Court records can now be searched by the general public, but why would you need to? If you intend to employ a person and place them within a position of authority or trust, you would feel a lot better doing this with the knowledge that that person has not been to prison for a major crime. It is only recently that the general public has been able to access court records, not too long ago it was only the highest officials who had access to such sensitive information. Your only option was to either strain your way through all of the red tape (which could take months), become a court official or get arrested.