To be most effective, however, an offender's criminal history should be detected and legally documented in the preliminary investigative stages. Requirements for legal documentation of criminal histories vary from State to State but can include a subject's confession, prior convictions, certified copies of journal entries of convictions from other courts, fingerprint records, and establishing the functional equivalent of convictions from other States. Law enforcement administrators should be familiar with State statutes concerning charge and sentence enhancement and the legal proof required to establish a suspect's criminal history. Such knowledge will help police agencies develop general guidelines on the scope and depth of criminal history investigations. Where legally permitted, law enforcement officials should obtain access to a suspect's prior presentence report. To develop procedures and techniques for investigating criminal histories, police administrators should understand the quality and availability of criminal history records accessible to them. In particular, fingerprint records from the Automated Fingerprint Identification System can provide positive identification of subjects during criminal history checks. The need for adequate equipment and funding to lock up repeat offenders is emphasized. 15 endnotes