Criminal background checks incomplete

The closest thing to a panacea would be a fingerprint search conducted by organizations directly through state law enforcement offices and the FBI's master criminal fingerprint file. Last year, the FBI assistant director Michael D. Kirkpatrick told Congress that the agency's file contained arrest records on 47 million people, virtually everyone who's been arrested for a crime in the United States.

Fingerprints also permit more accurate searches, as they remove the possibility of a candidate escaping a record by lying about their name, birthday, or prior residence.

Many school districts mandate such fingerprint searches and use local law enforcement agencies to help them access the FBI files. But such checks are considered more invasive and take more time. A database search requires only a name, a date of birth, and sometimes, a Social Security number. Fingerprint searches cost $50-$75 each, and results can take up to eight weeks, compared to the instant results a company like ChoicePoint can provide.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. In 1993, Congress passed the National Child Protection Act, which was supposed to pave the way for easy access by volunteer organizations to FBI fingerprint background checks. But availability was spotty and expensive, and in 1998 President Clinton signed an amendment called The National Child Protection Improvement Act to kick-start the project with additional funding. Those efforts also stalled. A 2002 survey by the National Mentoring partnership reported that organizations waited an average of six weeks for results.

These deficiencies opened the door for national services like ChoicePoint's VolunteerSelect.com, and in 2003, the Boy Scouts of America started requiring ChoicePoint checks for all volunteers. At about the same time, Little League Baseball started using RapSheets.com -- since acquired by ChoicePoint -- to perform similar background checks.

Little League spokesman Lance Van Auken said he feels the national search is an vast improvement over what was possible in the past.

"It's extremely helpful. It goes far beyond what local league volunteers are able to do by themselves," he said. "A couple of years ago, leagues weren't required to do any kind of a check. It's extremely affordable, and for a small amount of labor, it's something that you can do, a way for Little League to be a hostile environment for child sex offenders."

Still, Van Auken said said his organization is aware of the product's shortcomings, and works hard to transmit that message to local volunteers and parents.

"It is a concern. It is possible to give the local league volunteers a false sense of security," he said. "That's why we combine this with other information on what parents should be looking for. We try to explain to parents what the warning signs are."

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