---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 40311"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "40311"
heading: "Findings"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/40311"
units:
  - "Subtitle IV — Criminal Records and Information"
  - "Chapter 403 — Criminal Justice Identification, Information, and Communication"
  - "Subchapter II — Exchange of Criminal History Records for Noncriminal Justice Purposes"
---

# §40311. Findings


Congress finds that—

- (1) both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and [State](/usc/34/40312.md?p=6) criminal history record repositories maintain fingerprint-based criminal history records;
- (2) these criminal history records are shared and exchanged for criminal justice purposes through a Federal-[State](/usc/34/40312.md?p=6) program known as the Interstate Identification Index System;
- (3) although these records are also exchanged for legally authorized, noncriminal justice uses, such as governmental licensing and employment background checks, the purposes for and procedures by which they are exchanged vary widely from [State](/usc/34/40312.md?p=6) to [State](/usc/34/40312.md?p=6);
- (4) an interstate and Federal-[State](/usc/34/40312.md?p=6) [compact](/usc/34/40312.md?p=2) is necessary to facilitate authorized interstate criminal history record exchanges for noncriminal justice purposes on a uniform basis, while permitting each [State](/usc/34/40312.md?p=6) to effectuate its own dissemination policy within its own borders; and
- (5) such a [compact](/usc/34/40312.md?p=2) will allow Federal and [State](/usc/34/40312.md?p=6) records to be provided expeditiously to governmental and nongovernmental agencies that use such records in accordance with pertinent Federal and [State](/usc/34/40312.md?p=6) law, while simultaneously enhancing the accuracy of the records and safeguarding the information contained therein from unauthorized disclosure or use.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 105–251, title II, § 212, Oct. 9, 1998, 112 Stat. 1874.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 14611 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

For short title of subtitle A of title II of Pub. L. 105–251, which is classified to this subchapter, as the “National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Act of 1998”, see section 211 of Pub. L. 105–251, set out as a Short Title of 1998 Act note under section 10101 of this title.