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Abstract

Adjudication

A final legal conclusion, usually pertaining to juvenile, criminal or civil proceedings.

AKA

Short for "also known as," which includes maiden names, hyphenated names, last and first names concealed, married names, and nick names.

A court generated summary of criminal or civil cases.

A complaint for damages and amends for losses, pain or suffering between two parties that is filed in court as a lower or upper civil case. Upper civil cases often include law suits, auto accidents with injuries, breaches of contract, and fraud, where the court may award for punitive damages plus monies for pain and suffering. Lower civil cases include unlawful detainers (evictions) and small claims complaints, whereas usually no damages are usually awarded.

The number of days jail/prison deducted from a sentence of incarceration that was accrued by an inmate awaiting a hearing or for "good conduct" while in custody.

A complaint filed by a government agency prosecutor that is heard local, county, state or federal court regarding the alleged criminal conduct of a person or entity is a criminal case.

Credit Reporting Agency - a firm or business that provides consumer reports to a third party to be used for evaluating the character, behavior or history of a person or entity.

Not considered a conviction. A first time offender, typically for minor drug use is given probation upon a guilty plea, whereas the conviction is suspended and will be stricken upon successful completion of probation.

The final or ruled outcome of a case. Possible criminal dispositions include: found guilty, found not guilty, plead guilty, no contest (nolle contendre), dismissed, dropped, not prosecuted, deferred adjudication, and diversion.

Not considered a conviction. A first time Drug or Alcohol offender is often given probation upon a guilty plea, whereas the conviction is suspended and will be stricken upon a successful completion of probation.

Domestic cases, also called Family cases, include divorce, child support, alimony, annulment, and other issues pertaining to rights, property, and care relating to family members.

 The doctrine that allows a broader range of searches and longer scope of years, usually 15 years, that more fully evaluates the relevant history of someone who will be in close contact with youth and children, the elderly, those impaired, or who will work with sensitive information, pharmaceuticals, drugs, or large sums of money.

A case removed from the entire criminal record by order of a judge,usually after at least 7 years after the offense has passed with no subsequent convictions.

Pertains to the United States Fair Credit Reporting Act, initially was enacted by Congress in 1971 and has since been amended and supplemented by several state interpretations. This legislation regulates consumer reports and employment screening processes and disclosure practices.

Required when a client requests case information that is not available via Court docket, whereas an agent must physically pull and read a file at the court. Often pulling a physical file requires two trips to the court, one to order the file and then another a few days later to read the file.

A case transferred from a local jurisdiction to a higher jurisdiction,i.e. a Municipal case is referred to a Superior Court, or from courtroom to courtroom, for example a judge holding an arraignment hearing may refer the case to another courtroom for trial.

These are specific descriptions about a person that an agent or court clerk can use to verify that a specific person is involved in a case, to include full name, date of birth, social security number, and current or past home address.

An agent physically reviews an index that is posted constantly/daily and has the ability to make judgments regarding AKA's and similar names and dates of birth.

Utilization of confidential and public records data bases to reveal and verify personal information such as dates of birth, SSNs, full name and aka's, current and past residences, family members and relatives, neighbors, business associates, and other relevant history pertaining to an individual's representations or claims.

Most states permit the reporting of criminal cases up to 7 years back, from the end of a sentence or probationary period, which is a time period considered "in scope." Convictions that resulted in the conclusion of a sentence or probation older than 7 years is considered in most states as "out of scope."

The use of an infrequently updated, already created information database to determine if a name or SSN is listed.

Only the U.S. Social Security Administration can actually certify that a SSN is valid (employers may call 800-772-1213 to certify accuracy). "Verification" reflects a reasonable process by which many sources indicate that representations offered by a person are very likely accurate.

Usually the result of Failure to Appear, as ordered by a judge, warrants are kept at the county level.

Municipal, Magistrate, and Justice Court are where felony and misdemeanor criminal cases usually originate. Some case indexes reflect local judicial actions and are not found in other case indexes.

Usually called Superior, Commonwealth, or District Court, this is where small claims, domestic, family law, civil and criminal cases before a State appointed judge are heard. Records usually are not forwarded to a Statewide system. Jail incarceration records and warrants are usually only available at this level.

Although state cases are heard at the County level, records pertaining to convictions may be also held by State Department of Justice. As to 2011, 21 states have such master indexes. Driving records, professional licenses, and sexual offender registries are kept at the state level.

U.S. Federal and Bankruptcy Courts are not connected to state systems in any way, whereas any case heard by a Federal judge and prosecuted by a U.S. Attorney (often as a result of FBI, ICE, DEA, FTA, U.S. Customs, etc.) is only available in a live Federal databases.

International

Global Terrorist Watch lists, Interpol alerts, and International Arrests Warrants pertain to persons of any nationality and may be posted by any nation.