Indiana Code Revisions Limit Criminal Background Information That May Be Provided to Employers, Landlords, and Other Companies

Of the many consequences that follow an arrest and conviction, the negative impact on your career and future employment opportunities can often be the most difficult to put behind you. As a matter of course, most employers conduct credit and background checks of prospective employees, including seeking information about the potential employee’s criminal history.

The sweeping revisions to Indiana’s Criminal Code that became effective on July 1^st (I discuss many of the revisions here, here, and here) also include changes to the kinds of information that may be provided to Indiana employers, landlords, credit and financial services companies by consumer reporting agencies and other “criminal history providers.”

Amended Indiana Code § 24-4-18-6 governs the conduct of any person or company that “compiles a criminal history report and either uses the report or provides the report to a person or an organization other than a criminal justice agency, a law enforcement agency, or another criminal history provider.” A “criminal history report” is defined as information that has been compiled primarily for the purposes of evaluating a particular person’s eligibility for”:

• employment in Indiana;
• housing in Indiana;
• a license, permit, or occupational certification issued under state law;
• insurance, credit, or another financial service to be provided to a person residing in Indiana.

Under the revised law, a criminal history provider may not knowingly provide employers or others with information regarding:

• An expunged record;
• A record that is restricted by a court or the rules of a court and is marked as restricted from public disclosure or removed from public access;
• A record indicating a conviction of a Class D felony (for a crime committed before July 1, 2014) or a Level 6 felony (for a crime committed after June 30, 2014) if the Class D felony or Level 6 felony conviction has been entered as a Class A misdemeanor conviction; or has been converted to a Class A misdemeanor conviction;
• A record that the criminal history provider knows is inaccurate.

If you have questions regarding expungement or other matters related to your criminal history, please give me a call to explore the options available to minimize the impact past mistakes have on your efforts to build a better future.

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