More than 8,000 Uber and Lyft drivers flunked their state background checks – including 51 applications by sex offenders, more than 1,559 applications by drivers who had a history of violent crime and 1,640 applications by drivers with a suspended license on their record – the Department of Public Utilities said today.

The drivers were dismissed by the companies after the state-run background checks were completed this week.

According to the DPU, which oversees the newly created Transportation Network Division, 70,789 Uber and Lyft drivers applied for a state license, and 8,206 were rejected, about 11 percent.

The most common reason for rejecting a potential driver was a suspended license. The background checks also found more than 1,000 applications by drivers with "multiple serious driving offenses."

Uber and Lyft drivers have been arrested for a number of high-profile incidents, including several where the companies said they missed information in a background check that should have disqualified the person from driving.

Late last year, a Lyft driver convicted of a drug charge in 2010 was accused of stabbing a passenger. In August, an Uber driver accused of raping a 16-year-old was found to have a lengthy criminal record, including assault and battery on a correctional officer in 2012.

The arrests helped spur a law mandating background checks for ride-share drivers that was signed by Gov. Charlie Baker last year.

"Thanks to the collaboration between this administration and transportation network companies, Massachusetts has set a national standard for driver safety and we look forward to future partnerships with Uber, Lyft and others to grow this innovative industry and support more jobs and economic opportunities for all," Baker said today after the background check data was released by the state.

The law did not call for state-run background checks to begin until next year, but in November, Uber and Lyft agreed to let the state conduct the checks beginning in January. That agreement did not include other ride-hail companies that operate in Massachusetts, including Fasten and Safr

The November agreement was hailed at the time by Baker as a "national standard" for ride-hail background checks, and goes further than the law passed by the Legislature last year, including treating continuances without a finding the same as a conviction. The so-called CWOFs – where defendants without a long criminal history can admit to sufficient facts that could lead to a conviction – are often used by attorneys as a way to avoid going to trial or plead guilty. The agreement also allows for an indefinite look-back period, meaning decades-old convictions could be considered the same as a more recent conviction. By law, private companies are usually only allowed to look at a seven-year criminal history.

In a statement today, Uber blasted the result revealed by the DPU, saying drivers were unnecessarily being deprived of a chance to earn money.

“Thousands of people in Massachusetts have lost access to economic opportunities as a result of a screening that includes an unfair and unjust indefinite look-back period,” an Uber spokeswoman said today. “We have an opportunity to repair the current system in the rules process so that people who deserve to work are not denied the opportunity.”