​​The archdiocese uses fingerprinting as its core method of checking a person's background, which includes a check of criminal history. All persons, whether paid or volunteer, who have regular contact with minors or vulnerable adults are fingerprinted and agree that the archdiocese or other specified person will receive any subsequent arrest notifications. The details of the fingerprinting requirement are listed in the next online sections in this Handbook and vary depending on one’s role. Accordingly the policies must be reviewed and implemented with care and attention to the current role of the individual being fingerprinted.

The California Department of Justice does not charge a fee for fingerprints submitted under the Penal Code for volunteers or the Health and Safety Code for preschool administration, staff or volunteers.  The California Department of Justice charges an administrative fee when fingerprints are submitted to the agency under the Education Code for paid school personnel, paid religious education staff/catechetical leaders, and clergy.​ The FBI charges a fee for submission of all fingerprints whether under the Penal Code, the Education Code or the Health and Safety Code. Each of these fees is paid by the archdiocese and billed to the locations for reimbursement.

The archdiocesan Fingerprinting Office provides fingerprinting services free of charge to the locations. Accordingly, locations are encouraged to arrange fingerprinting by referring to the Fingerprinting Calendars, which give information about these services that are regularly scheduled throughout the archdiocese. The Fingerprinting Office does not charge for fingerprinting and does not have a separate charge for submitting fingerprints to the Department of Justice or FBI, subsequent arrest notification review and processing.  (Any administrative fees imposed by the Department of Justice or the FBI will be billed to the location, as described in the paragraph above.) 

If an individual or location has fingerprints processed by a third party provider, the individual or location will be charged directly by the provider for the fingerprinting services, all other service costs, and the governmental administrative fees.  See Fingerprinting Protocols​ for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.​​