Trigger Warning: This article contains statistics and other information related to sexual assault. Please continue reading with caution.
There are approximately 750,000 registered sex offenders in the United States. Within sexual assault cases, 80-90% of offenders assaulted someone close to them such as a family member, friend, coworker, or fellow volunteer. While every organization wants to believe they aren’t hiring a potential threat, are you sure that your candidates and volunteers won’t compromise your workplace, employee safety, or brand?
Verified First offers a way to achieve workplace safety through our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search. Many basic background checks include searches of the national criminal database. However, that resource isn’t completely reliable for identifying registered sex offenders because the information may be outdated or stale. There’s a better screening option that will fill in the criminal database’s gaps on a candidate’s history of past sexual convictions: our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search.
While the technicalities of all your screening options can get confusing, we’re here to help set things straight. Verified First wants you to understand what our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search is and why you should utilize it for all sex offender registry searches. To help, we’ve compiled a list of important answers to questions many organizations have about screening applicants for sexual offenses.
What is the nationwide sex offender registry search?
The national sex offender registry is a nationwide system for monitoring and tracking sex offenders following their release into the community. The registration provides important information from a national database compiled of individual jurisdiction’s sources.
Our Nationwide Sex offender Registry Search uncovers sexual convictions through a live search of the national sex offender registry database. This search offers the most up-to-date records and information automatically uploaded from each jurisdiction’s database in the U.S. A national sex offender search will uncover:
- Offender’s full name
- Offender’s street address (if provided by jurisdiction)
- Offender’s ZIP
- Offender’s county (if provided by jurisdiction)
- Offender’s city/town (if provided by jurisdiction)
- Level of offense from 1-3 (if provided by jurisdiction)
- Compliant or non-compliant (if provided by jurisdiction)
Why do I need to utilize the Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search?
A search of the national sex offender registry offers unparalleled protection. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), an American is sexually assaulted every 68 seconds. You can easily help make your workplace, nonprofit, congregation, etc. a safe space for all by uncovering potential threats to your organization before they have the chance to do harm.
Not only would you be taking an extra proactive step to protect your people, but you’d also be adding a layer of protection for your brand. The best way to mitigate risk is by preventing it. According to Forbes, all businesses, whether for-profit or nonprofit, must account for a “pre-phase” when it comes to developing a crisis management plan. This phase encompasses conducting preventative researches such as our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search. By being cautious at the start, your organization is less likely to be involved in compromising situations.
Isn’t a criminal background search enough?
Searches of the national criminal database are not enough to determine one’s past sexual offense convictions. Nationwide criminal databases can’t guarantee the most up-to-date information on sexual criminals. The databases are reliant on information being manually uploaded by each jurisdiction, so there's no finite timeline for when the data on sexual offenders will be updated.
Alternatively, our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search offers the most up-to-date records from one location. All information is automatically uploaded into each jurisdictions’ databases in the U.S., so the results are always fresh and accurate. This means that all results have real-time information from live databases, which shortens overall processing time.
How often should I order a Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search?
It’s important to stay on top of new information as it is added into the national sex offender registry. For this reason, we recommend running our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search on new and existing employees or volunteers on an annual basis.
By running this screen annually, you’ll be able to update employee background records to include the most accurate information. The results are always current, so you won’t be missing any past reports. An annual screen benefits your organization by providing an extra safeguard that will make your members feel secure.
How can Verified First help to protect my organization?
Verified First provides our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search to all organizations within the U.S. We have access to every jurisdiction’s database and will supply a report of the current registration status of any candidate or volunteer. Our reports include the person’s personal information and information relevant to each case such as the type of conviction.
Even better, we will have the results on most screens within the same day of ordering. You won’t have to wait and wonder about your candidates and volunteers. Our search of live databases is fast, compliant, and inexpensive. These results can give you peace of mind about your applicants and protection for your organization from potentially harmful new hires/volunteers.
In conclusion:
Utilizing our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search is the smart and preemptive decision for all organizations. No other search will provide a complete report on prior sexual conviction history that can compare to the information gleaned from this search. For more information, download our Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search infographic. If your background screening package doesn’t include a search of the national sex offender registry, make it a priority to incorporate it for your next applicant. Let's chat about how you can gain peace of mind about your new hires and volunteers before they step through your door.
About Verified First
Verified First is known for delivering streamlined background screening backed by the best client support, and for developing the easiest, fastest HR system integrations, for free. Our client support team is U.S.-based, answers calls in seconds, resulting in hundreds of positive testimonials and a 96% customer satisfaction. Verified First's patent-pending, award-winning integrations include over 100 applicant tracking systems, and provide clients a turn-key experience.