People use the terms rap sheet and criminal record interchangeably. But a rap sheet is just a type of criminal record. Most publicly available criminal record background checks do not include rap sheets. This is because rap sheets are accessible only by the defendant, police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, government employers, and state licensing agencies. Otherwise, rap sheets are confidential. Therefore, the background checks that employers, lenders, and landlords use draw on only publicly available information from court records. These records might not include everything from a person's rap sheet. And private employers are blocked from even seeing convictions more than seven years old unless another law requires the employer to look back further.