employeescreenIQ

If you've ever been convicted of a crime, or even accused of one, you know how much it can change nearly every aspect of your life, and potentially harm your chances of future employment.

However, many companies are willing to hire people who have had certain criminal convictions, so that should not deter you from searching for and applying to open positions. So what shows up in a background check if you've been accused or convicted of a crime?

As dictated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a background check can reveal a number of facts about criminals, including:

• Court records
• Incarceration records
• Criminal records
• Drug test records
• Sex offender lists

For those who have been accused of a crime, there is some information that employers are not legally allowed to access through a background check. That information includes: civil suits, civil judgments and records of arrest after seven years, as well as other negative information, except criminal convictions, after seven years.

Fortunately for employers, the FBI has reported that law enforcement agencies throughout the nation saw a 4.4 percent decrease in the number of violent crimes during the first six months of last year when compared to the first six months of 2008.

In addition, property crimes throughout the country decreased by 6.1 percent during that same period, while arson decreased by 8.2 percent.

These statistics are a nice change from previous years, when both violent and property crimes mainly increased, as shown in the graph below from the Bureau of Justice Statistics:

Labels: What shows up in a background check

More job seekers are finding that what shows up in a background check can severely hurt their chances of employment, and are therefore looking to legally clear their own criminal records.

Amid an already declining economy that makes it tough for anyone to find a job, many potential candidates are looking to clear their records of minor crimes and other information that could further hinder their efforts to find employment.

Michigan state police have estimated they will set aside 46 percent more convictions this year than during 2008, while Oregon is planning to set aside 33 percent more convictions, according to an article by The Wall Street Journal.

Officials in Florida sealed and expunged almost 15,000 criminal records last fiscal year, a 43 percent increase from the previous year. Officials in Cook County, which includes Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, received about 7,600 expungement requests during the first three quarters of this year, which is almost twice as many as during the same period last year.

Many cities and states are working with job seekers in this effort, as some entrepreneurs have set up record-clearing services and local governments have passed laws to speed up the expungement process.

Michael Hornung, a defense attorney in Fort Myers, Fla., charges $1,000 to help clients clear their criminal records. Part of the problem, he says, is that unemployment has increased to more than 10 percent, which allows employers to be more picky about potential candidates than in the past.

"This is affecting a whole new group," he said in the article. "I've had more people come in to talk to me about having their records expunged in the last year than I have had in the previous 13 combined."

In addition, several studies have found that more Americans currently have criminal records. That in turn has caused background checks to become more commonplace among employers.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, more than 80 percent of companies performed background checks during 2006, an increase from 50 percent during 1998.

Labels: What shows up in a background check