Rovira, Martí2024-05-062024-05-062023Rovira M. The global rise of criminal background checks. Int Criminol. 2023 Mar;3(1):1-11. DOI: 10.1007/s43576-023-00083-42662-9968http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60013The extensive use of criminal background checks—the request for information on prior convictions for non-judicial purposes—creates obstacles to a fair reentry of individuals with criminal records. Previous research has documented the growth in the use of criminal background checks in Western jurisdictions. However, much less is known about the evolution of criminal background checks in other parts of the world. In this study, I present and analyse an original dataset with information on requests for official criminal record certificates for non-judicial purposes in 52 countries. The results show that the reported use of criminal background checks for non-judicial purposes is rising in nearly every country measured. These findings advance our knowledge about the international character of a previously-ignored dimension of the globalisation of punitiveness.application/pdfengThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.The global rise of criminal background checksinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s43576-023-00083-4Criminal recordsCriminal background checksCollateral consequencesPunitive expansionReentry obstaclesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess