Legal - help me out, please

[a creed]

are any of you well versed in criminal law?

When someone asks if you have a "criminal" background (convicted of a crime) does this include "Continued Without Findings" on misdemeanor arrests?

I thought C. w/o Findings meant that there was no jugement made on you.........

Am I wrong?

I'm only asking cause I know there are a lot of smart guys here.

thanks in advance

 

[ironhorse242]

Check to see if they are asking about convictions or arrests. I was arrested for something 7 years a go and the case was dissmissed. But when I go to Canada they ask you if you have ever appeared in front of a judge. They will know!

 

[a creed]

Check to see if they are asking about convictions or arrests. I was arrested for something 7 years a go and the case was dissmissed. But when I go to Canada they ask you if you have ever appeared in front of a judge. They will know!

it states " Criminal History check (Board of Probation (BOP)/ Interstate Identification Index (III) must be clear with no convictions."

says nothing about "arrests" and they didn't ask me that, they just asked if my driving record was clear of any DUI's, OUI's (and it is), and if I had a Criminal backgroung.

I only have old misdemeanor arrests all w/o findings of 1yr

 

[boss_]

If you have no convictions, you have no duty to report the arrests. EVERYONE can be arrested, which doesn't mean shit.

 

[MorganKane]

I think in many states its against the law to ask about arrests.
Arrest is not the same as conviction.

If they ask you if you have a criminal background I would just say no if I did not have any convictions.

 

[a creed]

I just went over the application and it simply asks

"Have you ever been convicted of a Felony"

done deal..................I think I'm all set.

It's the last step in a long process and it ends Monday.

 

[toxicsambo]

I just went over the application and it simply asks

"Have you ever been convicted of a Felony"

done deal..................I think I'm all set.

It's the last step in a long process and it ends Monday.

As long as you havent been in court and found guilty of ANYTHING, then there's no record, meaning nothing ever happened.

 

[JuiceHead659]

Honestly Bro the only thing they are lookin for is Felonies... Which if you are ever unsure you can do what I did and go to the local attorney generals office in your city and do a BCI and they will give you everything that shows up on your record.

 

[CO B-man]

are any of you well versed in criminal law?

When someone asks if you have a "criminal" background (convicted of a crime) does this include "Continued Without Findings" on misdemeanor arrests?

I thought C. w/o Findings meant that there was no jugement made on you.........

Am I wrong?

I'm only asking cause I know there are a lot of smart guys here.

thanks in advance

That is a very good and interesting question. My first thought would say no. However nolo conendere or No contest plea you are found guilty without having to admit guilt and it is basically in the end a guilty plea. I guess it would depend on whos asking. If you are applying to the police department or fire department etc. they will find out anyway so you should just explain it but if you are applying to Macy's I doubt they are gonna check. My company did a background check on me while others have not so I wished I could help one way or another. Maybe you should check with a legal forum? And let us know.

 

[toxicsambo]

And make sure there are no "Sealed" records. You said misdemeanor arrests, plural? Over how long of a period? How old?

 

[needtogetaas]

are any of you well versed in criminal law?

When someone asks if you have a "criminal" background (convicted of a crime) does this include "Continued Without Findings" on misdemeanor arrests?

I thought C. w/o Findings meant that there was no jugement made on you.........

Am I wrong?

I'm only asking cause I know there are a lot of smart guys here.

thanks in advance

if you did not get a convictoin you have a right to say no.
allthough even if you were aristed it will show on a back ground check.droped charges,cwaf',anything short of a compleat acwitle will show on youre back ground check.even if you get a somins for a crime and it gets droped at a court magistrat hereing you can bet youre ass its going to show on youre back ground check.

but you have a right to say no I have never bin arrested or convicted.

 

[solidspine]

They are looking for felony's only/

 

[Twoguns]

As long as you havent been in court and found guilty of ANYTHING, then there's no record, meaning nothing ever happened.

I think that you are ok on this one. However the above statement is not accurate. There is a record of every contact that you have with the system, even if it is an arrest that is not prosecuted. Obviously, traffice excluded. You get locked up for any reason . . . there is a record of it.

 

[needtogetaas]

I think that you are ok on this one. However the above statement is not accurate. There is a record of every contact that you have with the system, even if it is an arrest that is not prosecuted. Obviously, traffice excluded. You get locked up for any reason . . . there is a record of it.

yup.

 

[needtogetaas]

They are looking for felony's only/

not

 

[Twoguns]

Furthermore a sealed record is only sealed to the public, not to LE, attorney's, or anyone else with subpeona power.

