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by Rosanne O'Malley

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Employers, do you have the perfect candidate for the job, but you want to make sure he or she hasn't been convicted of a crime?

How do you get Pennsylvania criminal records?

In Pennsylvania, state adult criminal history information is kept in two places.

At the county level, the records are kept by the main county courthouse in the county seat (the main city or town for that county). For example, criminal history information would be kept for Montgomery County in that county's Courthouse, located in Norristown, Pa. The records will be located in the Office of the Clerk of Quarter Sessions. A manual search of the written files, or electronic files, whether computor or microfiche, can be time-consumming but is possible.

At the state level, these records are kept by the State Police's Central Repository in Harrisburg, PA. Access to these records is limited to the individual subject of the records or his or her legal representative, to potential employers in certain situations or some noncriminal agencies. To obtain the records, a written form must be submitted accompanied by a fee and can take up to six weeks to be forwarded to the requestor.

In today's electronic age, however, much legal information can be found online. Many county's maintain their own websites through which county records can be accessed. Who can obtain the information through these websites may be limited to certain individual's and/ or agencies. To find out more, you can contact the local county courthouse or bar association. The Pennsylvania State Police maintains a website through which the information can be requested, but any particulars of the records would be sent in hard copy form by US mail.

Finally, there are online websites that are fee-based but will gather the information and send it to you. Search results may include the individual's name, date of birth, conviction date, offenses charged, disposition and risk level.

Please visit my blog at www.goodcompanyandgooddiscourse.blogspot.com

Learn more about this author, Rosanne O'Malley.

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