Your Background Check

When charged and convicted of drunk driving or any other criminal charge, it will show up on your criminal record. Drunk driving charges are considered criminal offenses (either misdemeanor or felony depending on the specifics).

This means that if you've been convicted of a DUI, you have a criminal record. If you have been convicted of a criminal charge whether it be a drunk driving charge or any other misdemeanor or felony charge it is very important to perform a nationwide criminal background check on yourself to ensure that the information that has been recorded to your criminal record is accurate and does not contain any mistakes.

Information that has been recorded to a person's criminal record has a high probability of being inaccurate since the information is entered by various people from various agencies, including the county court where a conviction occurred.

The information that is entered into a person's criminal record is not verified before it is entered, therefore mistakes can be made, and are made on a regular basis. It is up to the person who was convicted to verify the accuracy of his or her criminal record by running a nationwide criminal background check on themselves.

In most every DUI case you're charged with more than 1 offense when arrested... and sometimes you're convicted of more than 1 charge as well. That's why it's important for you to know exactly what is on your criminal record after conviction. You need to know what's on your record before you can attempt to remove the criminal record as well.

How to Prepare for a Background Check

When you know you are going to be on the job market, take the following steps to reduce the chances that you and/or the potential employer will be "surprised" by information found in the background check process:

• Order a copy of your credit report. If there is something you do not recognize or that you disagree with, dispute the information with the creditor and/or credit bureau before you have to explain it to the interviewer. Another individual's name may appear on your credit report. This happens when someone mistakenly writes down the wrong Social Security number on a credit application causing that name to appear on your file. Or you might be a victim of identity theft. (See PRC Fact Sheet 6 on your credit reporting rights, www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs6-crdt.htm, and Fact Sheet 17a on identity theft, www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm.)

• Check court records. If you have an arrest record or have been involved in court cases, go to the county where this took place and inspect the files. Make sure the information is correct and up to date.

Reporting agencies often report felony convictions when the consumer truly believes the crime was reduced to a misdemeanor, or that it was reported as a misdemeanor conviction when the consumer thought the charge was reduced to an infraction. Court records are not always updated correctly. For example, a signature that was needed to reduce the charges might not have been obtained or recorded by the court. Don't rely on what your attorney may have told you. If you think the conviction was expunged or dismissed, get a certified copy of your report from the court. For an explanation of expungement, visit www.epic.org/privacy/expungement.

• Check DMV records. Request a copy of your driving record from the Department of Motor Vehicles, especially if you are applying for a job that involves driving.

Many employers ask on their application if you were ever convicted of a crime. Or they might word the question to ask whether you have ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. Typically, the application says you do not have to divulge a case that was expunged or dismissed, or that was a minor traffic violation.

Don't be confused. A DUI (driving under the influence) or DWI (driving while intoxicated) conviction is not considered a minor traffic infraction. Applicants with a DUI or DWI who have not checked "yes" on a job application may be denied employment for falsifying the form -- even when the incident occurred only once or happened many years before. The employer perceives this as dishonesty, even though the applicant might only have been confused by the question.