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Criminal Background Check Resources

Morris

Premium Member
"Criminal indebtedness"? My goodness, we have no debtor's prisons in Maine. I am not against rigorous research, however, I guess I just take a more old fashioned view in the way to do it. "Criminal indebtedness", by the way, is the subject of a book all Masons should read: "Slavery By Another Name :The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II" by Douglas A. Blackmon.

"Criminal indebtedness"? Really? My goodness. Two-thirds of the Masons on Wall Street and in Washington should be expelled for that!

Perhaps that's a little hyperbole, but I know plenty of Masons, and good ones, who had some scrapes with the law in their background, most of them for being "outside agitators" in the South some decades ago and some decades even more near to our own.

If criminal indebtedness bothers you then substitute it with another criminal offense and read it again. Point would be the same.

Either way, it's just differing points of view. We always have three trustworthy men assigned as investigation team and I trust they will fully vet each candidate to determine whether they are good people.
 

MaineMason

Registered User
If criminal indebtedness bothers you then substitute it with another criminal offense and read it again. Point would be the same.

Either way, it's just differing points of view. We always have three trustworthy men assigned as investigation team and I trust they will fully vet each candidate to determine whether they are good people.
We vet them, too. I wonder, however, what "good" means sometimes. Sometimes I wonder that has implications that have nothing to do with their suitability for Freemasonry and more with personal prejudices and I'm not talking about race here. I will say, however, were I serving on that investigative committee, I would never have approved J. Edgar Hoover, master investigator and life-long blackmailer. Is that a Mason we should be proud of?
 

Morris

Premium Member
We vet them, too. I wonder, however, what "good" means sometimes. Sometimes I wonder that has implications that have nothing to do with their suitability for Freemasonry and more with personal prejudices and I'm not talking about race here. I will say, however, were I serving on that investigative committee, I would never have approved J. Edgar Hoover, master investigator and life-long blackmailer. Is that a Mason we should be proud of?

That's why we trust. I would put my trust in you in an investigation to determine what good means. However someone vets a person as long as they can be confident in their assessment I will be happy.

As far as Hoover is concerned, I'm sure there are lists of Masons that individuals are proud and not proud to call brother.
 

Bill Lins

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
If criminal indebtedness bothers you then substitute it with another criminal offense and read it again. Point would be the same.
Hot check writing, i.e. theft by check, could be considered "criminal indebtedness". I would not want to initiate a man as a Mason who was known to write hot checks. We must guard our reputation closely.

One thing I take into consideration when investigating a petitioner is, that if we were to induct him and he were to later visit another Lodge where I was known and had close friends, how would he reflect upon my and my Lodge's reputation.
 

Warrior1256

Site Benefactor
Hot check writing, i.e. theft by check, could be considered "criminal indebtedness". I would not want to initiate a man as a Mason who was known to write hot checks. We must guard our reputation closely.

One thing I take into consideration when investigating a petitioner is, that if we were to induct him and he were to later visit another Lodge where I was known and had close friends, how would he reflect upon my and my Lodge's reputation.
Sounds good to me.
 

nfasson

Registered User
Criminal background checks don't have to go through a LEO or find someone with connection. Anytime you apply for a job, they do a background check. You can be sure that the police wouldn't want to deal with all those requests. Private companies do it for you.

GL of MA uses Infocheckusa. The link is below. They send the report directly to you (not the lodge or GL), so there is no reason you can't use it out of MA, I imagine.


http://www.infocheckusa.com/masons-ordering-mass.html

Now, the question is... if I use the MA check site will it only look at MA-related offenses or is it national?
 

Bird_n_hand

Registered User
"Criminal indebtedness"? My goodness, we have no debtor's prisons in Maine. I am not against rigorous research, however, I guess I just take a more old fashioned view in the way to do it. "Criminal indebtedness", by the way, is the subject of a book all Masons should read: "Slavery By Another Name :The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II" by Douglas A. Blackmon.

"Criminal indebtedness"? Really? My goodness. Two-thirds of the Masons on Wall Street and in Washington should be expelled for that!

Perhaps that's a little hyperbole, but I know plenty of Masons, and good ones, who had some scrapes with the law in their background, most of them for being "outside agitators" in the South some decades ago and some decades even more near to our own.
I guess Henry David Thoreau would've been a tax cheat and a bad bad bad man for failing to pay taxes XD it's interesting the background check goes only 7 years back, and the current county you live in, not very Thoreau if you ask me lol. In Washington background checks can only go back 7 years as well. And for renting a home they can't even run a background anymore. It's been proven to not be effective in determining who a person really is it just hurts good people who have moved forward in life. People grow up yah know remember that. It's not a good thing being a paranoid soccer mom type vetting everyone down to the gardener girlfriends sisters boyfriend. While letting politicians and whoever else with a little bit of clout slide through like a fat man at a hot dog stand. Just saying. Character is what is important and when I did interviews as a highering manager I only asked people to bring copies of their resume so I had scratch paper to write on. Maybe that's why this lodge wants them to bring a background check in. So they can have something to write their thoughts on XD
 

Bird_n_hand

Registered User
We vet them, too. I wonder, however, what "good" means sometimes. Sometimes I wonder that has implications that have nothing to do with their suitability for Freemasonry and more with personal prejudices and I'm not talking about race here. I will say, however, were I serving on that investigative committee, I would never have approved J. Edgar Hoover, master investigator and life-long blackmailer. Is that a Mason we should be proud of?
The modern prison industrial complex is out of control now. I'll say this for the first and last time on this site. IT'S NO LONGER ABOUT IF YOU'VE COMMITED A CRIME WORTH JAIL OR PRISON TIME. IT'S EITHER YOU HAVNT GOT CAUGHT BECAUSE YOUR LUCKY. OR YOU HAVE A GOOD LAWYER AND MONEY TO SPEND ON THEM, Laws are not meant to Protect us but to enslave us. And police are not meant to uphold peace, but to uphold laws and the interpretation of them from judges. 50 or 60 years ago crime and punishment was just a book. Laws have evolved so much now that things that were not crimes 50 years ago are crimes worth prison time now. 100 years ago people wouldn't even be talking about this. Society needs a positive change and we need good men like yourself to step up and help make that happen. Not just following the big groups of scared people running around
 

Keith C

Registered User
Well, this thread took quite a turn.

