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A criminal history record describes any arrests and subsequent dispositions
attributable to an individual. Complete, accurate, and immediately accessible
records enable States to:
immediately identify individuals with prior criminal records in any
State
more effectively identify felons and others prohibited from firearm
purchases
check backgrounds of persons responsible for child, elder and disabled
care
identify individuals who have a history of domestic violence or stalking
make informed decisions relating to pretrial release and detention of
offenders, prosecutions of career criminals and appropriate correctional
confinement
conduct background checks to protect public safety and national security
Criminal records are maintained by each State in a central repository.
To facilitate the interstate exchange of criminal history records, the
FBI maintains the Interstate Identification Index (III) which is an
“index-pointer” system to records of persons arrested for
felonies or serious misdemeanors under State or Federal law.
On December 31, 2001 --
Over 64 million criminal history records were in the criminal history
files of the State criminal history repositories. (An individual offender
may have records in several States.)
Eighty-nine percent of the criminal history records maintained by the
State criminal history repositories were automated. Approximately 6.8
million records, or 11%, were not automated.
All of the reporting States, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia
had automated at least some records in either the criminal history record
file or the master name index.
* Interstate Identification Index, FBI data through December 2001
Source: BJS\SEARCH Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems,
2001, (data as of December 31, 2001) August 2003.
Background checks for firearm transfers
Federal law prohibits firearm possession by or transfer to prohibited
persons including those who are under indictment for or convicted of
a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year.
Over 3,000 State and local agencies conduct background checks related
to firearm transfers.
From the inception of the Brady Act on February 29, 1994, to December
31, 2003, more than 53 million applications for firearm transfers were
subject to background checks. About 1,102,000 applications were rejected.
State and local agencies maintain a significant role in background checks,
conducting checks on almost half of the applications for firearm transfers
or permits in 2003, while the FBI was responsible for the remainder.
Felony convictions or indictments accounted for 42% of the rejections
by State and local agencies.
Sex offender registries (SOR)
As of September 2004--
All 50 States and the District of Columbia had centralized sex offender
registries.
50 States, the District of Columbia, and Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S.
Virgin Islands were submitting records on sexual offenders to the National
Sex Offender Registry.
As of February 2001, 43 States had or planned to have an Internet site
devoted to some aspect of SOR:
29 States and the District of Columbia had publicly accessible Internet
sites containing information on individual sex offenders in a searchable
format.
8 States had Internet sites accessible only to law enforcement agencies
or contained information that pertained only to the registry and not
to individual offenders.
6 States without a SOR Internet site were planning to develop one.
The remaining 7 indicated that they did not currently have an Internet
site with SOR information and provided no information as to whether
one was planned.
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