How to Look Up Someone’s Criminal Record With Ease
Knowing how to look up someone’s criminal record can be extremely beneficial in keeping away those who may pose a potential danger, is dishonest, or reckless. Conducting a criminal records check provides all the necessary information needed to make an informed decision on whether you should associate with them or not.
Fortunately, it’s now simpler than ever to discover how to find someone’s criminal record with record check services. BeenVerified, PeopleLooker, and TruthFinder are some of the most trustworthy sites to research how to find someone’s criminal record promptly, effortlessly, and without leaving your dwelling.
What Is a Criminal Records Check?
Performing a search on how to find someone’s criminal record is an extensive review of any data related to a person in state and federal public records. You can search for the person by their name, phone number, or email to uncover more information.
If you’re interested in how to look up someone’s criminal record, you’ll need to know where to find it. Criminal records are just one type of data you may come across when researching someone.
Other types of information you may encounter include personal details, job and educational background, possible relatives and acquaintances, past locations, court documents, sex offender data, social media accounts, and property records.
If you want to know how to find someone’s criminal record, the typical details that a criminal background check may include are:
- Education background
- Financial resources
- Charge
- Insolvency
- firearms permits
- Professional certifications
- Using social media
- Complete name
- Age and birthdate
- Aliases
- Photographs
- Crime history and arrest data
- Documents from civil courts
Note that only FCRA-approved background check services should be used to conduct background checks on potential candidates. It’s against the law to conduct employment background checks with FCRA non-compliant services.
>> Use BeenVerified to Check Someone’s Criminal Background >>
What Shows up if You Look Up Someone’s Criminal Record?
Conducting a background check can provide valuable information if you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record. This process can reveal details related to crimes where the individual has been accused, tried, or convicted.
This type of check is often done to determine if someone has a record of any misdemeanors or felonies. It may also show current criminal proceedings or arrests.
Reports from criminal background checks will contain specific information, including
- The defendant, or the person name who is accused of a crime
- The offense, or the crime, with which the accused was charged, including the degree and whether it’s a misdemeanor or a felony
- The way in which the charges were submitted to the court, along with the case numbers that were assigned and other relevant details concerning the court case
- The discovery of the accusation
- The sentence, which may include jail time or other punishments
- The end result of the legal proceedings or any information related to a resolution
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record, it’s important to note that criminal convictions that have been sealed or expunged should never show up on a background check. To reduce the impact of criminal records, recent criminal justice reform initiatives have focused on making it easier to seal or erase them.
When searching for how to look up someone’s criminal record for free. It’s important to remember that expungement regulations and limits on the timeframe of criminal record checks vary by state.
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record, it’s important to note that in certain states, such as New York, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, California, and Washington, companies aren’t allowed to disclose information about convictions that are more than seven years old.
Hawaii is even stricter, only allowing misdemeanors to be punishable for five years and felonies for seven. There may also be some states that have no restrictions on how to find someone’s criminal records far back.
>> Start Using BeenVerified >>
Types of Criminal Record Checks
When searching for information on how to find someone’s criminal record, it’s essential to know which documents may be uncovered.
Several frequently encountered documents can provide insights into an individual’s criminal history. Here’s a list of the most common documents associated with how to find someone’s criminal records:
Arrest Records: If you’re wondering how to find someone’s criminal record, it’s worth noting that most arrest records are open to the public and can be accessed through various sources, whether online or offline. To obtain a copy of an arrest record, you can start by contacting the clerk of court in the county where the arrest occurred.
Conviction Records: Obtaining conviction records is more difficult than arrest records since the state’s Department of Corrections maintains them. The DOC is located in the state where the convicted individual must be contacted to get copies of these records.
Pending Charges: Finding out whether someone has pending charges against them might be difficult since most pending charges aren’t public documents. But, if you have a friend or family member who is prepared to inquire around, they may learn if the person you’re interested in is facing any active legal proceedings.
Background Checks: Another approach to seek for criminal histories is via background checks. Such services are widely available, and the organizations that provide them often look through all public records to uncover the criminal past of the individual you’re interested in.
>> Start Using BeenVerified >>
Why Look Up Someone’s Criminal Record?
Performing a check on how to find someone’s criminal records may be of benefit for personal or corporate use. Here are four explanations for why one may want to consider doing so:
- To check up on someone new in your neighborhood – A criminal history check may learn more about newcomers entering your area and community.
- To screen business partners – Understanding your business partner’s criminal record might put your mind at ease and assist you in staying away from someone who may not be honorable.
