Background checks are often used as part of the screening process by agencies or business, to check whether an applicant has a criminal history. Though it may reveal further information, an applicant’s criminal history is the primary motivator behind seeking this type of screening.

Fingerprinting and Biometric Checks

Certain law enforcement groups, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), use fingerprinting or other biometric data as a way to find suspects’ criminal histories. FBI database screenings are only available to employers who have legal authority. In other words, access is authorized by statute, and not all parties can be granted access.

The FBI fingerprinting database, like many other criminal record databases, collects criminal record information from state and local law enforcement sources. Checks return an FBI Identification Record, which contains information tied to arrests, federal employment, naturalization, or military service — in other words, times when an individual would have been fingerprinted.

However, because the information in the database is meant for law enforcement and not for employers, it is often missing information such as the final disposition of a record.

According to the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), fingerprint-based background checks are a useful tool when conducting background screening, but they don’t provide a comprehensive history and should not be solely relied upon for obtaining complete and up-to-date information.

Name-Based Checks

The majority of pre-employment background checks are conducted using a name-based approach.

When background check companies conduct a name-based checks, they use a candidate’s personally identifiable information (PII) to search for criminal history and other information. PII includes not just the candidate’s name, but also information like: