Court Records

There are two ways to conduct criminal background check searches. One is retrieving records through official means, live criminal research and the other is using a database.

To better understand the risk involved with trusting your hiring decision to a database, one must be aware of how criminal records are created and filed. There are more than 3,300 counties in the United States that maintain felony and misdemeanor records for crimes against their respective states. In addition, there are 92 federal districts nationwide that house criminal records of crimes against the U.S. government. Each of these entities independently files their criminal records and invites the public, including employment screening companies, to review and disseminate in accordance with various state and federal laws.

Misdemeanors should always be searched as well as felonies because each state classifies its own records. For example, a misdemeanor in Orange County, California, is a felony in Clark County, Nevada.

Validity conducts criminal searches utilizing court record research so that you are assured of receiving the most current and accurate information. Validity has more than 1,600 record researchers that cover all jurisdictions in the United States.

Validity offers criminal history record searches at the county, state, federal and international levels. To comply with state and federal legislation, we refrain from providing clients with information on dismissed cases and arrests not resulting in convictions.

For more information on criminal background checks at the various court levels, please visit the following pages:

OmniSearch- most comprehensive search available  
County Criminal Searches
State Criminal Searches 
Federal Criminal Searches 
International Criminal Searches
County Civil Searches
Federal Civil Searches