text: where online can i do a criminal check that doesnt cost anything? i need a crimanal check on christopher heiderich http://www.backgroundcheckgateway.com/public-records.html has good resources on running all sorts of checks and it lists them state by state. if the reason for the check is for employment, especially in certain sectors such as healthcare and education, you may be able to have the institution run the check through their links with law enforcement agencies.  http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs16-bck.htm has a very detailed guide entitled "employment background checks: a jobseeker's guide".  whilst it isn't free www.backgroundpi.com provides a quite comprehensive report online in less than four hours for $39