In today’s world, many people are seeking ways to look up criminal records for free. In this article we will cover various ways for you to investigate the background of a potential employee, business partner, or potential love interest by conducting your own free research.
#1 – Look up criminal records for fee on the Internet
The Internet is the first place most people turn to when they want to look up criminal records for free. A basic Google search will allow you to get a snapshot of someone’s background. Look for social media profiles, consumer report websites, and Google’s image directory. There are also “deep web” search engine databases that can dig up information that is often missed by Goggle’s crawlers.
You can also look up criminal records for free by logging onto USA.gov to access state correctional institutions and information on finding criminals. While not all states provide this information it’s a good place to start. If your state isn’t represented on this website then you can do a Google search by entering the following formula:
“State’s name” plus “inmate locator” or “Department of Corrections”
For example: “Florida Department of Corrections”
Besides USA.gov you can also navigate to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. There you can utilize their inmate locator, which is a database of federal inmates.
Another good place to look up criminal history for free is to check the national sex offender registry run by the Department of Justice. From there you can search national sex offenders. When using this resource though, keep in mind the information in the database is supplied by local jurisdictions. The federal database only contains what local counties and towns feed into it. So if your local jurisdiction does not provide the information, then the national database will be hindered. The national website also provides information for states, territories and tribes
#2 – Look up criminal records for free at the county courthouse
When searching out a person’s criminal history the Internet offers a tremendous overview. However, the best place to look up criminal records for free is to head down to the county courthouse (or wherever they keep criminal records in your county). Using this strategy you get information straight from the source.
In closing, trying to look up criminal records for free might not cost you any cash but it will take a commitment of time and resources. If time is something you don’t want to waste then a better option is to utilize a low-cost background check service that will do all the investigating for you.