Depending on what it is for, a background check can reveal many things, the most obvious being someone’s criminal history. Prospective employers use information provided by the potential employee, such as social security number, name, and address, to run a check. A basic check turns up misdemeanor criminal convictions, felonies, ongoing criminal cases, incarceration terms, criminal charges, and arrests. Not all checks yield all of these, however.
Sealed juvenile records will not show up in a search. And several states have time limitations on how long a criminal conviction may be disclosed to the public. For example, California, Maryland, New Hampshire, Montana, Massachusetts, Kansas, and Washington prohibit disclosure of felonies older than seven years and misdemeanors older than five.
Fingerprinting checks lead to the FBI database on all interactions with law enforcement. Additionally, employers seeking to hire those who will work with vulnerable populations, like children, the elderly, and the disabled, may conduct a more specific background check on criminal histories with those vulnerable populations.