the NCIC.

Sex offender registration is a system in place in a number of jurisdictions designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the residence and activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. In some jurisdictions (especially in the United States), information in the registry is made available to the general public via a website or other means. In many jurisdictions registered sex offenders are subject to additional restrictions, including housing. Those on parole or probation may be subject to restrictions that don't apply to other parolees or probationers.

Purpose

The purpose of such registration and restrictions is to encourage the protection of children and society by increasing the awareness of the community about the recidivism risk that offenders present upon release from incarceration. Policy makers and the public who support this intervention also hope that community awareness will assist in preventing future sex offenses. Child molesters are often thought to be highly susceptible to recidivism. Actual recidivism rates are in dispute. See also Sex Offender Recidivism Rates.

Past, Present, Future

In 1947, California in the United States became the first state to have a sex offender registration program. Community notification of the release of sex offenders from incarceration did not occur until almost 50 years later. In 1994, a federal statute called the Jacob Wetterling Act required all states to pass legislation requiring sex offenders to register with state sex offender registries. Then again in 1996, based on a set of New Jersey Laws called "Megan's Laws," the federal government required states to pass legislation mandating public notification of personal information for certain sex offenders. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act became law in 2006. This law implements new uniform requirements for sex offender registration across the states. Highlights of the law are a new national sex offender registry, standardized registration requirements for the states, and new and enhanced criminal offenses related to sex offenders.

In the United States, all 50 states have passed laws requiring sex offenders, especially child sex offenders, to register with police authorities. They report where they live when they leave prison or are convicted of a crime.

In 2006, the State of California voters passed Proposition 83, which will enforce "lifetime monitoring of convicted sexual predators and the creation of predator free zones".[1][2]

Application to offenses other than felony sexual offenses

Sex offender registration has been applied to crimes other than rape, child molestation, and child pornography offenses.

Teenagers have been forced to register after being convicted of having consensual sex with other teens[1] In some jurisdictions, repeat misdemeanor convictions for public urination or public lewdness can trigger registration. Occasionally, people on probation for non-sexual offenses are required to register if the probation authority believes them to be at risk for committing a sexual offense.

Public Notice

In some localities, the lists of sex offenders are made available to the public: for example, through the newspapers, community notification, or the Internet. However, in other localities, the complete lists are not available to the general public but are known to the police. In the United States offenders are often classified in three categories: Level I offenders, who are at low risk to reoffend; Level II offenders, who are at moderate risk to reoffend; and Level III offenders, who are at high risk to reoffend. Information is usually accessible related to that risk (information being more accessible to the public for higher risk offenders). There are penalties for failure to register as required.

Additional restrictions beyond public notice

Sex offenders on parole or probation are generally subject the same restrictions as other parolees and probationers. In addition, they are frequently not allowed to be in contact with juveniles without supervision.

Sex offenders who have completed probation or parole may also be subject to restrictions above and beyond those of most felons. In some jurisdictions they cannot live within a certain distance of places children or families gather. Such places are usually schools, churches, and parks. It could also include public venues (stadiums), apartments, malls, stores, shopping centers, and certain neighboorhoods.

In most places sex offenders are subjected to an exit ban, meaning that they can't travel or leave a certain place at a certain time; most often the offender cannot leave his hometown without permission from a probation officer. They may also be subjected to the TSA's No fly list. The exact provisions vary with each locality.

Some states have Civil Commitment laws, which allow very-high-risk sex offenders to be returned to prison or forced to live under very heavy supervision after the end of their normal sentences. See also: Child Sex Offender penalties.

Effectiveness and Unintended Consequences

Although female sex offenders are often sensationalized in the news media, the vast majority of sex offenders registered are male. The vast majority of offenders also victimize individuals who are known, related, or intimate to the victim, contrary to media depictions of stranger assaults or child molesters who kidnap children unknown to them.

Dr. Henry Rogan of the University of Santa Barbara has this to say about convicted sex offenders: "[The ‘predator-free’ zone] doesn’t solve anything." He remarked in a recent interview, “It’s just punishment. Sex offenders don’t pick up people they don’t know -— that’s what kidnappers are for.”

Sex offender registries are designed to protect and alert the public about the dangers of sex offenders; however, in at least one instance, two convicted sex offenders were murdered after their information was made available over the internet.[3]

Registration and homelessness

Persons who are registered in offender databases are usually required to notify the government when they move their residence. This notification requirement is problematic in cases where the registered offender is homeless. The State of Washington is among those that have special provisions in their registration code covering homeless offenders, but this forethought has not been shown by all states in the United States. A November 2006 Maryland Court of Appeals ruling exempts homeless persons from that state's registration requirements, which has prompted a drive to compose new laws covering this contingency.[4] In Miami, Florida in 2007, some registered sex offenders are being required to live outside under a bridge because city ordinances made it virtually impossible for them to find housing.[5]

United States

The Supreme Court of the United States has upheld sex offender registration laws twice, in two respects. Two challenges under state laws have succeeded, however, in Hawaii and Missouri.

Supreme Court of the United States

In Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003), the Supreme Court of the United States upheld Alaska's sex-offender registration statute as not violating the Constitution's prohibition on ex post facto laws, reasoning that sex offender registrations are civil laws, not punishments. Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer dissented.

In Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety v. Doe, 538 U.S. 1 (2003)[6], the Supreme Court ruled that Connecticut's sex-offender registration statute did not violate the procedural due process of those to whom it applied. Still, the Supreme Court declared that it "expresses no opinion as to whether the State’s law violates substantive due process principles."

Hawaii

In State v. Bani, 36 P.3d 1255 (Haw. 2001), the Hawaii State Supreme Court held that Hawaii's sex offender registration statute violated the due process clause of the Hawaii State Constitution, ruling that it deprived potential registrants of "of a protected liberty interest without due process of law." The Court reasoned that the sex offender law authorized "public notification of (the potential registrant's) status as a convicted sex offender without notice, an opportunity to be heard, or any preliminary determination of whether and to what extent (he) actually represents a danger to society."

Accordingly, in order to enforce the sex offender registration law, all potential registrants would have to have hearings to determine their individual "dangerousness." Thus, because of the expense involved in doing so, although Hawaii's sex offender registration law remains in the statute books, it is not enforced, and the online registry was removed.

Missouri

In Doe v. Phllips, 194 S.W.3d 837 (Mo. banc 2006), the Supreme Court of Missouri held that it violated the Constitution of Missouri's unique bar on retrospectively applicable civil laws to apply Missouri's sex offender registry to anyone who had been convicted or pled guilty to an applicable offense before the sex offender registration law was passed. The Court ruled that any potential registrant who pled guilty or was convicted before January 1, 1995, did not have to register, and remanded the case for further consideration in light of that holding. On remand, the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri ordered that those people be removed from the published sex offender list. The Missouri Attorney General has appealed that order to the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City, although it remains in effect during the appeal.

The ruling has prompted a flurry of similar lawsuits throughout Missouri.[7] In response, several state legislators in Jefferson City have proposed an amendment to the Missouri Constitution which would exempt sex offender registration laws from the state constitution's unique prohibition on retrospective civil laws.[8] The proposed amendment passed the Missouri State Senate unanimously; if the House of Representatives passes it, it would have to be approved by voters in the 2008 general election in order to be ratified.

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Source: wikipedia