How to Pass a Criminal Background Check With a Record

You can pass a criminal background check with a record by doing the work before anyone else does: pull your own record, fix any errors on it, understand what the law lets an employer actually use against you, and walk into the process with a short, honest explanation ready. A conviction is not an automatic disqualifier, and federal law builds several protections into the hiring process that most applicants never use because they don’t know they exist.

Run Your Own Background Check First

Surprises kill applications. If you know exactly what shows up when someone runs your name, you can correct mistakes, prepare for what’s legitimate, and stop guessing.

Start with the FBI. Your federal criminal history, sometimes called a rap sheet, is available through the FBI’s Identity History Summary Check. You submit fingerprints and pay an $18 processing fee.¹ The procedure is set out in 28 CFR Part 16, Subpart C.² The report covers arrests and may include records tied to federal employment, naturalization, or military service.³

Then check your state. Your state criminal history is a separate record kept by your state’s bureau of investigation or equivalent agency. Most states require fingerprints and charge a processing fee. Some return results online within days; others take weeks by mail. Contact your state’s criminal records repository for the current process.

Finally, check the commercial screening companies. Many employers and landlords never touch the FBI or state databases directly. They order reports from private screening firms. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes a list of these companies, which includes employment screeners, tenant screening services, and the three nationwide credit bureaus.⁴ Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can request your file from any of them. These databases sometimes contain errors that the official government records do not, so this step is worth the time.

Fix Errors Before They Cost You an Offer

Mistakes on background checks happen more often than most people expect. Names get confused, dismissed charges still show as open, dispositions never get updated, and records from someone with a similar name get merged into yours. Any one of these can sink an application.

Dispute the error directly with whoever produced the report. FBI records go to the FBI. State records go to the state repository. Commercial background reports go to the screening company. Gather your supporting documents before you file, especially certified court records showing dismissals, completions, or corrected charges. Strong documentation moves things faster.

The FCRA gives a screening company 30 days to investigate a dispute after receiving it. If you provide additional information during that window, the company gets up to 15 more days. But if the company finds the item is inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable during the original 30 days, it must correct or delete it right away with no extension.⁵

If a company willfully refuses to fix an error, you can sue. The FCRA allows statutory damages between $100 and $1,000 per violation, plus punitive damages and attorney’s fees, and you don’t have to prove a specific financial loss to recover statutory damages.⁶

Know What the Law Lets an Employer Use

Not everything on your record is fair game. The FCRA sets a seven-year ceiling on how far back non-conviction items can be reported: arrest records that didn’t lead to a conviction, civil suits, civil judgments, paid tax liens, and most other negative information all drop off after seven years.⁷

Convictions are the exception. Federal law allows them to be reported indefinitely, though some states shorten that window.⁷

Arrests and convictions are also treated differently in the law’s eyes. An arrest alone is not proof of criminal conduct, and the EEOC has made clear that employers should treat arrest records differently from conviction records.⁸

Beyond time limits, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act restricts how employers can use conviction records at all. The EEOC has stated that blanket policies rejecting every applicant with any criminal record are inconsistent with Title VII. Instead, the EEOC expects employers to weigh three specific factors before rejecting someone based on a conviction:⁹

The nature and gravity of the offense.
The time that has passed since the offense or the completion of the sentence.
The nature of the job you are applying for.

These three factors are the frame every conviction-related conversation should return to. They are also the frame you should build your own explanation around.

Use the Checkpoints Built Into the Hiring Process

Federal law puts several checkpoints into the background check process, and employers who skip them are breaking the law. This is where most applicants’ leverage actually lives.

The Authorization

An employer must get your written permission before running a background check, and the authorization has to be a standalone document rather than fine print buried in the job application.¹⁰ If you never signed a clear authorization, the check itself may be invalid.

The Pre-Adverse Notice

An employer who wants to reject you based on something in a background check cannot simply send a denial letter. First, the employer has to give you a copy of the report and a written summary of your FCRA rights, then wait a reasonable period for you to review and dispute anything wrong. Federal guidance suggests at least five business days.¹¹ This is your window. Use it to contact the screening company and challenge anything that looks wrong.

The Adverse Action Notice

If the employer still decides to reject you, the law requires a second notice. It has to identify the screening company that provided the report, state that the company did not make the hiring decision, and tell you that you have 60 days to request a free copy of the report and dispute inaccuracies.¹² If either the pre-adverse or the adverse action notice never came, the employer may have violated the FCRA.

