佛罗里达州莱昂县的每位县员工在就业前都经过了犯罪背景调查，但最近对背景调查的审查显示，目前雇用的员工中存在大量刑事犯罪。莱昂县大约六分之一的员工有逮捕记录或重罪指控。之所以知道这一统计数据，是因为所有这些员工在招聘过程中都进行了背景调查，尽管有记录，但仍被该县雇用。今年 8 月，一名名叫柯蒂斯·沃克 (Curtis Walker) 的男子被一名被定罪的重罪犯指控持有弹药。他目前因保释出狱，但仍在该县工作。
莱昂县 700 多名员工接受了背景调查，约 5% 的员工有重罪逮捕记录；另有 17.5% 的人有各种其他犯罪活动的记录。拥有自己的职业介绍所的黛比·斯皮特勒（Debbie Spitler）被请来就所审查的背景调查进行咨询。她说，根据她的观点和她的经验，由于他们的犯罪记录，很难让一些现有员工找到工作。
自 2003 年以来，该县一直在进行背景调查，该县坚持认为，当他们让员工接受背景调查时，他们会遵守所有联邦法律。该县还表示，他们会研究犯罪的性质以及犯罪发生以来已经过去了多少年。这似乎是处理背景调查中显示的犯罪记录的合理方法，但对于像柯蒂斯沃克这样的案件，他们有非常最新的犯罪记录并且仍在该县工作？背景调查并不总是意味着公司或机构会使用这些信息来明智地选择员工。即使莱昂县遵守联邦法律并要求其申请人接受全面的犯罪背景调查，这并不一定意味着他们正在使用背景调查中的信息来淘汰不合格的员工。另一方面，也许他们正在给人们一个急需的第二次机会。
然而，这似乎有点不公平，拥有多次逮捕甚至重罪记录的人可以找到一份好工作，而像 Lashonda Owens 这样拥有干净记录的注册护士却无法在任何地方找到工作。欧文斯说，她不明白为什么没有人愿意雇用她，即使她有执照并且背景清白。她认为人们应该有第二次机会，但她也需要一份工作来养活自己。该县雇员的背景调查中出现的最常见的刑事指控之一是欺诈。自 1990 年以来，一名县雇员已面临超过 57 项支票欺诈罪，并在 2007 年被指控重罪。这种犯罪活动是莱昂县雇员中最轻微的犯罪活动。进行审查的人感到震惊，许多人希望看到招聘流程发生变化，以便该县真正考虑到员工的严重罪行。
使用全国性的犯罪数据库来搜索全面的犯罪记录，如逮捕记录、监禁记录，并且还搜索性犯罪者登记处。搜索使用来自 49 个不同州以及华盛顿特区、关岛和波多黎各的信息。一个相关的搜索，美国别名搜索，使用相同的数据库，但也搜索已知的别名以及婚前姓名。此搜索需要其他信息，包括 SSN 和出生日期。
Every county employee in Leon County, Florida has gone through a criminal background check prior to employment, but a recent review of the background checks has revealed a high number of criminal offences in currently hired employees. About one in every six employees in Leon County has an arrest record or felony charge. This statistic is known because all of these employees had a background check done during the hiring process and were still hired by the county despite the records. One man, Curtis Walker, was charged in August of this year with possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. He is currently out of jail on bond, but is still working for the county.
Over 700 employees of Leon County had their background checks reviewed, and around 5% of the employees have felony arrest records; another 17.5% have a record of various types of other criminal activity. Debbie Spitler, who owns her own employment agency, was brought in to consult on the background checks that were reviewed. She says that in her opinion and with her experience, it would be very difficult to place some of the current employees with a job because of their criminal records.
Background checks have been conducted by the county since 2003, and the county has maintained that they follow all federal laws when they have employees undergo background checks. The county also says that they look at the nature of the crime and how many years have passed since the crime was committed. This seems like a reasonable way to handle criminal records that show up on background checks, but what about cases like Curtis Walker who have very current criminal records and are still employed by the county? Background checks do not always mean that a company or agency will use the information to choose their employees wisely. Even if Leon County is complying with federal law and is requiring their applicants to undergo comprehensive criminal background checks, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are using the information on the background checks to weed out unfit employees. One the other hand, perhaps they are giving people a much needed second chance.
It seems a little unfair however, that people with multiple arrest or even felony records can find a good job while people like Lashonda Owens, a registered nurse with a squeaky clean record, are unable to find a job anywhere. Owens says that she doesn’t understand why no one wants to hire her even though she is licensed and has a clean background. She believes that people deserve a second chance, but she also needs a job so that she can support herself. One of the most common criminal charges that showed up in the county employee’s background checks was fraud. One county employee has faced over 57 counts of check fraud since 1990, and has a felony charge that is as recent as 2007. This type of criminal activity is some of the mildest that can be found in Leon County employees. It is shocking to those who conducted the review, and many would like to see a change in the hiring process so that the county actually takes into consideration the serious offences of their employees.
High crime rates and the rising demand for security make reliable companies like backgroundchecks.com a precious commodity for small and large businesses alike. Their services, such as US OneSearch, use a nationwide criminal database to search for comprehensive criminal records like arrest records, incarceration records, and it searches through sex offender registries as well. The search uses information from 49 different states as well as Washington DC, Guam, and Puerto Rico. A related search, US AliasSearch, uses the same database, but also searches for known aliases as well as maiden names. This search requires additional information including a SSN and a date of birth.
