
Many types of insurance providers, including life insurance, home insurance, and auto insurance, can and often do conduct background checks. Even a misdemeanor can result in a person’s rates increasing or coverage being denied. The assumption is that the choices made that led to criminal behavior make a person too risky to insure.
Immigrants without citizenship status may face deportation based on a criminal conviction. This is especially true for violent crimes. For undocumented immigrants, however, something as simple as a speeding ticket can put them at risk of deportation.
How does a criminal conviction affect your rights?
In the US, more than seventy million people have one or more criminal records. These individuals are subject to federal and state laws and regulations that restrict their rights: their rights to housing, employment, the right to vote, and the right to own firearms.
In some jurisdictions, a criminal conviction also affects your driving eligibility. Some of the above conviction rules make sense, for example to prevent convicted child molesters from being minors, but many of the rules have nothing to do with a crime or conviction.
How can I access public records in New York?
Some registrations are available online while others require a formal application. If a request is required, it can be sent to the Archiving Department by post, email or telephone.
Every department is different, so expect some variation in the rules when accessing records from multiple locations. This can be done by email, post or phone depending on the department where the request is submitted.
FBI Criminal Record
Each time you are fingerprinted and arrested in New York or any other U.S. state/territory, a record of your arrest, charge, and final decision ( whether a conviction, guilty plea, discharge, or acquittal) is sent to the FBI, which maintains a nationwide criminal history database. The New York FBI Criminal Record will be attached to your DCJS record. Therefore, any entity listed above that is eligible to receive your DCJS record will also see your FBI criminal record. Records in New York that are sealed do not appear on an FBI criminal record.
As noted above, New York does not delete or erase information from an individual’s criminal record, and as a result there will always be an undeleted version of your criminal record maintained by the Department of Criminal Justice Services (“DCJS”) . However, certain records may be “sealed,” meaning they cannot be viewed on your criminal record if requested by a government agency or employer. Some records are automatically sealed while others require a court hearing
Federal Employment Background Check Laws
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are the two Key Federal Laws New York Employers Must Be Subject To – Employment Background Checks
The FCRA is a comprehensive federal law first enacted in 1970 o It is designed to protect the privacy of consumers with respect to information collected and used by rating agencies including information from job applicants during the recruitment process. Under the FCRA, CRAs are restricted in the types of information they can access and disclose, and employers are restricted in the types of information they can use to make hiring decisions.