Prepare a Short, Honest Explanation

If your record includes convictions that will show up, have an explanation ready. Keep it brief. Build it around the three EEOC factors: what happened, how long ago, and why it does not bear on the position you’re applying for. Focus on what you’ve done since rather than relitigating the case. Employers who conduct individualized assessments are specifically looking for evidence of rehabilitation, steady employment, education, and character references.⁹

Bring documentation. Letters from previous employers, certificates of completion for educational or rehabilitation programs, and records of community service all strengthen your case. If your state issues certificates of rehabilitation, apply for one before you start job hunting; occupational licensing boards in states that issue them are required to weigh them favorably, and several states extend legal protections to employers who hire someone with a certificate.

Look into the Federal Bonding Program. It provides fidelity bonds to employers who hire people considered hard to place, including those with criminal records. The bond covers the first six months of employment at no cost to you or the employer. Being able to tell a hiring manager that you’re bondable at no expense removes a significant source of hesitation.

Clear or Reduce the Record Where You Can

Several legal tools can shrink or eliminate a record’s impact on future background checks. What’s available depends on the offense, your state, and how much time has passed.

Expungement

Expungement removes a record from state databases, and in many states the law treats the offense as though it never happened. Once expunged, you can generally deny the arrest or conviction on job applications. Most states allow expungement for at least some offenses, though violent crimes, sex offenses, and higher-level felonies are typically ineligible.¹³ The process usually requires filing a petition with the court that handled the case, completing your sentence, and waiting a set period without new offenses. Filing fees range from nothing to a few hundred dollars. One caveat: expungement does not always guarantee removal from every commercial database, and private screening companies sometimes retain older records.

Record Sealing

A sealed record is hidden from public view, so most employers and landlords will not see it, though law enforcement and courts can still access it under certain circumstances. Sealing is sometimes available for offenses that don’t qualify for full expungement.

Certificates of Rehabilitation

When expungement or sealing is not available, a certificate of rehabilitation or certificate of relief may help. These court-issued documents formally recognize rehabilitation. They do not erase your record, but they carry weight with licensing boards and, in some states, prevent employers from denying you a job solely because of a conviction.

Pardons

A pardon is the government’s formal forgiveness of a conviction, granted by a state’s governor or, for federal offenses, the President. It typically removes the legal penalties tied to a conviction but does not erase the conviction itself. In most states, a pardoned conviction still appears on background checks with a notation that a pardon was granted.

Clean Slate Laws

As of 2025, thirteen states and Washington, D.C. have passed clean slate laws that automatically clear eligible records after a waiting period, with no petition required. These laws usually apply to lower-level offenses and require several years without new criminal activity. If you live in one of these states, your record may already have been cleared without you doing anything. Check with your state’s criminal records repository to confirm.

Know the Rules Where You’re Applying

If you’re applying for a federal government job, the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the agency from asking about your criminal history until after it extends a conditional job offer. The prohibition covers the whole recruitment process, from job posting through interview, and applies to federal agencies, their contractors, and automated hiring systems. Exceptions exist for positions requiring security clearances, sensitive national security roles, law enforcement positions, and dual-status military technician roles.¹⁴

At least 15 states have passed similar ban-the-box laws for private employers, and dozens of cities and counties have local ordinances. Specifics vary, but the core rule is the same: criminal history questions come off the initial application and get pushed later in the process, usually after an interview or conditional offer. Check your state or local labor agency for the rules that apply where you live. When an employer asks about your record earlier than the law allows, that’s both a red flag and a violation you can act on.

1
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions
2
eCFR. 28 CFR Part 16 Subpart C – Production of FBI Identification Records in Response to Written Requests by Subjects Thereof
3
Travel.State.Gov. Criminal Records Checks
4
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. List of Consumer Reporting Companies
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Criminal Records
9
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
10
Federal Trade Commission. Background Checks What Employers Need to Know
11
Federal Trade Commission. Fair Credit Reporting Act
12
GovInfo. 15 USC 1681m – Duties of Users Taking Adverse Actions on the Basis of Information Contained in Consumer Reports
13
National Conference of State Legislatures. Record Clearing by Offense
14
Federal Register. Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs