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Background checks

BJS FY 10 National Criminal History Improvement Program

Closing Date
The NCHIP grant program furthers the Department's mission to enhance the crime fighting and criminal justice capabilities of state governments by improving the accuracy, utility, and interstate accessibility of criminal history records and enhancing records of protective orders involving domestic violence and stalking, sex offender records, automated identification systems and other state systems supporting national records systems and their use for criminal history background checks.

Rap back

A "rap back" or "hit notice" program will inform an employer or other designated entity when an individual who has undergone a fingerprint-based background check, and whose fingerprints are retained by a criminal history repository after the check, is subsequently arrested. His or her fingerprints, obtained after the arrest, are matched against a database that contains the fingerprints that were initially submitted. Employers are then notified of the individual's arrest. Employers pay a fee for the service in some states; other states provide the service for free.
Automated Tags

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2002

ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 4:30 A.M. EDT Bureau of Justice Statistics
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2003 Contact: Stu Smith
  202/307-0784

BACKGROUND CHECKS BLOCKED 136,000 GUN PURCHASES IN 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Instant Criminal Background Check System last year rejected 136,000 applications from among the more than 7.8 million applications to buy or transfer a firearm, a 1.7 percent rejection rate, the Justice Department's...