Are Background Checks Really Necessary?

In the past, performing a criminal background check was something only done for industries requiring special security clearances for their employees. Today, however, it is a routine occurrence. Small business owners and private individuals alike have embraced the protection afforded by conducting due diligence on people they closely interact with.

From protection against negligent hiring lawsuits to checking on their daughter's new boyfriend, researching into a person's past has become second nature for many business minded people and business owners throughout the country. It's a fact today that people hide their past deeds and future intentions. This basic human trait has fueled the need to protect one's self and business against the potential business, physical, and emotional damage that could occur by hiring or dating the wrong person.

It is highly unlikely that the plumber that is scheduled to work inside your home around your wife and kids will tell you beforehand that he is a convicted sex offender. Or that the tax preparer you hired will reveal a recent fraud conviction. People with criminal records may, or may not pose a real or perceived threat to your business or family. It means that they made a bad decision in the past. Whether you give them a chance to make another bad decision is really up to you, so it's a wise choice to protect your future by investigating their past with a background check.

Identity theft concerns further complicate the issue. Is your new applicant who he says he is? Can you rely on the word of someone that you have just met? Recent government studies show a disproportionate rise in the number of reported cases of identity theft. Further, well over one million people in the U.S. were charged with felony charges in the last calender year alone. Violent felonies such as murder, rape, and assaults accounted for just over five hundred thousand of those cases alone.