 

[toxicsambo]

Furthermore a sealed record is only sealed to the public, not to LE, attorney's, or anyone else with subpeona power.

That's exactly why I said "make sure there arent any sealed records"

He needs to go to his county court and county PD HQ and pay 20 bux or something and they will print out everything they have EVER recorded on him, if there is anything. Done.

 

[Butterbob]

1. If you have never been convicted of a felony, just say no. Don't read too far into it. Basically they are going to ask you the questions and then they are going to hand this off to some company that does background checks, i.e. John Reid and asssocites, etc.... There are huge companies out there that do just and only this. Depending on how much money your employer or should I say potential employer is paying these people depends on how well they are going to perform the check. If what you stated is exactly what is on the paper, the MOST they are going to do is:
1. Check with every state you have held an address in and check to see if you have ever done jail time (for a felony).
2. Check with every county you have held an address in to see if you have ever been convicted of a felony.

As far as background checks are done here in the US, they almost always perform it on a county by county basis. That is usually why it takes so long. (Parish by parish if your in one of those states).

If they were concerned about anything else it would have said, "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" So.... unless you have a felony, you have nothing to worry about. If you do have one, don't waste your time because they will find out. Hope this helps.

Bad news is: When they do the county by county check, anything and everything is going to show up. Even though they are only looking for felonies, if it comes down to you and some squeky clean dork, you may lose out. I know it's not very fair but I've seen it happen a lot. I know it may not be what you wanted to hear but I thought I'd let you know up front. Best of luck.

 

[justinjones1963]

1. If you have never been convicted of a felony, just say no. Don't read too far into it. Basically they are going to ask you the questions and then they are going to hand this off to some company that does background checks, i.e. John Reid and asssocites, etc.... There are huge companies out there that do just and only this. Depending on how much money your employer or should I say potential employer is paying these people depends on how well they are going to perform the check. If what you stated is exactly what is on the paper, the MOST they are going to do is:
1. Check with every state you have held an address in and check to see if you have ever done jail time (for a felony).
2. Check with every county you have held an address in to see if you have ever been convicted of a felony.

As far as background checks are done here in the US, they almost always perform it on a county by county basis. That is usually why it takes so long. (Parish by parish if your in one of those states).

If they were concerned about anything else it would have said, "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" So.... unless you have a felony, you have nothing to worry about. If you do have one, don't waste your time because they will find out. Hope this helps.

This is good advice.

I needed to list all of my law violations prior to law school and for my bar application and I (like most of my fellow legal friends) have been in a shit load of trouble. I have lost count of how many times I have been arrested. I didn't list anything on my shit that they didn't need to know about. If you have been arrested and nothing followed it (i.e. a conviction) you are fine.

 

[BigCracker]

I dunno bro. I think it depends on who is doing the background check. If they're just using some online background check service I think all that they'll find is convictions, not the crimes you may have been charged with in the past. However, whenever cops pull me over they always flip me shit for being a troublemaker-I only have one or two misdemeanor convictions from 10 yrs ago and somehow in their squad car computer they have knowledge of all of the charges I have on my record-including the more recent ones that were dropped. Who knows? If you plan on being around children, the might just be checking for sex offenses or if you're wanting a job in the insurance industry they may only check for felonies and misdemeanor fraud convictions? Basically what I'm saying is that if you're getting a background check done for a job outside of law enforcement or the government, they'll probably only reveal actual convictions you have on your record. If you wanna be sure, just hire some online private investigator service to run a background check on yourself. It costs about $50-$100-and many sites will have you the results in 24 hrs for another $25 or so. You can even punch in your 411 and see how many charges you have for free-they just don't reveal what they are until you pay.

 

[black sheep]

most states will only allow employers to ask about felonies.

 

[krishna]

Who is it for? I ALWAYS put "no" on that question and they've never checked once. They always say they're gonna, but they never do cause it costs them money. Now if you were applying for a state or federal job, they may. I've never tried that.

 

[a creed]

Thanks guys for the responses - it means a lot...........

BTW - it's a legal job, but I've flled out the application and it only asks if I've ever been convicted of a "felony".

I was never even convicted of the misdemeanors, so sure - they aren't gonna joke about the misdemeanors, the position/academy I applied for was offered to me by one of the top guys, and I was sponsored my someone else from the "top", so I found out today, and they opened up one more spot for me on the roster.

They even had me order my uniform today................

Again, thanks for "everything"................

I'll let you know how it goes,....................