{"id":1209,"date":"2017-11-21T15:47:47","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T15:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/?p=1209"},"modified":"2017-11-21T15:47:47","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T15:47:47","slug":"how-to-find-out-if-convicted-felons-live-in-my-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/how-to-find-out-if-convicted-felons-live-in-my-neighborhood\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Find Out If Convicted Felons Live In My Neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your living environment consists of your home, property, and the neighborhood where you\u2019re located. Safety is a primary concern for many people as they wonder who their neighbors are and how much vigilance they need to exert to keep themselves and their families safe. One way to answer the question is my area safe<\/a> is to conduct an Internet search to see who lives in your neighborhood and gauge its overall safety. You can conduct a search for felons in your area to get a relative idea of how safe the area is and if you can rest easy at night. It’ll make it easy to find out if someone is a convicted felon<\/a> or not.<\/p>\n

Search for the Name<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first thing to do if you suspect that someone in your neighborhood is a felon is to do a general Internet search on their name under the news section to locate relevant articles that can assist you in finding out the details you’re on the hunt for. You won\u2019t get an alert that they are a felon when you search, but you can find news articles such as police blotters<\/a>, sentencing, and other information that can give you additional insight into who your neighbors are<\/a>. Place quotation marks around the person\u2019s name and add in the city and\/or state where you\u2019re located to narrow down the results, especially if the person has a common first or last name. Use multiple search engines to broaden the scope and find the most information possible about the person, crime, punishment, and potential victims. Some of the top search engines to use include, in order of overall popularity:<\/p>\n

1. Google
\n2. Bing (Microsoft)
\n3. Yahoo!
\n4. Baidu
\n5. Ask<\/p>\n

Court Records<\/strong><\/p>\n

Court records<\/a> can be tricky, but some information is available online to the general public to make it easier to find out if your neighbor is a criminal<\/a>. Look into your town or county jail system by typing the person\u2019s name in to see if anything comes up and it makes it easy to find the results of a court case<\/a>. Start with a general search because getting too specific can make you come up empty-handed in your quest to answer questions and to find out if convicted felons live in my neighborhood. You might also benefit from going to your local library for access to resources such as law databases and court documents that aren\u2019t available from the comfort of your own home. Some of the common public record databases<\/a> that require a membership from a library or university include:<\/p>\n

\u2022 WestLaw
\n\u2022 LexisNexis
\n\u2022 CourtLink
\n\u2022 CourtExpress
\n\u2022 U.S. Party Case Index (PACER)<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that not all records are publically accessible and you might not find what you\u2019re looking for in these databases, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily indicate that the person isn\u2019t a felon.<\/p>\n

Other Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re coming up without results using local jurisdictions or public information<\/a>, you can also look to the National Sex Offender Registry if the person has been convicted of felony sex crime. This is limited to sex crimes and won\u2019t include other felonies such as those related to violence, theft, or drugs. However, this will help you find out if someone is a sex offender<\/a> or not. You should also receive a notification if a sex offender moves into your neighborhood to give you a heads up about their name, what they look like, and where they\u2019re going to be living. This is common after someone has been released from jail<\/a> or prison and is required to be on the official sex offender registry. Also use the Federal Bureau of Prisons\u2019 inmate locator<\/a> to determine if the person has been convicted of a federal crime<\/a> since 1982, although you won\u2019t be able to see what that person has been convicted of without additional research and resources.<\/p>\n

It can be worrisome and concerning to wonder if the area that you live in is safe. Ease this fear by utilizing the resources available at your fingertips to find out if your neighbor is a criminal. It\u2019s not very comforting to suddenly realize that I have felons near my house without knowing the nature of their crimes. You\u2019ll give yourself greater peace of mind and have a better understanding of your surroundings if you remain vigilant and do research about the people you come into contact with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your living environment consists of your home, property, and the neighborhood where you\u2019re located. Safety is a primary concern for many people as they wonder who their neighbors are and how much vigilance they need to exert to keep themselves and their families safe. One way to answer the question is my area safe is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1211,"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions\/1211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebackgroundcheck.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}