Postby dolfan » May 28th, 2008, 4:33 am
There is no commercial database for criminal histories of people. There is the NCIC, which is managed by the FBI, and which is for governmental use only. Even the NCIC is of dubious reliability at times, but it almost universally used by state and local governments, police departments, etc. Overall, it does what it says it does. BUT, if there is ever anyone who touts abilities to produce criminal histories on people, they are not getting them from the NCIC. States and localities have various databases, some free, some restricted, some fee-based. For example, in Alabama, we have the Alacourt system, which is nothing more than the online docket of all state courts. If you are willing to shell out a couple of hundred bucks a month, you can use it, or you can go to the local courthouse and access it freely. You can enter a person's name and see what criminal cases since the early 1990's they have had, the disposition of those cases, any pending cases, etc., and after varying dates in varying counties depending on how far back their imaging efforts reach, you can see those files more or less fully online. Replicating that kind of effort 50 times is costly and unless someone is selling the information, no one is going to spend that much to access it. Well, let me tell you, many sell it, but I know of no one who gives it away. So, if someone gives you an opportunity to access that information or tells you information without charging for it, think scam.
EXCEPTION: State and local websites that reveal where convicted sex offenders are registered, or have some variation on that info. Alabama does a pretty decent job of keeping that info available, free, updated and online. But, for felons in general, it just ain't so. Felons MUST register in Alabama, however (most states have a felony registry, many states are lax in enforcing it, and almost no one knows about them). But, there's no website or database for it. Most such registries are locally maintained and, as I said, poorly updated for felons in general.
Human government bears the same relation to hell as the church bears to heaven. (David Lipscomb, On Civil Government, 72).