Sex offender screening API for staffing & recruiting
Screen candidates against every US sex-offender registry in one API call, with scored matches and per-source provenance you can attach to the file — fast enough to run inline during onboarding.
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": "Ana", "lastName": "Torres", "dob": "1988-07-21", "ageTolerance": 1}}' // response { "status": "complete", "elapsedMs": 410, "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesQueried": 58, "sourcesComplete": 58, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // one row for review { "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.98, "matchBasis": ["lastName:exact", "firstName", "dob"] }
Making a hiring decision? Use an FCRA workflow.
If a result will help decide whether to hire someone, 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 staffing and recruiting teams
- High-volume onboarding needs an answer inside the flow, not a batch job
- A single missed registry becomes a negligent-hiring exposure
- Auditors want proof of where a hit came from
What sex offender screening gives staffing and recruiting teams
Run screening inline during onboarding, not overnight
Attach source-verified results to each candidate file
Re-verify placed workers on a Weekly or Daily cadence
Screen to the placement’s rules, not one policy for every role
Staffing & Recruiting 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": "Ana", "lastName": "Torres", "dob": "1988-07-21", "ageTolerance": 1}}' // response { "status": "complete", "elapsedMs": 410, "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesQueried": 58, "sourcesComplete": 58, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // one row for review { "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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ana Torres | site-safety roster | No match | 58 / 58 |
| Jordan Sample | site-safety roster | Match · dob_match | 58 / 58 |
| J. Sample | site-safety roster | Review · year_match | 58 / 58 |
Read the API docs › · Search from the dashboard › · Screen a CSV without code ›
Sex offender screening built for staffing & recruiting. One key, one schema, one stored record of every check.
One call, every jurisdiction
A single request covers the 50 states, DC, and US territories — no per-state integrations to maintain.
Scored, de-duplicated matches
matchConfidence and matchBasis on every record cut manual adjudication of common-name false positives.
Provenance for the file
Each hit carries source provenance, so the audit trail is defensible.
Batch for backfills
Upload a CSV of existing workers — or send a batch by API — when a new client contract requires screening across the bench you already have.
Criminal records on the same key
Add county, state and federal criminal records to the registry check without a second vendor, a second contract or a second integration.
Monitoring for long assignments
Watch placed workers for the length of a contract and get alerted if a registry status changes, instead of relying on the check that ran at hire.
Staffing & Recruiting screening: what the law requires
Most employment screening law is a fingerprint criminal-history check, in which registry status is not a listed disqualifier. The registry-search duties that do exist cluster where workers are placed with children or vulnerable adults — so for a staffing firm, the obligation usually follows the placement rather than the agency.
| Jurisdiction | Citation | Applies to | What it requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | Fla. Stat. § 435.04 | Staff | Where Florida law requires Level 2 screening, it includes a search of the sex offender registries of any state in which the employee resided during the preceding five years. |
| Federal | 45 CFR § 98.43 | Staff | Staff placed with child care providers funded under CCDBG need an NCIC National Sex Offender Registry search plus the sex offender registry of each state they lived in during the preceding five years. |
| California | Cal. Penal Code § 290.46(j) | Data users | Megan’s Law information may be used only to protect a person at risk; use for employment is prohibited except as that clause or another law authorizes. |
And what it doesn’t
For most placements there is no registry-search mandate at all. Banking, broker-dealer, insurance-producer, aviation and hazmat roles run on fingerprint criminal-history checks in which registry status is not a listed disqualifier. A registry search is a sensible safety layer there, not a compliance box — and it belongs inside your FCRA process, with a person making the final call.
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 staffing and recruiting teams. 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 |
Screen at the placement, not only at hire. A candidate cleared for a warehouse role may later be placed at a school or a care facility, where a registry search is the rule. Re-check when the placement changes, not just when the file opens.
Send the date of birth every time. Name-only matching against a registry is the pattern regulators have penalized screening vendors for. A date of birth turns a list of namesakes into one scored candidate a recruiter can review.
Keep a person making the call. Registry status bars some roles outright and is irrelevant to others. The decision belongs to someone who knows which — with the match basis and the source in front of them.
Monitor contracts that run for months. A status can change mid-assignment. Monitoring alerts you when it does, which is the difference between knowing on day forty and finding out at renewal.
Registry and criminal records for staffing & recruiting, on one key. Most staffing and recruiting teams 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 background checks for staffing & recruiting ›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 staffing & recruiting screening costs per check. $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month. No platform fee, no seats, no minimum.
| Line | How it is counted | Units | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client-site safety checks | sync and batch, per row | 6,000 | $0.15 → $0.11 | $740.00 |
| Person monitors | workers on assignments over 30 days | 500 | $3 / mo | $1,500.00 |
| FCRA orders for hiring decisions | quoted per partner | as used | contact | — |
| Month | no platform fee, no seats, no minimum | 6,000 calls | $2,240.00 |
| 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.
Staffing & Recruiting screening FAQ
For anything else, talk to sales or read the API docs.
Can this run during a fast onboarding flow?
Yes. The sync endpoint answers from our current snapshot rather than dialling out to each registry, and every response reports its own elapsedMs so you can measure it against your own flow; state-scoped screens are fastest. Deep national sweeps run async.
Is this a background check / consumer report?
Not on the standard API: standard results are not a consumer report. FCRA-regulated use runs through FCRA Partner Access, a separately enabled service for approved consumer reporting agencies and screening platforms under a written FCRA agreement.
Are staffing firms required to run a registry search?
Usually the duty comes from the placement, not the agency. Child care placements and roles covered by Florida’s Level 2 screening name a multi-state registry search in law; most other roles do not. Screen to the strictest rule among the sites you place into.
Does a registry match disqualify a candidate?
Not automatically. Registry status is a flat bar for some roles and has no legal bearing on others, and fair-chance laws in many jurisdictions require an individualized review. Treat a match as evidence for a recruiter to review, with the match basis in front of them.
Can we screen a backlog of existing workers?
Yes. Upload a CSV or send a batch by API and results come back per row with the same scoring as a single search. Metered pricing drops to the volume rate after 2,000 calls in a month.
Can we get criminal records as well?
Yes. Criminal records — county, state and federal — are available on the same API key as the registry search, billed per call like everything else.
What about candidates placed in California?
California prohibits using Megan’s Law information for employment unless the use protects a person at risk or another law authorizes it (Penal Code § 290.46(j)). Have counsel review California placements before relying on registry results there.
Related
Screen staffing and recruiting teams with one API
Screen candidates against every US sex-offender registry in one API call, with scored matches and per-source provenance you can attach to the file — fast enough to run inline during onboarding.