By Thomas Ahearn, ESR News Staff Writer

The New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA), which provides a New York Statewide Criminal History Record Search (CHRS), will raise fees for each CHRS to $65.00 from $55.00 effective July 1, 2010, according to information on NYCourts.gov.

As explained on NYCourts.gov, the OCA’s CHRS criteria “is strictly based on exact match of Name and DOB (variations of Name or DOB are not reported.) The search results are public records relating to open/pending and convictions of criminal cases originating from County/Supreme, City, Town and Village courts of all 62 counties. Sealed records are not disclosed. Town & Village criminal disposition data is limited.”

The NYCourts.gov website also provides a Criminal History Record Search FAQ page that answers many questions about the OCA’s CHRS including the following:

• How many counties are included in the New York Statewide search? All of the State’s 62 counties. Individual electronic county searches are not provided.
• What kind of information is included in the statewide search? The CHRS search process is based on locating an exact match of both the Name and DOB. The search results are public records relating to pending and disposed criminal cases originating from County/Supreme, City, Town and Village courts of all 62 counties. Sealed records are not disclosed. As of July 20, 2007, data relating to non-criminal offenses (e.g., violations, infractions) will no longer appear as part of the CHRS report.
• Why does OCA not provide information on violations and infractions?
  As a result of a recent case filed in a New York court, the Unified Court System has reviewed its policy regarding the contents of criminal history summaries that it provides to individuals and businesses upon their request and for a fee. The review has resulted in a change of policy to the extent that the summaries provided will report only convictions on charges that New York State law regards as crimes. Crimes are defined by New York State law as including misdemeanors and felonies only. Convictions on offenses

For more information and FAQs about the OCA’s CHRS, visit http://www.nycourts.gov/apps/chrs/ and http://www.nycourts.gov/apps/chrs/faqs.shtml.

For more information about employment screening and background checks, as well as the latest updates on changes in fees for criminal records searches, visit Employment Screening Resources (ESR) at http://www.esrcheck.com.

Sources:

http://www.nycourts.gov/apps/chrs/

http://www.nycourts.gov/apps/chrs/faqs.shtml