How do you know if a person has a criminal record? This topic worries many citizens. Especially employers - they are not too fond of hiring employees who have had problems with the law. Especially the conviction. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect on this issue from time to time. What are the options for solving the problem? How legal is it to obtain information about a citizen's criminal record? All this remains to be seen further.
Legality
Is it possible to find out a person's criminal record? I guess, yes. How legal is that is the question. Usually this kind of information is needed by many government services. For example, to banking organizations when issuing loans and borrowings. Therefore, purely theoretically, there is no reason to doubt the legality.
But in practice, a somewhat different picture emerges. If you are thinking about how to find out if a person had a criminal record, be prepared for the fact that your actions will not be entirely legal. More precisely, in some cases it is impossible to officially obtain this kind of information. And you have to look for workarounds. Often, only the citizen himself can legally provide data on his criminal record.
Asking questions
And now a little about possible actions, if you are interested in the relationship of this or that person with the laws of the country. How do you know if a person has a criminal record? Many people advise you to just ask him. Especially if you have any reason to believe that there are problems with the laws of the Russian Federation.
The option is good, but unreliable. Nobody is immune from lies. Even if you have a criminal record, you may be told that you don't have one. Or has been removed before. We will have to be interested in other methods of solving the problem. More reliable and accurate.
Employers
Can an employer find out about a person's criminal record? According to modern Russian laws, the authorities must have information about their subordinates, it is the "relationships" with the law that are checked first of all. 
True, employers usually do not deal with this issue on their own. Applicants themselves must bring a certificate of no criminal record. This is how managers learn information about their subordinates.
If you know where a person works, go to their employer. And already with him specify whether a particular citizen had a criminal record. The problem is that few people will agree in principle to disclose such information. You may have to look for other methods. How do you know if a person has a criminal record? Fortunately, there are still alternatives.
Precinct
The next method that takes place is an appeal to the district police officer. Such workers have information about the criminal record of citizens. However, please note that this option is not legal. Only employers and government organizations have legal grounds to obtain information about the criminal record of certain people. All the rest - only if there are good reasons, of which there are not so many. For example, when there are suspicions that a citizen is a fraudster. 
The main disadvantage of this approach is that you need to know where the person lives. Otherwise, do not even try to bring the idea to life. Do you know the exact address of the citizen? Then go to negotiate with the district police officer to provide you with information regarding the person you are interested in. Keep in mind, with a high degree of probability you will be refused. After all, there is a penalty for disclosure of information. Usually in the form of a fine. In any case, you can get a refusal already because you are pushing the district police officer to violate the legislation of the Russian Federation. Remember, you act only at your own peril and risk!
MIA
How do you know if a person's conviction has been expunged? And does/did he/she have? It's no secret that all such information is kept by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The employees of this service could easily solve all your problems. This is where you can turn as an alternative solution.
Just keep in mind right away that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, like all other instances, does not have the right to disclose this kind of information. If it is possible to agree with district police officers and employers of citizens, then with law enforcement agencies the probability of such is almost equal to zero. Except when someone close to you works in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Then you should hope for success.
But pay attention - you will be engaged in an illegal, even to some extent, jurisdictional case. Few people will agree to break the law just to find out if a person has a criminal record. Such a prospect is considered a failure by 99%. 
Relatives
The possible methods do not end there. The thing is that the legal options for solving the problem usually include dialogues with relatives of the "suspect". They know for sure if a citizen has a criminal record. Therefore, if you can contact people close to a person, just try to find out from them what interests you.
If you choose the right tactics of behavior, you can "split" the relatives of the "suspect". But as practice shows, it is enough to simply explain who you are and why you need this kind of information. And then the citizens will tell about the criminal record of their relative.
But this method cannot be called 100% successful. Not all people are accommodating, often they do not communicate with strangers at all. Therefore, the probability of failure is high. Much depends on your interlocutors, as well as on the reason you invented for the need for information about a criminal record. 
Plus, remember - this option cannot be regarded as accurate. No one is immune from lies from the relatives of the "suspect". Sometimes you may be told that you have a criminal record when in fact there is none. And vice versa. Therefore, it is possible to consider a dialogue with loved ones as an alternative solution, but it is not possible to be completely sure of the accuracy of the information provided.
Internet to help
Is it possible to find out a person's criminal record on the Internet? To be honest, the World Wide Web now offers incredible opportunities. You can get most of the information about users and even real estate from here. So, there is a possibility that a criminal record can also be disclosed in a similar way. 
This view is held by many citizens. They are thinking about how to find out if a person had a criminal record via the Internet. It is not very difficult to do this. Indeed, for such an idea, various services have been created. It is enough to have some data about a citizen in order to get either only information about a criminal record, or a complete dossier on a person. Usually the second option is more interesting to the population.
All you need is to find a specialized service for finding information about citizens. Please note that most of these services are paid. Enter the requested data, then pay for the request and wait for the result. Information about a criminal record or a complete questionnaire about a resident (depending on the selected service) should be displayed on the screen. What information do you need to have? Enough name, surname and patronymic. Sometimes it would be nice to know the date of birth and registration of a person. But the last paragraphs are optional. That is, most often only the first name, last name and date of birth are needed. Everything, nothing more.
Beware of cheating
Just do not rush to rejoice. After all, Internet services often turn out to be the most common deception. This means that you will not receive any information about a criminal record or about a citizen as a whole. More precisely, with almost 100% probability you will stumble upon scammers. Or some veiled virus. And no more. 
Thus, if you are wondering how to find out if a person has a criminal record, it is clearly not worth using the Internet. In any case, if you do not want to lose money and time. As you can see, there are many options for solving the problem, but not all of them work. In general, if you are not a law enforcement officer or do not offer a job to a citizen, then there is no way to find out about his criminal record on legal grounds. You will act only at your own peril and risk.
