Criminal background checks incomplete

Both Integrated Screening Partners and Intellisense do sell inexpensive database-only searches, but Collins and Taylor said they try to steer clients away from using those services when making important personnel decisions. The more extensive searches that both companies offer are more expensive, between $50 and $100.

Taylor is concerned many organizations are content with a simple computer-search. "It's better than nothing, if the alternative is to do nothing," she said. "But you aren't getting a thorough background check."

At best, such computer database crime searches can be a helpful supplement to backgrounding potential job applicants and volunteers, Taylor said. But when used by themselves to make decisions, they give organizations and parents a false sense of security, thinking their children are entrusted to volunteers that have been diligently cleared of any shady past.

Spotty court participation
Here's why. There is no national database of felony convictions that's sold to private data firms. Most criminal records are stored in the 3,100 county courthouses scattered across the country. In some states, the various counties report their data to a state law enforcement agency, such as Texas' Department of Public Safety. In other cases, as in California, counties sell their data individually to private firms. Other counties refuse to sell the data entirely.

Companies like ChoicePoint must laboriously obtain their information from each relevant state and county agencies, supplemented sometimes with data on inmates purchased from state and county jails. Relying on the local agencies also means relying on court clerks to update the information regularly. Some do so every day, others every quarter. Collins said one Texas county went 18 months without updating its data.

Making matters worse: Each jurisdiction may have slightly different definitions for various crimes. A felony in one state may be a gross misdemeanor in another, which means a database search could miss many assault, battery, theft and domestic violence charges.

And though the name may suggest otherwise, the "national" criminal databases also don't include federal convictions. Records of these crimes, which include convictions for Internet child pornography, are filed in federal district courts and stored in a separate database called Pacer.

That means someone could clear a national database search, but still have a conviction for Internet child porn, Taylor said.

Complicating matters further: Sex offences are generally stored in an entirely different database, maintained by state agencies. That means finding former sex offenders requires an additional database check. While many of these checks are now made freely available on states' Web sites, others require handwritten or in-person requests.

Well-known in the industry
The shortcomings are widely understood in the industry, and consumers are educated about them, said Bill Whitford, a vice president of sales at ChoicePoint.

Despite the shortcomings, the firm's "NatCrim" file contains 200 million records from every state, making it a critical additional additional tool for organizations to use to find potential former criminals, Whitford said.  Simply checking local arrest records with the chief of police, or even with the local county court, can be equally incomplete, he said.

"People do move away from their past," he said. "A nationwide search is critical."

So far, searches at VolunteerSelect have uncovered 11,000 undisclosed criminal felony records, Whitford said. 

"These products are part of a comprehensive screening process," he said, adding "there is no panacea." ChoicePoint always recommends additional backgrounding strategies, he said.

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