A registry and criminal data API for screening providers
One data layer instead of dozens of per-state integrations — criminal records across county, state and federal jurisdictions plus 58 US sex offender registries — available on the standard API and, for FCRA-regulated reports, through FCRA Partner Access with the reporting controls already applied.
25 free searches, no card. $0.15 a call, no platform fee, no seats, no minimum. No code needed: search from your dashboard, or integrate the full API when you’re ready.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \ -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": {"firstName": "Jordan", "lastName": "Sample", "dob": "1980-04-12", "ageTolerance": 1}}' // response { "status": "complete", "elapsedMs": 410, "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesQueried": 58, "sourcesComplete": 58, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // a match carries its reason { "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.98, "matchBasis": ["lastName:exact", "firstName", "dob"] }
Making a hiring or tenant decision? Use an FCRA workflow.
If a result will help decide whether to hire someone or rent to them, the check has to run as an FCRA-regulated consumer report, with a permissible purpose, consent, accuracy controls and a dispute path for the person. Our standard search and API are not a consumer report, and standard results are never used for that decision. FCRA workflows run through FCRA Partner Access, for background check companies and screening platforms under a written FCRA agreement.
FCRA pricing is quoted per partner, so contact us for pricing.
Screening challenges for background-screening providers and CRAs
- Maintaining per-state integrations is a constant tax
- Your name is on the report, so a vendor’s matching error is your accuracy problem
- Applying the seven-year rule, state caps and registry restrictions by hand is slow and error-prone
- Migrating vendors usually means re-integrating
What sex offender screening gives background-screening providers and CRAs
Retire in-house registry and criminal integrations
Furnish registry and criminal data with the FCRA controls already applied
Answer a dispute through an API, from a per-order evidence record
Migrate from another provider with minimal code change
Background Screening (CRAs) sex offender check API: request and response. One POST per person, or the same search from the dashboard with no code.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \ -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": {"firstName": "Jordan", "lastName": "Sample", "dob": "1980-04-12", "ageTolerance": 1}}' // response { "status": "complete", "elapsedMs": 410, "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesQueried": 58, "sourcesComplete": 58, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // a match carries its reason { "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.98, "matchBasis": ["lastName:exact", "firstName", "dob"] }
Send what you have. Name and date of birth; age or birth year when that is all you hold. Date of birth drives matchState: dob_match, year_match, age_match or no_dob_age_year.
Read the counts. sourcesComplete against sourcesQueried says whether all 58 registries answered, so a partial search is never read as a clear one.
Branch on the score. matchConfidence and matchBasis on every record, with the registry cited.
| Person | Checked for | Result | Answered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Sample | report pipeline | No match | 58 / 58 |
| Jordan A. Sample | report pipeline | Match · dob_match | 58 / 58 |
| J. Sample | report pipeline | Review · year_match | 58 / 58 |
Read the API docs › · Search from the dashboard › · Screen a CSV without code ›
Sex offender screening built for background screening (cras). One key, one schema, one stored record of every check.
FCRA Partner Access
The FCRA Orders API under a written FCRA agreement: one order covers a sex-offender search, a criminal search or both, with the end user, purpose and consent recorded on the order — kept apart from standard access.
Exact date-of-birth matching
An FCRA order furnishes a record only on an exact date-of-birth match. Name-only and birth-year matches are withheld and counted, never reported.
Reporting rules applied for you
The federal seven-year rule for non-convictions, the salary exemption when you state it, conservative state conviction caps, and state restrictions on registry information.
Live re-verification
Every record that survives the rules is re-checked against the official record for the order and carries its verification time.
Disputes API and consumer portal
An evidence record for every order, a disputes endpoint on the 30-day clock, and a consumer portal on every order where the consumer sees and disputes what was furnished — with a record.corrected event to every partner that received a changed record.
Webhooks and a sandbox
Orders run in the background and report by signed webhook, with an events list to poll, idempotent order creation, and sandbox test subjects for every outcome.
Drop-in compatibility
Point existing standard integrations at /v1/compat/sexoffender and switch with only a base URL and key change.
Read next: FCRA-compliant background check data · FCRA Partner Access · The FCRA Orders API · What a CRA should require from a data vendor
Background Screening (CRAs) screening: what the law requires
A screening provider furnishing consumer reports carries the FCRA duties for every item in them — including the items a vendor supplied. These are the provisions the regulated tier is built around; each links to the statute.
| Jurisdiction | Citation | Applies to | What it requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | 15 U.S.C. § 1681b | Data users | Consumer reports may be furnished only for a permissible purpose, with the certifications the section requires of users. |
| Federal | 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b) | Data users | Reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information in a report. |
| Federal | 15 U.S.C. § 1681k | Data users | For employment, adverse public-record information must be complete and up to date when reported, unless the consumer is notified at the time. |
| Federal | 15 U.S.C. § 1681c | Data users | Arrests and other non-conviction adverse items older than seven years may not be reported; limits lifted for employment at $75,000 a year or more. |
| Federal | 15 U.S.C. § 1681i | Data users | Disputed items must be reinvestigated within 30 days of receipt, and deleted or modified if inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable. |
| California | Cal. Penal Code § 290.46(j) | Data users | Megan’s Law information may be used only to protect a person at risk; employment, housing and other listed uses are prohibited unless another law authorizes them. |
And what it doesn’t
No federal law requires a sex-offender registry search in an ordinary employment or tenant report — it is a product choice your clients ask for. What the law does govern is how you report it once you do: accurately, currently, within the reporting limits, and subject to state restrictions on registry information, which sit outside the FCRA and are not answered by FCRA compliance alone.