- To check up on someone you’re dating – Even though it’s not always comfortable to consider it, doing background research on a potential partner before becoming too committed might help you avoid heartbreak.
Differences Between a Criminal Records Check and a Background Check
When most individuals think of how to find someone’s criminal records check, the first thing that comes to their mind is researching the criminal past of another individual. An exploration of how to find someone’s criminal record has a much narrower reach.
A search of the individual’s criminal history will only reveal whether or not the individual has been convicted of a crime. You won’t be able to find out whether the individual has been arrested for a crime or if any charges are pending against them.
A check of one’s background is far more in-depth.
A background check will not only reveal to you whether the individual in question has been convicted of a crime, but it will also reveal to you whether the individual in question has been arrested for a crime or whether they have any charges that are still ongoing against them.
This will provide information about the individual’s background, including their career history, educational history, and any financial difficulties they may have previously had.
Ways to Lookup Someone’s Criminal Record
Exploring how to find someone’s criminal record is possible in various ways. However, utilizing an online record check service is the most straightforward and effortless route. Below are some techniques for finding someone’s criminal record:
Using online criminal record search websites is a good way to obtain the data you need. Trying to peruse public records manually is a long shot, and you’re likely to get more accurate details on a person if you use criminal records through a record check service.
These services use the ID information you provide to search through billions of criminal and federal records in their database to find pertinent information about someone. The accumulated data is then organized in a readable and shareable record check report.
Now that you know how convenient it’s to use these services for a background check, let’s take a closer look at the top background checks. To distinguish how to check my criminal record for free, we will provide a quick summary of each Criminal record check service.
>> Use BeenVerified to Check Someone’s Criminal Background >>
BeenVerified – Best Overall Criminal Record Check Service
BeenVerified is one of the most widely used background check websites. Individuals’ US criminal histories may now be investigated using this tool.
You may see their criminal record by inputting a person’s first and last name together with the state in which they were convicted of a crime. On how to find someone’s criminal records, BeenVerified will offer a comprehensive report including the charges, punishment, and court documents.
PeopleLooker – Best for Fast Results
PeopleLooker is a website that lets you look up public documents, such as a person’s criminal background, online. Anyone with the person’s name, address, or phone number can use the system to look up their criminal history.
Users can get a complete picture of their criminal past thanks to this function, which compiles information from federal, state, and county criminal databases. Convictions for both felonies and misdemeanors, arrest records, outstanding warrants, and sex offender registration status may all be included in the report.
TruthFinder – Best for Searching the Deep Web
TruthFinder is highly regarded for its criminal background searches. It’s easy to navigate, and users can search via name, phone number, or email. It has a comprehensive public record database and includes a dark web monitoring tool in its services.
A subscription costs $28.05 per month or $46 for 2 months. We rate TruthFinder as the best option for how to find someone’s criminal record checks. To find out more, check out our in-depth review of TruthFinder.
Intelius – Best Criminal Record Check Service for Accuracy
Intelius is a great choice if you want to look at someone’s criminal background. This national persons search service is reliable and has a reach of over 20 billion public documents.
As far as cost goes, Intelius is the more cost-effective option, with a monthly plan priced at $24.86 and a 2-month plan at $42.25. If you’d like more info, please read our Intelius review.
Disclaimer: The background check services mentioned above are not FCRA-approved. Hence, you may not use our service or the information it provides to make decisions about consumer credit, employment, insurance, tenant screening, or any other purpose that would require FCRA compliance.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Database
Accessible only to authorized parties, such as law enforcement agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintains a thorough criminal records database. To access the database, an official request must be made to the Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the FBI.
This method may be more complex and take more time than other options. Still, it’s likely to be more precise and all-inclusive, making it a valuable asset for those needing precise and accurate information. An FBI search may additionally require a fee.
State-Level Criminal Record Searches
A person’s criminal history inside a certain state may be uncovered via public criminal records search. Criminal history records are kept by each state and made available to authorized parties, including law enforcement and potential companies.
Requests for public criminal records searches are normally made via the agency responsible for maintaining such data. This may be a tedious procedure that may cost money.
Online criminal record search services may be convenient, but public criminal record searches may be more accurate and comprehensive. But, it’s vital to remember that information gleaned via state-level searches isn’t guaranteed to be current or correct and that if misused, the procedure may violate privacy regulations.
Notwithstanding these limitations, a search of a person’s public criminal record is still a useful resource for anyone interested in learning everything about that person’s criminal history in a certain state.
How Long Does Finding Someone’s Criminal Record Check Take?
