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I think having that information public in the moment is valuable in that it alerts a community to a possible danger and allows for the community to verify the i
by Anechoic 13y ago
I think having that information public in the moment is valuable in that it alerts a community to a possible danger and allows for the community to verify the indignity of the arrestee (for example if the arrested person is using an assumed identity or shares the same name as someone who has not been charged with a crime).
Now whether that data should be public for all time (especially for those who were not charged with a crime or found non guilty) is a different story.
- moron4hire 13y agoA little slowness is not a bad thing from time to time. Until a person is proven guilty of a crime in a court of law, I don't think any details should be made public. Rumor has a way of destroying people, even when the rumor is false.
- frobozz 13y agoThere is no such thing as information that is public "in the moment". Once data has been published, it can't be unpublished. Someone will have a copy, and will likely publish it on. This is particularly true wrt crime, there are plenty of armchair vigilantes who think that an arrest is proof of guilt and see nothing wrong with publishing arrest records of people they believe have "gotten away with it". With this in mind, once a record of an arrest has been published, an official published record must persist, so that it can be linked with the outcome. Otherwise those who republish indiscriminately (or worse, those whose intent is to defame) will be able to define the "truth" as they see fit.
- Retric 13y agoSomeone that's been arrested is currently zero threat to the public. What in the moment possible danger exists?