In our case the GL does a background check and informs the lodge if anything shows up, it is then up to the lodge to determine the candidates suitability. As far as looking into a candidates character, standing in society and fitness to be made a mason, you can rest assured that once a name is read in lodge and a committee formed Brothers will be googleing his name, checking his social media posts, etc. We have had several candidates where the committee visited the candidate and coming away with a positive impression and then have the candidates FB page pointed out to them and re-interviewing and subsequently find not in favor of granting their prayer of petition. Some folks can put on a good show for an hour, but their true character be revealed by how they act on-line.

I think we have to closely guard the Western gate as I would not want to see our lodge mentioned or associated with some of the stuff people post online.
 

Howard Giang

Registered User
I've tried to warn some young folks that the stuff that they post on line can come back to bite them when it comes to getting a job, etc. "Say it, forget it. Write it, regret it".
Great advice Warrior1256!
My Dad once said/advised that between two choices: it is better to drink poison than to talk poison. Explain: when a person drinks poison, people are willing to help to save his/her life, but when a person talks poison, there are people willing to do harm to him/her.

I always give a benefit of doubt that men & women in general are good by default and never jump to a conclusion even though I understood what it meant, but I still want to ask to explain what it is meant by that. I hope everyone on here will do the same for me. Thanks.
 

Andy Fracica

Site Benefactor
Premium Member
Late this year we started requiring criminal background checks that the candidate pays for. The background report is shared with the investigation committee but we don't make copies of it or keep it, it is returned to the candidate after we have met with him.
 

dpk Shah

Premium Member
Well, this thread took quite a turn.

In our case the GL does a background check and informs the lodge if anything shows up, it is then up to the lodge to determine the candidates suitability. As far as looking into a candidates character, standing in society and fitness to be made a mason, you can rest assured that once a name is read in lodge and a committee formed Brothers will be googleing his name, checking his social media posts, etc. We have had several candidates where the committee visited the candidate and coming away with a positive impression and then have the candidates FB page pointed out to them and re-interviewing and subsequently find not in favor of granting their prayer of petition. Some folks can put on a good show for an hour, but their true character be revealed by how they act on-line.

I think we have to closely guard the Western gate as I would not want to see our lodge mentioned or associated with some of the stuff people post online.

Brother, in my case, police clearance was part of the application form. A 3 Brother committee came to my house to have a ‘chat’ with me, spoke with the wife.

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Athena

Registered User
I firmly agree with the criminal background check. From an outsiders perspective if someone has made a criminal offense a few months ago that could be detrimental to the cause. However I feel the way to go about it is conduct an interview first ask him questions about his criminal history and see if he admits to it. Then request consent to submit a background check after the interview. If the background check shows that he has lied, hid, or told half truths about any felonies then that's a sign of dishonesty. My criminal record is adjudicated so I have the potential to say no and it wouldn't show up. However by word of mouth it could present itself. I have a felony for arson age 14. Then around 2 misdemeanors. One for I think disorderly conduct and attempting to evade arrest/resisting arrest whatever it's called I ran away because I was scared there were 2 big undercover cops that I thought were normal people angry at what I was doing. Second one was basic assault and battery. Somewhere around 15-16 were the misdemeanors. My point is yes I agree that personally talking and knowing a person is better then reading a piece of paper. However if both are done and the felony is very very recent it might be wise to blackball I guess or disqualify. I am 25 now and I am a changed now and I feel that I am a way better person than I used to be. However I know that I do not meet other qualifications and I may petition many years from now. It's an honor to be able to communicate with masons the very few that I met irl along with one open lodge visit at 18 was very pleasurable and I have not met one mason that I know of for sure that is unpleasant. Including the ones online in which I know way more then I have met in the past offline. One way I feel I can distinguish is if someone truely is a mason if they say they are is there character, the way they act, what they do. I firmly believe that freemasonry is good for society even though I've never first hand experienced it but I am sure that it is good. Whatever this light is that I keep hearing about, it seems noble and good. :)
 

CLewey44

Registered User
I think background checks are ok however I think we are putting too much emphasize on that as if it's going to be a save-all. We call it 'guarding the west' but that's not what the main problem, criminal backgrounds. It's more about letting idiots into the fraternity that have no business being in their anyways.
 

LK600

Premium Member
Where I am they do a criminal background check, check social media, call three references, and a 3 person committee visits their home. The candidate is also requested to come to lodge several times before any vote. Not sure if if any of that would help stop idiots from getting in.
 

CLewey44

Registered User
Lol it may help. Definitely meeting with them, getting a feel for them. See what they plan on contributing to Masonry. I think some lodges require a contribution of something of Masonic value. Meeting with them a couple of times, require they come to three pre-meeting dinners maybe. Meet them at their home helps paint a picture.
 

Warrior1256

Site Benefactor
I think background checks are ok however I think we are putting too much emphasize on that as if it's going to be a save-all. We call it 'guarding the west' but that's not what the main problem, criminal backgrounds. It's more about letting idiots into the fraternity that have no business being in their anyways.
Agreed!
Meeting with them a couple of times, require they come to three pre-meeting dinners maybe. Meet them at their home helps paint a picture.
This is the way it was with me.
 
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