You may obtain instantaneous results from a background check when you utilize a reliable service like BeenVerified or PeopleLooker.
This is because these services are geared around providing instant gratification rather than making you wait for days to see results. It may take more time if you want to examine your criminal history yourself or via a government or consumer reporting service.
Most background checks on public records take between three and five days to complete and produce findings. The average processing time for an FBI background check is 30 days. Although certain federal record checks may be handled more quickly, the thorough examination that takes 30 days should be planned for.
The number of states the person has resided in also increases the time it takes to perform record checks. The longer it may take to get the required data since there are more states to query. The majority of check-ups on records have this lag time.
There are also record checks that need several data points (e.g., criminal records and credit checks). It may take more time for the record check to complete if several requests are made at once.
How Much Does Looking Up Someone’s Criminal Record Check Cost?
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record, the cost of obtaining the report may vary significantly. The price can range from $10 to $500, depending on the components included in the report.
Typically, a report that only includes criminal searches tends to be less expensive than one that includes job and education verifications, as well as drug tests. When searching for a vendor to provide information on how to look up someone’s criminal record, it’s crucial to take into account the search components alongside the overall report cost.
For instance, with BeenVerified, a membership is required to receive a report, and the monthly fee is $28 or a lump sum of $46 for two months. If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record, you can sign up for a one-month reverse phone lookup membership for just $4.99 monthly.
It’s important to note that this subscription is automatically renewed unless canceled. A $2 fee is associated with downloading the PDF version of the BeenVerified record report.
Factors to Consider When Looking Up Someone’s Criminal Record
When searching for information on how to look up someone’s criminal record, it’s important to consider several factors beforehand.
Accuracy of Information
When searching for information on how to look up someone’s criminal record for free, it’s important to remember that the accuracy and completeness of such records may be questionable. This is due to potential errors stemming from data entry or other factors within the record-keeping process.
Therefore, it’s crucial to approach the search for criminal records with caution and a critical eye. Furthermore, there might not be any details about charges that were dismissed or removed.
Privacy Laws
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record, it’s important to consider potential privacy issues. In some cases, accessing a person’s criminal history without their permission may be illegal. Even when legally allowed, it’s crucial to approach the situation with care and respect for their privacy.
Legal Uses of Criminal Records
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record for free, it’s important to note that you may not discriminate against job candidates based on their criminal history. There are still limitations when accessing and using such records.
Specifically, a candidate’s criminal history should only be considered if it directly relates to the job they’re applying for.
How to Look Up Someone’s Criminal Records Check – Frequently Asked Questions
What Fails You on a Record Check?
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record, it’s important to note that a background with a criminal record can affect the outcome of the screening process. Factors like poor credit, failed substance abuse tests, or a questionable driving history can all contribute to a negative result.
It’s crucial to keep in mind these issues when searching for someone’s criminal record.
How to Look Up Someone’s Criminal Record for Free
If you want to know how to look up someone’s criminal record for free, BeenVerified can simplify the process for you. Accessing such information isn’t free of cost.
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record for free, including your personal information, the first step is to submit a written request to the relevant governmental authorities.
Bottom Line on How to Look Up Someone’s Criminal Records Check
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record, whether it’s for yourself, a relative, an old friend, or a potential partner, the services mentioned above can assist you in obtaining the information you require promptly and effortlessly.
It’s not a straightforward process to do a background check, as you have to contact different public agencies and request public records for each. You will be charged for each request and have to review the documents you receive to locate the information you want.
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record for free, it’s now easier than ever with the help of reliable record check services. To do this, simply provide the name, phone number, email address, or physical address of the person you want to investigate. Their search service will generate a comprehensive report on their criminal history.
While it’s essential to understand the importance of accessibility of criminal records to the public in promoting transparency and accountability, it’s equally crucial that this information isn’t misused for harassment or discrimination purposes.
If you’re wondering how to look up someone’s criminal record for free, you must use this information judiciously and responsibly.
DISCLAIMER: You may not use the non-FCRA approved services mentioned in this article or the information they provide to make decisions about consumer credit, employment, insurance, tenant screening, or any other purpose that would require FCRA compliance. These services don’t provide consumer reports and are not consumer reporting agencies. (These terms have special meanings under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq., (“FCRA”), which are incorporated herein by reference.)
The information available on our website may not be 100% accurate, complete, or up to date, so do not use it as a substitute for your own due diligence, especially if you have concerns about a person’s criminal history. The services we mention do not make any representation or warranty about the accuracy of the information available through our website or about the character or integrity of the person about whom you inquire. For more information, please review each service’s Terms of Use.