In the United States, any person, including a private investigator, criminal research or background check company, may go to a county courthouse and search an index of criminal records by name and date of birth or have a county clerk search for records on an individual.
Records are also maintained by state departments of correction, in relation to offenders who have been sentenced to prison or a similar disposition that falls under their jurisdiction.
Most states provide some level of protection to juvenile criminal proceedings, and records of adjudication that result from the prosecution of a minor.
[14] The criteria for inclusion in the CCH is outlined as being convictions and deferred adjudications that are "reported to the Department on an offense.
"[15] The federal government maintains extensive criminal histories and acts as a central repository for all agencies to report their own data.
It compensates for the fact that an individual may provide several false names, or aliases, to a law enforcement agency when he or she is booked.
An individual may also lie about his or her date of birth or social security number as well, making an independent, unique identification key necessary.
Mandated by the Brady Bill, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is used by the FBI to screen potential firearms buyers.
The FBI maintains the largest biometric database in the world with the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).
The NDR maintains a database of information posted by individual states as mandated by federal law.
All drivers who have had their licenses suspended for any reason (including suspensions resulting from several successive minor traffic violations: Massachusetts suspends for three separate speeding tickets over a six-month period) have that information posted by state Registry of Motor Vehicles offices to the NDR.
Also, the NDR records information concerning convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances, failing to render aid at an accident involving death or injury, and knowingly making a false affidavit or committing perjury to officials about an activity governed by a law or regulation on the operation of a motor vehicle.
Unlike the predecessors Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) & CAPPS II, Secure Flight does not scan passengers for outstanding warrants nor does Secure Flight use computer algorithms to search for links to flagged terrorists.
NLETS potentially serves as a better tool to search for minor misdemeanors and traffic violations that would not be in the NCIC.