What shows up on a background check
Court cases, convictions, pending and dismissed charges, arrests, warrants — and what never appears. With the real mix from the criminal records on our index.
Making a hiring or tenant decision? Use an FCRA workflow.
FCRA workflows are built primarily for tenant screening and hiring decisions. 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. 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.
A background check shows records, not a verdict
A criminal background check is a search of public records that may belong to a person: court cases, state prison records, county jail bookings, warrants and, depending on the check, sex offender registry status. What shows up depends on three things — which record types the check searches, what each court, jail or agency publishes, and the legal limits that apply when the result is used for a decision about someone.
The single most important reading rule: a charge is not a conviction. A booking records an arrest; a court filing records an accusation. Only a disposition says how a case ended. Our own index shows how often that last step is missing — see the numbers below.
The five kinds of record a criminal check can return
Each answers a different question. A good check says which ones it searched.
Shares are from a random sample of 66,154 criminal records on our index (2026-10-08). They describe what the index holds, not crime in the population.
| Record type | What it shows | What it proves | Share of our index |
|---|---|---|---|
| Court cases | Case number, court, filing date, each charge and, where published, the disposition | That a case was filed — and, when a disposition is stated, how it ended | 49% |
| State prison records | Commitments to the state department of corrections, offense, sentence and custody status | A conviction serious enough for a state prison sentence | 50% |
| County jail bookings | An arrest and the charges recorded at booking, booking date, sometimes a photo | That the person was booked — not that they were convicted | 1% |
| Warrants and wanted notices | An active warrant or wanted notice | That a court or agency is looking for the person now | <1% |
| Sex offender registry | Current registration status, offense of registration, address and photo | Current registration under state law | Separate search |
Which charges appear most often
41% of the records in our sample include charge detail. Among those, these are the most common charge categories.
A record can include charges in several categories, so the shares add up to more than 100%. Categories are our grouping of the charge text each court, jail or agency publishes; the full list with plain definitions is on criminal charge types.
| Charge category | Share of records with charge detail |
|---|---|
| Theft, larceny and stolen property | 14% |
| Drug possession | 13% |
| Assault, battery and threats | 10% |
| Burglary and breaking & entering | 9% |
| Fraud, forgery and identity theft | 8% |
| Drug sale, distribution or manufacture | 8% |
| Traffic offenses (not DUI) | 7% |
| DUI / DWI | 6% |
| Public order, trespass and property damage | 6% |
| Sex offenses | 5% |
| Weapons offenses | 5% |
| Robbery | 4% |
How cases ended — and how often a record does not say
Of the court cases in our sample, 93% do not state an outcome. Among those that do, 43% ended in a conviction, guilty plea or adjudication, 14% were dismissed or ended in a not-guilty finding, and 43% are still open. That gap is why a charge on its own should never be read as a conviction.
When a record does not state a disposition, the outcome has to be confirmed with the court where the case was filed. A careful check flags those records instead of guessing.
Where a record states the level of the charge (9% of records), 60% are felonies and 34% misdemeanors. Most records do not state a level, so the charge text and the court are often the only guide.
Pending, dismissed and old charges: the seven-year rule
Public records themselves can go back decades. The limit comes into play when a background check is a consumer report used for hiring, housing, credit or insurance. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a consumer reporting agency may not report records of arrest, or other adverse items that are not convictions, that are more than seven years old. Convictions are not limited by that federal rule (15 U.S.C. § 1681c).
The federal seven-year limit does not apply to a job with an annual salary of $75,000 or more (§ 1681c(b)). Some states add their own limits on top, including limits on convictions. A pending charge is not yet a conviction, so it falls on the non-conviction side of the rule.
- Convictions: reportable regardless of age under federal law; some states limit them.
- Dismissed charges and arrests without conviction: generally not reportable after seven years.
- Pending charges: reportable while pending, as an open case, not as a conviction.
- Sealed or expunged records: should not appear; if one does, dispute it.
Sex offender registry status is a separate check
Registry status is not a criminal record in the same sense: it is current registration under state law, published by each state’s registry. A criminal background check may or may not include it — ask. Offendersearch searches 58 US sex offender registries separately from criminal records; see the registry pages by state.
What a criminal background check usually does not show
- Sealed and expunged records, and most juvenile records.
- Cases in courts that do not publish their records online, until someone searches that court directly.
- Arrests that never produced a booking or a filing in a searched source.
- Civil cases, most traffic tickets and infractions, unless the check includes them.
- Anything older than the reporting limits above, in a consumer report.
- Details a source does not publish — many records name a charge but not a level or outcome.
What an employer sees in an employment background check
An employment background check is a consumer report prepared by a consumer reporting agency, with your written authorization. Before an employer acts on it, they must give you a copy and a summary of your rights, and wait a reasonable time before a final decision — the steps are in the adverse action process. Which record types are searched depends on the employer’s package.
How to see what shows up on your own background check
You can ask any consumer reporting agency for the information it holds about you (15 U.S.C. § 1681g), and dispute anything inaccurate or incomplete — the agency must reinvestigate, generally within 30 days (§ 1681i). The steps are in how to dispute a background check.
What shows up on a background check — questions
What shows up on an employment background check?
Typically criminal records the package searches — court cases, state prison records and sometimes county jail bookings and warrants — plus whatever else the employer orders, such as employment or education verification. Criminal items older than seven years that are not convictions are generally excluded from a consumer report.
What does a criminal background check show?
Records that may belong to the person, with the charge text each source published. On our index the most common charge categories are theft, larceny and stolen property (14%), drug possession (13%), assault, battery and threats (10%).
Does a non-conviction show up on a background check?
It can — as an arrest, a booking or a dismissed charge. In a consumer report used for hiring or housing, non-conviction records older than seven years generally may not be reported under federal law, and some states limit them further.
What does pending mean on a background check?
Either the case is still open in court, or the check itself is still running. A pending charge is an accusation that has not been resolved; it is not a conviction.
Do dismissed charges show up on a background check?
They can. Among court cases on our index that state an outcome, 14% were dismissed or ended in a not-guilty finding. In a consumer report, a dismissed charge older than seven years generally may not be reported.
Do arrests show up on a background check?
If the arrest led to a jail booking or a court filing in a searched source, yes. An arrest is not a conviction, and an arrest older than seven years without a conviction generally may not appear in a consumer report.
How far back does a background check go?
Public records can go back decades. For consumer reports, federal law limits non-conviction records to seven years and does not limit convictions; some states add their own limits.
Do sealed or expunged records show up?
They should not. A sealed or expunged record that appears on a background check is grounds for a dispute with the agency that reported it.
Does a background check show sex offender registry status?
Only if it includes a registry search. Registry status is published by each state registry and is searched separately from criminal court and prison records.
General information about federal law, not legal advice. Offendersearch results are not a consumer report.