During the past year a new type of pre-employment background check called the National Criminal File (NCF) became available. There are 38 to 50 states included, and the number of records in these three NCF databases ranges from 60 million to as many as 133 million. While those numbers sound impressive, any company that utilizes the National Criminal File as their primary means of checking for criminal records should read the fine print.

There are four different kinds of records, all of which are all referred to as "criminal records."

• Arrest Records—law enforcement records of arrests.
• 
  Criminal Court Records—local, state or federal records.
  
• Corrections Records—prison records.
• 
  State Criminal Repository Records—statewide records made up of arrest records, criminal court records and correction records.

This article discusses the differences among these records and how they come into play with the National Criminal File.