What is a background check?! Do they check the criminal record of a person or something?

Question

I am going to volunteer as a tutor for little kids to help with their reading and writing skills. I already signed up and everything, but the lady in charge of the volunteer department said they she will have to do a background check and approve first. She's gonna to send it to someone and let them approve first. I am kinda nervous that I might not get approved because I did commit a crime before(not a really really bad one). However, that day that I did the crime the police came and only gave me a warning, but he wrote something(maybe my name or something? I don't know..)

The police officer didn't sent me to juvenile hall, but he said if I do it again I will immediately go to juvenile hall. I don't think he put it on the record because after all, it was only a WARNING.

so you can see why, I'm kinda nervous about having a background check =(

Plus, if they don't approve of the background check then I CAN'T volunteer and that would totally suck cuz I need more community service hours. So, do you guys think I will have a criminal record? You think they approve? What do you think will happen? I really need help!

Thanks!!

Answer 1

If you were not charged with anything where you went to court on a charge, then it is not on your record, so no worries (warnings don't count against you)... but whenever a person has contact with children, they now run a criminal background check, to make sure you are not a child molester or are wanted for any reason to safeguard the kids.  

Answer 2

No worries.  You would only show up on the criminal records check if you were locked up for something, regardless of conviction or not.  If your fingerprints match fingerprints from a crime scene you did not disclose, then you would have to explain how they got there.  If NLETS has a hit for murder, then you have lots of explaining to do.

Answer 3

Highly unlikely.Don't worry.

Answer 4

Relax and quit worrying.  If the police officer only gave you a verbal warning and there was not an arrest involved in that situation then your name will not be on file in any police report.  Also, incidents that involve juveniles are closed records anyhow.  Good luck in your volunteer tutor position.  

Answer 5

If you're worried about looking foolish god forbid there is something on your report, why not shell out 20 bucks for the peace of mind? http://www.v1g.org has a comprehensive search, that can provide you with any record about yourself you need. If that shows up clean, you're good to go!

Answer 6

I'd say it would depend on the  criminal situation that you got into.. you gotta realize your asking to be around impressionable childern sorry teens aren't adults, so yep there could always be that possibity that you won't get the volunteer job cause of that.. lets just hope you learned from it and are on the straight and narrow now.

Answer 7

Most likely they'll run your fingerprints.  If it crosses with anything, you fail.

Answer 8

You must have been charged and convicted of a crime for it to show up on your police check, so don't worry about your warning.

I will add, to work with children (or the elderly), what they are looking for in your police check is assault convictions, or convictions relating to committing bodily harm to another. They really aren't concerned with the other stuff.