According to the Department of Justice, a criminal record describes any arrest and subsequent dispositions attributable to an individual. These records are used for various reasons such as purchasing firearms, hiring employees and for the use of law enforcement.

Contents

A criminal record includes general descriptive and legal information about a particular individual. These characteristics include names, Social Security number, height and other identifying traits.

Biometric Identifiers

Fingerprints are the primary type of biometric identifier that is included within a criminal record. There are other types of biometric traits such as facial recognition and virus scans that might be included as well.

Arrest

Criminal records will include arrest, formal charges and any type of dispositions. This information will also include a victim's name (if any), dates of crimes and places where the crime was committed.

Flags

Some criminal records have flags or specific information that is quickly made available about prohibitions, restrictions and/or behavior. This information could include prohibitions against violent offenders from obtaining a gun or data about people who frequently don't appear in court.

Other Information

Usually, criminal records contain information about serious crimes, violations and in some cases misdemeanor offenses. The legal system is even collecting criminal records on juvenile offenders where as in the past, this type of information wasn't being recorded.

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U.S. Department of Justice

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