A criminal background check is a search of court and government records for criminal history relating to a specific person, run by a consumer reporting agency at an employer's request with that person's written permission. Everything else about it, how deep, how far back, which places, is a set of choices somebody made when ordering, which is why two checks called the same thing can be entirely different searches.
What is searched, and where the records live
Most criminal convictions in the United States are recorded by the county or district court that handled the case, which is why county criminal searching is the core of a serious check. Federal offences are held in the federal district court system and are searched separately. State repositories hold what agencies reported up to them, which is not the same as what the courts recorded. A national criminal database is a commercial aggregation with uneven coverage, useful as a pointer to where to look rather than as an answer in itself.
What appears on the report
For each record found: the jurisdiction, the case number, the charge as filed, the date, the offence level, and the disposition, which is the outcome. Disposition is the field that matters most and the one employers skim. A charge filed is not a conviction, and EEOC guidance is explicit that an arrest without a conviction does not by itself establish that the underlying conduct occurred. Sealed and expunged records should not be reported, and the FCRA bars reporting most non-conviction adverse information older than seven years.
Levels and tiers mean nothing, with one exception
Basic, standard, comprehensive, extensive, level one, level two are product names that providers define for themselves, and comparing two providers on tier is comparing two marketing labels. The exception is Florida, where Level 1 and Level 2 are defined in chapter 435 of the state statutes and mean specific things: a name-based state check and a fingerprint-based state and national check respectively. Outside that statutory context, ask for the list of searches rather than the tier.
A sanction check is a different search entirely
Sanction or exclusion screening checks government lists of people barred from participating in federal programmes or subject to sanctions: the HHS Office of Inspector General's exclusion list, the federal exclusions record on SAM.gov, state Medicaid exclusion lists, and Treasury sanctions lists. Exclusion is an administrative status rather than a conviction, so a criminal check does not reveal it and a clear sanction screen says nothing about criminal history. Healthcare employers need both, and the exclusion screen needs running monthly rather than once.
Questions people ask about what is a criminal background check
What is a criminal background check?
A search of court and government records for criminal history about a specific person, run by a consumer reporting agency at an employer's request with the person's written authorisation.
What shows up on it?
For each record: jurisdiction, case number, the charge as filed, date, offence level and the disposition. Sealed and expunged records should not appear, and most non-conviction adverse information older than seven years may not be reported.
What is an extensive background check?
A product name rather than a defined thing. Ask which databases, how many county courts and over what address history period, and whether federal courts are included.
What is a sanction check?
A search of government exclusion and sanctions lists, such as the HHS exclusion list and SAM.gov. Exclusion is an administrative status, so a criminal check will not reveal it and vice versa.