Background Check Info Found through Online Court Records
In the State of Minnesota, a trial that allows people to search through court records - information often contained in background checks - turned out to be successful.
More than 1.2 million searches were conducted during the first year that Minnesota’s district court records were made accessible over the Internet. Minnesota Public Access Remote became available through the new statewide court records database, the Minnesota Court Information System.
According to an article by the St. Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report, the system took five years to complete and cost about $30 million. The system combines 10 databases that are used around the state and includes case records dating back to the 1970s.
The service allows users to find district court case records through the Minnesota court’s Web site. Users can search for cases by case number, defendant name or attorney name, and name searches, which are limited to cases where at least one charge resulted in conviction.
Users can search civil, family and probate cases by party name, case number or attorney name. The service also allows users to search court calendars by party, business name, case number, judicial officer or attorney name. Furthermore, users can search for records and opinions from the Minnesota Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.
The new system allows the public and other justice system agencies, policymakers, law enforcement personnel, prosecutors and corrections officials to obtain information.
“However, court officials warn against using the case lookup service for criminal background checks and instead suggest using the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s criminal background check service, which links a person’s prior criminal history through fingerprints to verify his or her identification,” the article notes.