How To Conduct A Free Criminal Background Check Online

HandcuffsThere are many times you need to trust someone without really knowing much about the person. Babysitters, new neighbors, school teachers, employees, tenants and landlords, janitors and plumbers are just some of the examples where we associate with people and even invite them into our homes. But what would you do if you found out that the person had a criminal record?

There are several paid services online where you can find out details of somebody’s shady past. In most cases, so-called ‘”free” sites are simply marketing tricks to get you to pay for the information you really need. However, since everything at MakeUseOf is truly free, here is how you can perform a free criminal background check online without paying a dime. Note that this is valid only for US residents.

Criminal Searches

free criminal background check

Criminal Searches allows you to:

  • Search criminal records by first and last name, optionally filtered by US state
  • Search criminals in a neighborhood
  • Search sex offenders in a neighborhood
  • Sign up to receive alerts on criminal records of up to 5 names
  • Get criminal statistics based on types of crime, ethnicity, gender and age

Search by Name

Criminal search results are categorized into Behavioral, Business, Drug & Alcohol, Sex Related, Theft & Robbery, Violent, and Traffic/Other. Not surprisingly, you will notice that criminals like to change names and the site shows you all the different names associated with that person.

free criminal background check

Clicking the View Details button will take you to a detailed page with the free criminal background info about a specific individual. Where available, you can see information that can help identify a person such as age, height, race, eye color, hair color, etc.

criminal public records free

A list of all offenses is seen along with details of each offense such as date and place of conviction, the verdict and sentence.

free criminal background check

Free Criminal Background Check by Neighborhood

When you search an address or a neighborhood area for criminals, you get a Google Map mashup with the locations and types of criminals in that area. You can use the usual Google Map controls to move, zoom in/out, etc. Click on any of the offenders to see brief details from where you can jump to the full details of that person. For example, here is a map of criminals in Trenton, NJ:

free criminal background records check

Sex Offender Search

The Sex Offender search works in similar fashion, showing you a Google Map with locations of registered sex offenders. A search in Los Angeles for example revealed 77 registered sex offenders. Detailed information on each offender is seen on the left, when you click any offender icon in the map.

criminal public records free

Advanced Search

If you know more details of a specific person you suspect, you can use the Advanced Search that allows you to do a free criminal background check using middle name, address, age range, or even date of birth.

Criminal Statistics

The statistics section of the website with pretty pie charts is compelling for anyone with even a passing interest in crime studies. The crime category chart allows you to further dig into each type. For example, Theft and Robbery can be further segmented into Stolen Property, Burglary, Fraud, Larceny, and so on.

criminal public records free

Suspect someone? Want to check how safe is your neighborhood? Go to Criminal Searches and find out.

Important: Please be careful to use this website as a starting point. Remember that free checks work only on publicly available information and may not always be comprehensive. If your safety is at stake, it is best to get paid professional services before placing your faith in someone.

Also note that harassing anyone on the offender registry database is a misdemeanor and can be punished both by a fine and jail time.

You can also check out previously profiled SpotCrime for crime reports in your neighborhood and Family Watchdog to get a map view of the National Sex Offender registry. Did you find Criminal Searches useful? Liked this post? Tell us in the comments!

Tagged: • •

Mahendra Palsule

I have worked in IT (Software) for over 17 years, in the outsourcing industry, product companies and web startups. I am an early adopter, tech trendspotter, and dad. I spend time writing for MakeUseOf, as part-time Editor at Techmeme, and blogging at Skeptic Geek.

Similar Stuff

The comments were closed because the article is more than 90 days old.

If you have any questions related to stuff mentioned in the article or need help with any computer issue, just ask it on MakeUseOf Answers.

  • http:/propsblog.com Blake @ The Props Blog

    Already Stumbled and tweeted this. What a great utility. My wife and I are looking to employ a nanny soon, so being able to check the history of each candidate will be very helpful.

    This is also awesome for small business owners hiring new employees. This even rocks for checking out people you might be dating (nothing sucks like finding out your dating a felon!).

  • http://www.instant-background-check.com Aaron

    I think its very important to know not only that there are charged criminals in your neighborhood, but what exactly they were charged with. Not that any crimes are better than others, but from a family standpoint, I would feel safer knowing that there was a white collar criminal in my neighborhood than one that was charged with a violent crime.

  • http://www.freewritingcenter.com Ryan Dube

    I agree – this utility is the best. I’ve been searching for a free utility to do criminal checks for a long time, and this article proves Mahendra has a bloodhound quality nose for tracking down the best resources. Nice work!

    • http://www.markoneill.org Mark O’Neill

      I am split on this site. On the one hand, I can understand the need to protect your children and yourself from felons who are potentially still dangerous.

      But on the other hand, there IS such a thing as rehabilitation. A lot of people do reform from their bad ways and strive to lead a better life. I personally know several people who have criminal records and they regret what they did calling it “a bad mistake”. Prison reformed them and when they got out, they vowed to become better honest people.

      But what if their new boss / new neighbour used this site to find out they were convicted criminals? Suddenly their good intentions to become better people would be undermined by people who wouldn’t believe they had changed.

      So I feel that sites like this can potentially start misguided witch-hunts. So it should be used with extreme caution and common sense.

      Just my two cents :-)

  • fanny

    That is insane. People are punished for their crimes by going to jail. Putting their data into the internet is like putting them on the middle of the marketplace like in the midages.

    If you say you are checking this site to protect your children. What are your consequences when a charged criminal lives in your neigborhood? Will you move out, will you make this guy suffer or will you just feel insecure.

    Everybody checking this site should be ashamed for not having his sense for justice evolved since the midages.

  • Heidi

    I did a search of a couple of people I happen to know with pretty extensive criminal records, and the searches came up empty. Don’t think I would rely on this to check out my next baby sitter.

    • bob

      I did a search on someone doing time for murder in TX and on another person in federal prison for insider trading. Google and other sites return links to court documents; this site returns nothing on either. I’m starting to wonder about the number of “grass roots” promotions of this site; I rarely post negative comments, but for this site I think that the GROSS oversight of the cases I submitted suggests that reliance on this website is downright dangerous to more than your pocketbook.

  • carol vetter

    I also entered three people with pretty solid criminal backgrounds, including two felons. Both returned 0 records

  • http://vikasgupta.wordpress.com VIKAS GUPTA

    Great article Mahendra. Wish we Indians also had something like this! There are so many wolves in lamb’s clothes in our country!

  • p

    checked my own – something should have shown up but it didnt. not so reliable

  • DS

    WHY is it that ALL these Criminal Search sites NEVER provide the names of their Founders or Principals ???

    WHY?
    What do they have to hide?
    How can such sites be trusted?
    How can I do a criminal check on the site Owner?

    I love this article. It is very important. Thank you.
    But it falls short of what people expect.
    However, please keep looking for more sites.

  • http://www.skepticgeek.com Mahendra Palsule

    All,

    Thank you for the comments. Please note:

    1. If you don’t like the message, don’t shoot the messenger.
    2. All this information is available publicly via many other sites as well, only that they charge you for it. Many US States also have their own sites where you can individually search for criminals for free. All that this site is doing is providing a unified front-end to all that data.
    3. All information is based on public records. Some States DO NOT provide public records, hence information about criminals from such states will not exist.
    4. If you wish to get in touch with the site’s founders, there is a contact form available both for individual and press inquiries.

    • Jim

      Then the companies need to disable searches for states that don’t provide public records. Otherwise they’re basically lying to people and returning false information.

    • DS

      A Suggestion for MAKEUSEOF.com:

      Please do NOT promote sites that refuse to:
      ===========================================
      name the principles or owners of a site.
      name a principal or owner who is Not referenceable (on say Linkedin)

      A Contact Form is USELESS. How can one establish TRUST? WHO do you follow-up with? Who can you complain to.

      This site is itself bordering on Questionable. It does not give the name of the owner, nor a telephone number, nor coverage stats, nor refresh stats (age of data), etc.

      Please make Authors work a tad harder. This site is NOT FREE. It will cost you something if you fill out the Contact form.

  • http://www.oldcodger.org Doc

    The web site is only as good as the information that is provided to it. This DOES NOT provide a comprehensive criminal record search. The information is gathered from various public reporting sources including newspapers, some court records, etc. Not all states make the information available to a service like this. Hence, it is not reliable. The only semi-reliable source for information about someone is through the FBI – and even their records are not reliable or accurate.

    Some jurisdictions provide criminal background checks for people who are applying for jobs involving matters of trust or children. Check with your local police departments to find out what procedures must be followed to have a criminal background check run on someone. It will HAVE to be done with their permission. It is also important to remember that your local police can do this only if authorized by law and it will not typically include a search of the NCIC (National Crime Information Computer) or any archived records with the FBI. It will search only the state in which the jurisdiction is in – not other states.

    I agree – there is a thing called rehabilitation. Also, what a person may have been charged with and pled guilty to may not reflect the actual offense committed. Similarly, may innocent people will plead guilty to something just to avoid the costs involved of proving their innocence. With sex offenders – many innocent people have been convicted simply because of people’s attitudes about the subject. A person charged with a sex crime is automatically considered to be guilty rather than considered to be innocent until proven guilty.

    In summation, this is a service that really serves no viable purpose other than to capitalize on people’s fears of crime.

    Doc

  • http://www.integrascan.com Background Check

    As this seems like a good idea, the compnay posted does not have updated information, How good of a background check can you expect if the information is offered for free, Do obtain a real up to dat abckground check use a reputable compnay that will charge per search as the background check you will receive will be more complete and up to date.

    Terry Sweet
    integrascan.com

  • http://www.sherlockinvestigations.com Skipp Porteous

    This article is very helpful. A lot of people can’t afford a private investigator to do a search for criminal records. In case one comes up empty-handed, though, we do background investigations.

    • http://www.integrascan.com Background Check

      hi Skipp,

      It is terry sweet, remember me from national data resarch

  • Uh huh

    “there IS such a thing as rehabilitation” yeah am pretty sure that’s a ride at DisneyLand.

  • http://www.criminalwatchdog.com Criminal Background Check

    The reality is free reporting sites, like the one featured in this article, are simply not a reliable source for an individual’s criminal background when your goal is the security of those around you.

    D
    criminalwatchdog.com

  • rw

    so guys dont hire criminals they are satans?

  • gordon

    I tried Phillip Craig Garrido
    and it found:
    Traffic/Other: Offense Code: 290(A)(2)(D)

    When I google offense code 290, it says
    that is the sex offender registration act.

    So, shouldn’t this have been categorized
    under Sex Related, not Traffic/Other?

  • http://www.bestbackgroundcheck.org/ Jordan

    I have been buying and testing background check services for over a year and NOTHING is free. Peoplefinders.com does offer a free sex offender alert program, but that is about it.
    If you would like, I can offer you a 25% discount at bestbackgroundcheck.org on all USSearch products including expert assisted background checks.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      fixed!

  • http://www.squidoo.com/online-background-checks Online Background Checks

    Thank you for writing this very informative article about the importance of background checks. Criminal records are now so accessible that there is no excuse for not having one with the people you do business with.

    A personal experience I had with background checks was when a friend of mine found a flyer on his car windshield for pressure washing. What he didn’t know was that in Central Florida, flyers for that same pressure-washing service were a front for a burglar. Sadly, he and his wife were later burglarized. In retrospect, if the victims had simply gotten identification and run a simple criminal background check before hiring the young man in the t-shirt, they would have discovered he had a history of burglaries. It is probable that just asking for identification would have chased him off.

  • samantha geller

    thats really some gr8 information, even i think from women safety point of view that we should always check background of any unknown person we are meeting. i use http://www.Aafter.com it provides you with links to the person’s background
    check, nationwide sex offender search as well as the regular regular search results.

  • william

    The criminalsearches site is the most useless tool i have ever seen. HI SITE WOULD NOT SHOW ANYONEES RECORD. NO NOT EVVEN MADOFF MANSON HITLER OR O J SIMPSON

  • http://www.courtrecords.org Court Records

    Very nice post! Thanks a lot! Very useful information!

    I’d just suggest to add a point about court records. Very important in my opinion.

  • becky

    why do you have 2 pay money 4 all of these? i just want to check my own records and i cant find anywhere that does free criminal background checks, btw im a felon, and its really hard 2 find jobs, i have a class b felony, a 2nd degree theft, thats all it says, im not a bad person at all, i messed up when i was 18, me and a couple friends got trashed and went and stole an entire basement full of lawn ornaments, and thats on my record for life!! i regret the hell out of it, most employers take one look at that and turn me away, i think that sites like these are useful to find sex offenders, i have been a victim of that myself and feel like if you have ever touched a child you should be marked for life weather your a changed person or not!!! , but there is always people that have bad records that are not bad people and are marked for life for something they did when they where a different person and or incredibly young and stupid, like me!! anyways there used to be a site where you could get em for free but i cant find it anywhere