Criminal background checks can be broadly divided into two types: criminal record checks and civil record checks. In a criminal record check, one can search through criminal court records, while in a civil check, one can search through criminal and civil court records.

A criminal record check can further be of two types: instant criminal searches and on-premise county courthouse searches. Nationwide and statewide criminal searches search for: case numbers and charges, offenses, arrests, disposition dates, and convictions. The on-premise county courthouse searches cover that information for specific counties.

Not all states allow the public to access criminal records information. Few states allow the records to be accessed online; most states require a formal written application. Many require specific authorization or identification in the form of the name, address, date of birth, social security number and country of residence of the person seeking the criminal record search.

Due to the limited numbers of courts and offenses for which records are kept, information provided by the statewide record system may be incomplete. This also depends mainly on the limited date range. Many states offer free online access to sex-offender registries. The child abuse registries can reveal if a person has been named in a report.

Apart from state services which allow one to access the criminal records, there are various private websites which do the same for a price. Some criminal-record search websites do not require any monthly or set up fees. They charge an amount per search. The amount can range from a few dozen to hundreds of dollars per search, depending on the depth required.