The Anatomy of a Background Check: Unpacking Criminal Justice Data

Welcome back to our Data Education series. In our first installment, we established that a comprehensive background check is  built on a foundation of better quality, more comprehensive data and broad data sources. Now, we're ready to take a closer look at one of the most critical and often misunderstood components of that foundation: criminal justice data.

A criminal history check is not a single, simple search. It's a strategic, layered process that relies on various data sources to help better mitigate risk and help ensure a safer workplace. In this article, we'll unpack these different sources, explain their unique roles in the screening workflow, and highlight how a more modern approach, combined with the strategic use of near real-time incarceration data, can potentially deliver a more efficient and accurate result.

Read More: Beyond the Resume: A Deep Dive Into Employment Verification Data

The Criminal Screening Workflow

A best-practice criminal background check is a journey of verification. It starts with broad searches and then uses those findings to guide a deeper-dive into more definitive, primary sources.

1. The Foundation: Identity and Location - The initial phase of any thorough background screening process is the establishment of a candidate’s core identity and their historical residential footprint.  A primary tool for this stage is the SSN Address History Trace. The objective is to compile a comprehensive list of all addresses linked to the candidate's SSN and identify possible name variants such as nicknames or maiden names. These identified locations and names then serve as critical data points for accurately targeting a more detailed background check. 

2. Casting the Wide Net: Preliminary Alerts - With a list of possible locations, the screening moves to a broader, initial search to help uncover potential leads.

• National Criminal Database Searches ("Nat-Crim"): A nationwide criminal record search is typically the initial step in a comprehensive background check. It's crucial to understand that no single, official national criminal database exists. Instead, these searches leverage proprietary compilations of criminal data assembled by various companies. A "nat-crim" file acts as an aggregate, drawing information from thousands of disparate sources. These sources include, but are not limited to, state criminal databases, local court records, and incarceration records from correctional facilities across the country. The primary function of this type of search is to serve as an "index" or "pointer" system. Its expansive reach allows it to quickly cast a wide net, identifying potential criminal records in available counties or states, even those not initially pinpointed by an individual's known address history. This makes it a powerful tool for uncovering leads in unexpected jurisdictions, revealing past criminal activity that might otherwise go undetected. While it may not provide exhaustive detail at this stage, it efficiently flags potential areas.

• National Sex Offender Registry Searches: This is a crucial safety check, typically performed alongside the nat-crim search. By accessing the National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW), screeners can often quickly identify if an applicant is a registered sex offender in various states or territories.

• Federal Criminal Records Searches: These are important for uncovering a specific subset of crimes. Federal searches are conducted to help identify crimes against the federal government or those that cross state lines. These offenses typically would not appear in state or county court searches.

3. Verification and Deeper Dive - A record found in a preliminary search is only a "hit" or a "lead." It is not a final, verifiable record. For greater compliance and accuracy, a background screener should always verify a record at its original source.

• Court Records (County and State): Typically, considered the gold standard, these records are retrieved directly from county courthouses and state repositories. County-level records, in particular, provide the more accurate and detailed information, including the context of a charge, the disposition (e.g., conviction, dismissal), and specific sentencing details. This is a definitive source for helping determine if an arrest or charge led to a reportable conviction. However, obtaining these records can present some challenges. Each jurisdiction has its own set of rules, operational procedures, and fee structures. While some courts offer online access, many require manual retrieval, which can be time-consuming and often lead to a bottleneck in the screening process. 

• State Repositories/Department of Corrections (DOC) Data: These searches are crucial for verifying specifics on long-term incarceration details, such as admission and release dates and the correctional facility location, for confirmed convictions.

Incarceration Data: A Catalyst for Speed and Coverage

In this traditional workflow, the journey from a "hit" in a national database to a verified record from a county courthouse is often the longest part of the process. In a market where speed-to-hire is a significant competitive advantage, these delays can be costly.

This is where incarceration data — especially our proprietary, near real-time network — can help add value. It’s not only a tool to help accelerate the screening process, but a useful resource for helping expand the reach and uncover more details than a traditional nat-crim search can provide. 

Incarceration data provides a more direct and timely view into an individual’s confinement status. Unlike court records, which are processed after a court case is resolved, incarceration data is created and updated as an individual is booked into a jail or prison.

Here’s how this unique data source can help transform a background check:

• Faster Decisions for a Large Percentage of Candidates: For a significant portion of the candidate pool, a quick check of a robust incarceration and sex offender data network can help instantly produce a "no records found" result. This approach flips the traditional workflow on its head by more efficiently verifying the absence of records. This “no records found” response is a more reliable, FCRA-governed consumer report, just as the final outcome of a traditional, slower search would be. This process can help dramatically speed up the hiring process for these candidates, allowing screeners to deliver results sometimes in seconds rather than days. 

• Wider Coverage, Deeper Insights: While many nat-crim files contain some incarceration data, they rarely have the same breadth and depth as a dedicated network. A proprietary network can have direct interfaces with thousands of jails and prisons. For example, the dataset included in Equifax’s proprietary network is sourced from direct interfaces with thousands of jails and prisons and covers over 80% of bookings nationwide. This provides a greater lift in the total number of locations relevant to an applicant, helping to uncover potential criminal activity that occurred outside of their known residences or places of work.

• A Longer, More Timely View: Incarceration data can often reach further back in history than a typical 7-year nat-crim search. Furthermore, its near real-time updates make it a powerful tool for finding very recent arrests that may not have had time to be cataloged in a nat-crim file. This is also a critical benefit for post-hire continuous monitoring solutions.

Best Practices for Using Incarceration Data

For background screeners, the key is to use incarceration data strategically within a compliant workflow. Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:

• As a First Step: Using a solution that leverages incarceration data as the very first step in a criminal background check allows screeners to instantly and more efficiently clear a large portion of applicants.

• As a "Tip and Lead": In cases where a "more research is needed" response is generated, incarceration data acts as a powerful tip and lead, providing additional jurisdictions to investigate. This can help significantly increase the depth and accuracy of a traditional county court search.

• With Compliance: In cases where adverse action may be taken, a record found from an incarceration database must be verified with a manual court search. It typically cannot be used as a standalone reason for denial without a corresponding conviction.

By leveraging incarceration data, screeners can help make their workflow more efficient, potentially enabling faster hiring decisions and contributing to safer workplaces and communities.

Up Next in the Data Education Series

In our next installment, we'll shift our focus to another foundational element of background screening: verifying employment. We'll explore the value of this data and how it contributes to building a more holistic candidate picture.