5 ms·

I'm surprised mugshots are other such aren't sealed until after a conviction. Is there a particular legal precedent for this? Heck, even a speeding ticket isn'

• John_KZ 8y ago
  This, in my country mugshots are only revealed after conviction or in exceptional cases (like when they're after armed criminals still at large). I think that's the case too with some US states like Florida.
  • reaperducer 8y ago
    >I think that's the case too with some US states like Florida. Very unlikely. As soon as a mug shot is entered into the system, it's a public document and available to any citizen. You can walk into your local police station and request to see all of the mug shots taken that day. It's your right as an American citizen. It's how small newspapers put together their "police blotter" section. Journalism schools used to send their students out to dig up all the information they could about a person, as part of a larger project for credit. Sometimes it was a professor of their choice, or the class professor, or some random mope out of the phone book. The police station was usually the third stop, after the city clerk's office (business and zoning records) and the county clerk's office (property ownership records).
• jMyles 8y ago
  > I'm surprised mugshots are other such aren't sealed until after a conviction. That sounds closer and closer to secret arrest. The public has a right to know who the government has arrested and why. By sealing them until after conviction, it makes it sound like the mugshot is punishment. It isn't. It's a public record to check the government against secretly arresting people (or intentionally arresting the wrong people).
  • sundvor 8y ago
    If you don't think having your face posted on the internet even prior to conviction, with all this entails, is punishment, then I admire the reality distortion field that lets you see the world that way. Speaking as someone who grew up in a sane country. (Norway).
    • jMyles 8y ago
      I think you are correct, but that's just part of the problem that we've been convinced to attribute guilt even in the absence of proof, on the state's say-so alone. We need instead to presume that everybody who is arrested (and whose mugshot is posted) is innocent unless compelling evidence, based on sworn testimony, is presented. I don't see how adding secrecy is a solution to extrajudicial punishment.
• spinlock 8y ago
  Our prison system in America is so much worse than mugshots. We have a system where you can buy your way out of jail until your hearing (i.e. parole). But, it's not available to poor people. Guess who have worse outcomes. It's so bad that many poor people spend more time in jail waiting for their hearing than they would have spend in prison if they had just plead guilty right away. Guess who tends to plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit because it's the only way they can get out of jail. I guess my point is you don't get things like Mugshots.com because you run a fair and equitable justice system. You get Mugshots.com because some people want to get in on our prison system racket but they don't have enough money to bribe a politician.
• jlgaddis 8y ago
  Mugshots sealed until a conviction!? Hell, the state I live in (Indiana) recently began collecting DNA from anyone arrested for a crime.