This report, from Urban Institute, explores the two main types of criminal background checks used by employers in the United States: those requiring job candidates to submit fingerprints that are then compared to an FBI database, and those conducted by commercial vendors that compare information about the job candidate to public records.

Specifically, this research report:

• examines the differences and limitations in the types of criminal background checks employers conduct,
• analyzes how criminal background checks restrict access to the already limited number of jobs available to people with criminal records,
• describes the literature on the job performance of people with and without criminal records, and
• explores the impact of employment on recidivism.