In today’s world, many people are looking for ways to search for free criminal records. In this article, we’ll cover several ways you can research the background of a potential employee, business partner, or potential love interest by conducting your own free research.
#1 – Search criminal records for payment on the Internet
The Internet is the first place most people turn to when they want to do a free criminal record search. A basic Google search will allow you to get a snapshot of someone’s background. Search social media profiles, consumer reporting websites, and the Google Image Directory. There are also “deep web” search engine databases that can unearth information that Goggle crawlers often miss.
You can also search for free criminal records by logging on to USA.gov to access state correctional institutions and information on how to find criminals. While not all states provide this information, it is a good place to start. If your state is not represented on this website, you can perform a Google search by entering the following formula:
“State name” plus “inmate locator” or “Department of Corrections”
For example: “Florida Department of Corrections”
In addition to USA.gov, you can also navigate to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. There you can use their inmate locator, which is a database of federal inmates.
Another good place to look for free criminal records is to check out the National Sex Offender Registry run by the Department of Justice. From there you can search for domestic sex offenders. However, when using this resource, please note that the information in the database is provided by local jurisdictions. The federal database only contains what the local counties and towns feed in. So if your local jurisdiction doesn’t provide the information, the national database will be hampered. The national website also provides information for states, territories, and tribes.
#2 – Free criminal record check at the county courthouse
When looking up a person’s criminal history, the Internet provides a great overview. However, the best place to search for free criminal records is to go to your county courthouse (or wherever they maintain criminal records in your county). Using this strategy you get information directly from the source.
In closing, trying to do a free criminal background check may not cost you any cash, but it will require a commitment of time and resources. If time is something you don’t want to waste, a better option is to use a low-cost background check service that will do all the research for you.