Citations link to the primary text. This is background, not legal advice: obligations change, and your counsel is the right reader of your own facts.
Screening practices for background-screening providers and CRAs. Record what you checked, not just what you found.
| NJ | New Jersey · answered | 0 |
| NY | New York · answered | 0 |
| PA | Pennsylvania · answered | 0 |
| FL | Florida · answered | 0 |
| TX | Texas · answered | 0 |
Make the vendor show its match basis. Name-only registry matching is the fact pattern behind a $13 million CFPB action against a screening company. Require an exact date-of-birth rule and a visible reason for every match.
Never accept “clear” on a partial search. If a source did not answer, the result is incomplete. A clear result on a partial search is the most dangerous thing a vendor can hand you.
Keep evidence per request. A dispute gives you 30 days. The record of what was searched, what each source said and which rules applied is what lets you answer it.
Gate registry data by state and purpose. California restricts employment and housing uses of its registry information; Nevada and New Jersey restrict housing uses. Apply that before the report is built, not after.
Registry and criminal records for background screening (cras), on one key. Most background-screening providers and CRAs need more than one check, and running two vendors means two integrations, two contracts and two invoices.
Sex offender registry
58 US registries, continuously updated, with photographs, aliases, addresses and the official record citation on every match. 1.5M records in one schema.
Sex offender API ›Criminal records
1,408 county jail rosters, 53 state corrections systems, courts, warrants and federal custody, almost 50 million records in the same scored, source-cited schema. Same key, same price.
Criminal search API ›FCRA background checks
When a result decides a hire or a tenancy, the check runs as an FCRA order through FCRA Partner Access: consent, the check, disputes and adverse-action steps. Pricing is quoted per partner.
FCRA Partner Access ›Coverage today: 1,914 criminal jurisdictions catalogued, 1,564 live, 51 states + DC + federal. See what each state publishes, or the live list at /v1/criminal/sources.
What background screening (cras) screening costs per check. $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month. No platform fee, no seats, no minimum.
| Checks / month | Cost | Per check |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | $75.00 | $0.1500 |
| 5,000 | $630.00 | $0.1260 |
| 50,000 | $5,580.00 | $0.1116 |
A batch is billed per row, so bulk screening costs the same per person as a single lookup. No setup fee, no per-seat licence, no monthly minimum on search and no annual contract, so the price scales down with you as well as up. A fraction of what legacy screening platforms charge.
The background check API · screen a CSV without code. More for developers: the free background check API tier, background check API pricing, the employment screening API and tenant screening API, and the background check API in Python and background check API in Node.js tutorials.
Background Screening (CRAs) screening FAQ
For anything else, talk to sales or read the API docs.
Can we use your data in FCRA consumer reports?
Yes, through FCRA Partner Access — FCRA orders under a written FCRA agreement, for the permissible purposes it names. Standard access remains available for non-regulated work and is not a consumer report.
What controls are applied before a regulated record reaches us?
Permissible purpose, end-user certification and your consent attestation on every order, an exact date-of-birth match, state restrictions on registry information, the seven-year rule and state caps on criminal records, dispute suppression and a live re-check. Anything withheld is counted by reason.
Who handles consumer disputes about your data?
We do, for what we furnish. Open a dispute through the disputes API, or the consumer opens one in the portal using the access code on the order; we reinvestigate with the authority that holds the record on a 30-day clock and send the outcome by webhook — with a record.corrected event to every partner that received a changed record. Your own notices to your clients and consumers stay with you.
How is regulated access priced?
FCRA pricing is quoted per partner, based on your volume and purposes — contact us for pricing. FCRA orders are metered separately from standard calls.
How hard is it to migrate from another provider?
For standard sex-offender search, /v1/compat/sexoffender mirrors legacy parameters and returns the same envelope; switch by changing only the base URL and key. FCRA orders use their own API — the FCRA Orders API — documented in full.
Can we white-label the data?
The API returns normalized, source-tagged records you can present in your own product, subject to per-jurisdiction legal-use terms and, for regulated use, your FCRA agreement.
Related
Screen background-screening providers and CRAs with one API
One data layer instead of dozens of per-state integrations — criminal records across county, state and federal jurisdictions plus 58 US sex offender registries — available on the standard API and, for FCRA-regulated reports, through FCRA Partner Access with the reporting controls already applied.