There are many consequences to an arrest. In some towns, you get your mugshot in the paper or on a local news site. But a growing business is ensuring that your mugshot is permanently online in a searchable database—only to be removed after you pay a hefty fee.
Of course, any arrest and resulting conviction or sentence is bad news, and not your finest hour. For a felony, you face more than a year in prison. Even a misdemeanor charge can bring several months in jail. But once you’ve served your sentence it would be nice to move on, right?
Police reports and mugshots are public information, and that makes sense in the abstract. Reporters or people with a personal interest should have access to that information. But with the internet, essentially everything can be made easily accessible to everyone, with no effort.
And if someone can make a buck off of something, they probably will.
Websites like Mugshots.com search through free city and state databases to lift the arrest photos and details. Technically, these are public information. Then, they post them for all to see on their own websites. For those who visit these sites, it’s nothing but entertainment, or sometimes your own (free) version of a background check. For those who are memorialized on what was likely their lowest point, however, it’s a reminder of how tough it is to move on.
What happens when you want your photo removed depends on the site, but it is usually a large fee. Some sites charge $100, while others charge close to $500. While an argument could be made that these sites are practicing extortion, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s taken them to court.
These sites are taking public information, making it easily accessible to any casual searcher. They are taking your worst moment, and information about you that could be tremdously damaging to your career, your reputation, and your future. And they are doing it for money.
And if you pay them money, they will stop. That is the explicit definition of blackmail!
This behavior is reasonable and understandable if there is public value in that information being widely shared. And if you are a public figure or a celebrity, then TMZ or TheSmokingGun.com will post your most embarrassing information in great detail, but that comes with the territory.
But it is simply not right to create a business that simply extorts money from average people who have made a mistake.
Criminal charges can be embarrassing. But far worse than a mugshot is dealing with the effects on your personal and professional life. Not only will you have to miss work and prepare for stressful court dates, but you’ll have to deal with the additional stress that this could bring to your family.
When you are convicted of a criminal offense, people will find out. In some cases, even when you are arrested and the charges later dropped, it’s still public knowledge. But at least some of the effects of your arrest can potentially be minimized with the help of a local, experienced defense attorney.
Unfortunately, even if you are found not guilty, or the charges are dismissed, the mugshot lives on.
There are some organizations out there like classactionagainstmugshotwebsites.com that are fighting these sites, which seem to crop up like weeds, or more accurately, parasites.
I wish them luck!
About David Matson