Assess Standard compares your guidelines to state or county criminal records in a candidate's report. Assess Standard then assigns your eligibility status to each individual record. You can set 2 types of guidelines: templated and lookback period.
Review Assess Standard guidelines
Quickstart templates
Assess Standard helps you with starter guidelines that align with best practices and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance for considering criminal records. These guidelines apply to all records.
Records that searches find in the categories you select have the Clear status.
Quickstart templates have 4 sections:
- Assess non-felony deferred/alternative adjudication records as Clear.
- A deferred or alternative adjudication record has NOT resulted in a conviction. In most cases, deferred and alternative adjudications result in some form of court supervision instead of jail time and criminal conviction. Upon successful completion, a judge often dismisses the records.
- The entry of alternative judgment can show that the court believes that the defendant is a good candidate for rehabilitation and isn't a danger to the community. By allowing non-felony dismissed alternative adjudication records, you can demonstrate your practice of giving careful consideration to the gravity of records.
- Assess all pending records as Clear.
- Pending records haven't yet received a final verdict. A pending record means that nothing has been officially decided in court, and the prosecutor is still reviewing the record.
- Under the FCRA, pending records are reportable for up to 7 years. However, some states have passed additional restrictions on both reporting by consumer reporting agencies and use by employers. For example, a state could allow pending felony records to appear but not a pending misdemeanor record.
- Assess records with less-than-misdemeanor severity as Clear.
- These lowest-level-severity records, such as infractions, can include both convictions and non-convictions. These records typically receive only fines as punishment.
- Where reportable, these records can appear on Checkr reports for up to 7 years.
- Assess non-felony records older than 7 years as Clear.
- This guideline focuses on the time that has passed since the record. If a non-felony record is more than 7 years old on the background check date, it appears as Clear.
- Records result in either conviction or non-conviction. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), non-convictions, such as certain dismissed records, are reportable for up to 7 years. Convictions are reportable indefinitely. To help encourage access to employment, some states restrict the reporting of all records, regardless of outcome, after 7 years.
- Assess all records older than 7 years as Clear.
- This guideline focuses on the time that has passed since the record. If a record is more than 7 years old on the background check date, it appears as Clear.
- Records result in either conviction or non-conviction. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), non-convictions, such as certain dismissed records, are reportable for up to 7 years. Convictions are reportable indefinitely. To help encourage access to employment, some states restrict the reporting of all records, regardless of outcome, after 7 years.
- Assess non-felony marijuana possession records as Clear.
- As more states legalize medical and recreational use of marijuana, several states and cities have begun to lower employment barriers for individuals with previous low-level marijuana convictions. These laws often restrict employers from denying employment based on previous marijuana convictions.
- Marijuana possession is a specific category of criminal records and can be either a conviction or a non-conviction. Under the FCRA, non-convictions, such as certain dismissed records, are reportable for up to 7 years. Convictions are reportable indefinitely.
- Assess non-felony drug possession and paraphernalia records as Clear.
- This guideline combines the categories of criminal records below with severity, or record level:
- Drug Possession
- Intent to Possess Drugs
- Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
- Possession of Drug without Prescription
- Specific record categories can be either convictions or non-convictions. Under the FCRA, non-convictions, such as certain dismissed records, are reportable for up to 7 years. Convictions are reportable indefinitely. State laws might further restrict reportability.
- This guideline combines the categories of criminal records below with severity, or record level:
- Assess vehicle and traffic records as Clear, except for DUIs and events resulting in death.
- This category includes all records in the categories below and assesses them as Clear:
- License & Registration
- Parking
- Speeding
- Unsafe Operation
- Vehicle Equipment
- This category excludes all records in the categories below:
- Driving Under the Influence
- Hit & Run Causing Death
- Reckless Driving Causing Death
- This category includes all records in the categories below and assesses them as Clear:
- Assess public nuisance records as Clear.
- This guideline assesses as Clear all records in the Public Nuisance category, including the ones below:
- Disorderly Conduct
- Littering
- Loitering
- Maintain a Disorderly House
- Noise Ordinance Violation
- Obstruct Passageway
- Public Urination
- Unlawful Storage
- This guideline assesses as Clear all records in the Public Nuisance category, including the ones below:
- Assess prostitution records as Clear.
- This guideline assesses the records below as Clear:
- Promoting Prostitution
- Prostitution
- Soliciting a Prostitute
- This guideline doesn't include the record Prostitution Involving Minor.
- This guideline assesses the records below as Clear:
- Assess records that qualify for Checkr's expungement service as Clear.
- Records that this setting identifies are potentially available for expungement.
- Many states are passing legislation that allows for certain offenses such as marijuana possession to be expunged, or removed from public record. However, awareness, cost, and a complex legal process prevent most people from pursuing expungements. Only about 6.5% of legally eligible people actually receive an expungement.
- Assess records from when the candidate's age was younger than 18 as Clear.
- This guideline focuses on the candidate's age at the time of the record. Records from when the person was 18 years old or younger appear as Clear.
- If the candidate is now older than 28 years, assess records from when the candidate was younger than 25 as Clear.
- This guideline focuses on the candidate's age at the time of the record. Records from when the person was 25 years old or younger appear as Clear only if the candidate is currently older than 28.
Guidelines for lookback period
Guidelines for the lookback period focus on how many years have passed since the record's most recent event, called the "context date." Setting guidelines for the lookback period is similar to setting an "age limit" for each of 55 record categories. You can indicate when you consider the record no longer relevant and want it assessed as Clear. By default, all record categories appear as Review.
Note
Setting an extended lookback period, such as 99 years, doesn't change the scope of your search.
Use the fields to enter lookback periods for records older than the number of years you enter. More recent records appear as Review. Any cell with no assigned time since record defaults to Review.
Select the record type to read a description. These descriptions vary by state and aren't specific legal or statutory definitions for the crimes. Checkr recommends assigning a guideline for the time since record to each record category.
Set your Assess Standard guidelines
Show or hide Clear records
You can set the Checkr Dashboard to show or hide records that your guidelines assess as Clear. The settings below that you enable apply to all assessed records for your account.
- Display Clear records: The locations below show records assessed as Clear:
- Candidate Portal
- Checkr API
- Checkr Dashboard
- Report PDF
- Conceal Clear records in the Dashboard: You have to select "Show more" in the Checkr Dashboard to show records with the Clear status. Records with the Clear status appear in the locations below:
- Candidate Portal
- Checkr API
- Report PDF
- Remove Clear records: No location below shows records assessed as Clear:
- Candidate Portal
- Checkr API
- Checkr Dashboard
- Report PDF
- Hide records with Assessment "Clear" from the Pre-Adverse Action modal: When you begin the adverse action process, you can't select records assessed as Clear to include in the pre-adverse action notice.
- Auto-engage candidates when their report is assessed as "Clear": Automatically engage candidates whose reports are assessed as Clear.
Add new Assess Standard guidelines
Assess Standard guides you through adding Checkr-designed quickstart templates.
Select Add to automatically assess those records as Clear.
Manage guidelines for lookback period
At the bottom of the page, you can use CSV files to download or upload your lookback period guidelines.
To download a blank template, select Download Template.
To download your guidelines as a CSV file, select "Download your guidelines."
After the CSV file downloads, you can edit your existing guidelines by uploading an edited CSV file. All new guidelines you upload overwrite your existing guidelines. To import your CSV file as a new set of guidelines, select "Upload guidelines."
Review previous guidelines
You can review the settings for each published version of your guidelines.
In a guideline, open the menu and select View Versions. A window shows all published versions of the guideline with the user name and publication date.