Background checks have become ubiquitous in every sphere of modern society. Employers conduct them to ensure they hire qualified, reliable, and trustworthy candidates. Landlords use them to screen potential tenants who are most likely to pay rent on time and avoid legal issues. Lenders and financial institutions use them to assess the creditworthiness of borrowers. Government agencies use them to verify the identity and criminal records of officials, contractors, and other personnel. In this article, we will examine the reasons why background checks are essential in today's society, how they help prevent fraud, protect public safety, and use real-life examples to illustrate their impact.
Importance of Background Checks
Background checks are essential because they provide valuable information about a person's past, including their education, criminal history, employment records, and financial background. This information can help an organization make informed decisions regarding the person's eligibility for a job, loan, or rental property. Conducting a thorough background check can help eliminate potentially dangerous individuals who may pose a risk to the safety and well-being of others. An incomplete or inadequate background check can lead to significant risk to a company or organisation.
Preventing Fraud
Background checks help prevent fraud, which is a pervasive and costly problem across many industries. In the financial sector, loans and credit applications can fall prey to fraudsters, which can result in significant losses for lenders. Through background checks, lenders can verify the identity, employment history, and creditworthiness of borrowers. When lenders notice red flags on applications, they can take more extended steps to investigate and gather information to protect themselves.
Similarly, background checks help prevent fraud in the hiring process. Pre-employment background investigations can screen out applicants with fraudulent credentials, misdemeanors, or felonies, and identify individuals with a history of illegal activities, which could cause problems for the organization.
Protecting Public Safety
Background checks enhance public safety by keeping dangerous criminals and terrorists off the streets and out of critical positions that may allow them to cause harm to society. They also protect vulnerable populations, such as children, vulnerable adults and senior citizens, from individuals who may pose a threat to them.
One example of how background checks can protect public safety is preventing gun violence in schools by ensuring that only individuals with the appropriate permissions, training, and background are hired. In 2018, a teacher at a high school in Georgia barricaded himself in a classroom, fired a gun, and wounded no students. A subsequent investigation revealed that the teacher had a history of mental health problems and an extensive criminal record and attempted to deceive the hiring company about his qualifications. This scenario underscores the importance of conducting thorough background checks, even for seasoned professionals, to ensure that they do not pose a risk to their students.
Another example is how Uber, the ride-hailing service, uses background checks to improve public safety within its customer base. Uber requires driver-partners to undergo an industry-leading screening process that verifies their criminal history, education, and employment records. This thorough background check helps to prevent violent crimes, fraud, and other illegal activities associated with ride-hailing services.
Challenges to Background Checks
Despite their significance in modern society, background checks are not immune to criticism and have a few key challenges that can advance the narrative that they are unfair and can be discriminatory. One of the most significant challenges is that someone can have a criminal record without being found guilty in a court of law, i.e. an arrest record. Such records are often obtained without due process and can unfairly impact a person's ability to get employment, housing, or secure a loan. In such cases, applicants may challenge the misdemeanor charges or arrest records in court to protect their reputation.
Another challenge is the accuracy of background checks. Inaccuracies can result from poor data collection, outdated information, incomplete records, or human errors. This problem is more prevalent in countries with poor record-keeping and monitoring processes, making it difficult for companies and organizations to obtain reliable information. Such inaccuracies can result in legal action against the companies or organizations that obtained them, put them under legal scrutiny and make judgments look unfair.
Conclusion
Background checks have become an integral part of modern society, helping employers, lenders, landlords, and government agencies make informed decisions about the people they interact with. They help to prevent fraud, protect public safety, and keep dangerous people out of critical positions that may pose significant risks to individuals or society as a whole. However, challenges such as inaccuracies and subtle violations of the balance between privacy and public safety persist, making it necessary to refine and improve the background check process to create a more just approach for all people involved.
