Being arrested for an alleged crime is one of the worst experiences a person can have. The experience is part of a situation that can forever alter the course of someone’s life. Then there’s the booking photo, a photo of someone that is taken during a low point in their life.
These booking photos, commonly known as mugshots, are the target of a bill proposing to only allow release of those images after a conviction is made or if the image’s release would assist law enforcement. These images have been a subject of debate regarding their purpose and how they can follow a person and impact their lives far beyond their arrests. However, we’re against House Bill 51 and how it would change access to these important public records.
It’s important to note this isn’t solely a media issue. Publications and broadcasters access records like the Sweetwater County Detention Center’s jail roster to learn about arrests made for alleged crimes and the charges inmates face, as well as pull mugshots for use in reporting. Yet, the number of people accessing this information far eclipses media access to those records. According to a report issued by the Sweetwater County Combined Communications Joint Powers Board, more than 100,000 users accessed the dispatch center’s website in 2021, with more than 2.5 million hits recorded. Traffic to the jail roster, which is hosted on that website, accounts for 98% of all traffic. This data proves there is significant public interest in activity at the detention center that far exceeds both media use and the county’s total population.
Due to that interest, the importance of properly identifying a person being charged with a crime is important and a mugshot is crucial in this regard. This is especially true in situations where a common first and last name can identify several people in a community. This situation applies to the editor of this newspaper as David Martin is not the only David Martin living in Sweetwater County. According to land ownership records available through the county’s online zoning map, two different David Martins own residential property in Rock Springs on the same street. Confusing the identity of two people sharing the same name isn’t uncommon and that mugshot becomes a key item in protecting a person from a case of mistaken identity.
A mugshot can also help an inmate as it can provide a record of overaggressive police action made during an arrest. This may not be something we see in Green River, but the fact the mugshots are taken following an arrest creates a deterrent against overuse of force by law enforcement.
Mugshots can also assist police by encouraging others to come forward and report an alleged crime if they see the mugshot of an arrested individual.
Pinning all the problems a person has after being charged with or convicted of a crime to their mugshot is simplistic thinking that doesn’t address the other hurdles people face following an arrest. For felons in particular, a common question on applications asks if a person was convicted of a felony crime during the prior seven years. Information regarding why a person was arrested still remains on websites like the county’s jail roster even after they’ve been released and that information does not include if the former inmate was convicted or acquitted -- information that is beyond the scope of a jail roster. One could call for all of that information to be restricted until after a conviction, but such a call would threaten a pillar of the American judicial system, which ensures the work of the justice system is carried out in public to ensure the government is not trying and imprisoning people secretly or unjustly.
Mugshots are important public records that have a purpose and access to them should be protected from bills that would limit their use. House Bill 51 may seek to protect people from having their mugshot released before they’re convicted, but would be the cause of other problems if enacted.
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