New Report Cites Major
Flaws with Fingerprint
Background Checks
Many employers and legislators view
FBI and state fingerprint checks as the
gold standard of background screening,
but a new report by SterlingBackcheck,
one of the world’s largest background
screening companies, reveals this to be
a misconception.
Angela Preston, SterlingBackcheck’s Senior Vice President and Counsel, Corporate Ethics and Compliance
The report, “Fingerprints vs. Name-Based
Background Checks: And the Winner Is…
,” details flaws with fingerprint background
checks that negatively impact both employers
and applicants. In fact, it says these well-documented flaws are so significant that fingerprint checks should not be an employer’s sole
method for identifying whether job applicants
have criminal records.
The flaws include:
• The FBI database is missing as many as
50% of all criminal records.
• Fingerprint-based records are updated irregularly, so they are often weeks or even
months out of date.
• Arrest records are often included—but
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance says arrests that
don’t result in a conviction should not be
considered in hiring decisions due to disproportionate impact on minority communities.
• FBI reports (a.k.a. “rap sheets”) don’t al3
Sterling Backcheck