How a Background Check Works in Mississippi

Mississippi keeps its criminal history at the Criminal Information Center of the Department of Public Safety, established in March 1998 under Miss. Code Ann. 45-27-5 to maintain the state's criminal records repository and provide fingerprint based identification to law enforcement under 45-27-7. The public door to that record is narrow: the department's name based background check is for your own record, and its warning says that misusing the system to obtain criminal background information on anyone other than yourself will subject you to criminal prosecution.

A person who needs to prove their record to an employer, a landlord or a licensing agency orders the check and has the results released to that third party. Employers, schools, health care, social services, corrections, child and elder care, banks, professional licensing boards and casinos get their checks through the center's Applicant Processing division, by fingerprints or by name, under the laws that require them; businesses may not submit the public check on behalf of employees, contractors, prospective employees or customers.

  • Fee: $32.00 per request, by Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express credit or debit card online.
  • Time: up to 30 calendar days to fulfill; results go by mail, or by fax to a third party with a fax number, and by mail if the fax fails.
  • Paper route: the Release Background Authorization Form, completed, signed and printed legibly, with a copy of your state ID or driver license, naming the third party and address in blocks 11 to 15 and a fax number in block 16.
  • Questions: the Department of Public Safety at 601-933-2600; medical cannabis background checks are not run here but through the State Department of Health at 601-206-1540.

Written by SearchSystems.net from Mississippi's own systems: the Department of Public Safety name based background check page, the Department of Public Safety Criminal Information Center page, the Release Background Authorization Form page, the Department of Public Safety home page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.

The Criminal Information Center

The Department of Public Safety, as parent agency of the Criminal Information Center, administers Mississippi's criminal history improvement programs, and the center is the state's primary conduit to the FBI's National Crime Information Center and the other national and statewide law enforcement exchanges. Its page lists its units: Mississippi Bureau of Investigation intelligence analysis, the sex offender registration division that runs the state's searchable registry at state.sor.dps.ms.gov, the Mississippi Justice Information Center that supports dispatchers and officers around the clock on NCIC and NLETS checks of licenses, wants and warrants, stolen vehicles and missing persons, special processing, applicant processing, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, mental health adjudication reporting for the federal firearms check database, and the National Incident Based Reporting System.

Two of those units decide what a background check is in Mississippi. Special Processing handles pre trial documents, court dispositions and expunction orders, the court orders that direct the center's technicians to remove offenses from a person's Mississippi rap sheet. AFIS gives every person a single identity regardless of the name, date of birth, license or Social Security number given at each arrest, links every arrest to that fingerprint identity for a comprehensive rap sheet, connects to the FBI for national records and lets the center run applicant fingerprint checks that do not depend on a name at all.

The $32 name based check: your own record

The department's online check asks the requester to read its rules before paying. A background check may take up to 30 calendar days to be fulfilled. If the results are to go to a third party, the requester supplies that person's name, address, city, state, zip and, when fax delivery is preferred, fax number; a failed fax transmission is followed by mail to the address given. Each request costs $32.00, paid by Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express credit or debit card, and questions go to the Department of Public Safety at 601-933-2600. The page then warns in capitals: misuse of the system to obtain criminal background information on someone other than yourself will subject you to criminal prosecution, and businesses or any third parties are prohibited from submitting background checks on behalf of employees, contractors, prospective employees or customers. Medical cannabis background checks are not processed through the site and belong to the State Department of Health, 601-206-1540.

The paper request: the Release Background Authorization Form

The Criminal Information Center's Release Background Authorization Form is the mailed version of the same check. It must be completed, signed and printed legibly, with a copy of the requester's state ID or driver license attached; all background checks may take up to 30 days to complete. When the results are to be released to a third party, the third party's name and mailing address go in blocks 11 through 15, and a fax number for faxed results in block 16. The department's mailing address is P.O. Box 958, Jackson, MS 39205, its headquarters 209 Allen Stuart Drive, Pearl, MS 39208, telephone (601) 987-1212, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Checks for employers and licensing: applicant processing

The center's Applicant Processing division performs the fingerprint and name based background checks used to clear certain classes of government workers for employment, together with teachers, health care workers, social services personnel, corrections personnel, elder care and nursing home workers, daycare workers, bankers, physician, pharmacist and nurse licensing, casino workers and other critical positions in industry. Those checks run under the statutes that require them and through the livescan and cardscan stations the center certifies: the Mississippi Criminal History System interface document sets the requirements for every scanner used at law enforcement and civil government agencies, the scanners must be FBI certified, and the center publishes instruction manuals for applicant fingerprint cards, livescan and cardscan applicant transactions and the reject and warning notices a submission can draw.

Reading a Mississippi check

A Mississippi name based check is a person's own record, by name, bought for $32 and released where the person directs; it is not a tool for checking anyone else, and the department says so with a threat of prosecution. The fingerprint based record, matched through AFIS to a single identity across every name a person has used, reaches employers and boards only through applicant processing under the laws that require it. An expunction removes an offense from the rap sheet by court order processed at the center, and the national record enters only where the center's FBI link is authorized.

Questions about background checks in Mississippi

Can I run a Mississippi background check on another person?
No. The Department of Public Safety's name based check is for your own record, and the department warns that using the system on anyone else leads to criminal prosecution; businesses may not submit checks for employees or customers.
How much does the Mississippi check cost and how long does it take?
$32.00 per request by credit or debit card, and up to 30 calendar days to fulfill, by mail or by fax to a named third party.
How does an employer get my Mississippi criminal history?
Either you order the $32.00 check and have the results released to the employer's name and address, or, where a law requires it, the employer runs a fingerprint or name based check through the Criminal Information Center's Applicant Processing division.
Is there a paper form?
Yes, the Release Background Authorization Form from the Criminal Information Center, signed and legible, with a copy of your state ID or driver license, naming any third party in blocks 11 to 15 and a fax number in block 16.
What is the Criminal Information Center?
The Department of Public Safety unit created in March 1998 under Miss. Code Ann. 45-27-5 that keeps the state criminal records repository, runs AFIS, the sex offender registry and applicant processing, and connects Mississippi to the FBI's national systems under 45-27-7.
How is a Mississippi record expunged?
By a court expunction order, which the center's Special Processing division carries out by removing the offenses from the person's Mississippi rap sheet.

Related Mississippi records

The department's record is one of the Mississippi records this site covers: the Mississippi court records guide explains the courts' own case files, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public, the sex offender registry guide covers the registry the center runs, and the Mississippi county pages list each sheriff and circuit clerk.