mug shots online

A small debate over the ethics of highlighting mug shots on a news site has come up over the St. Petersburg Times’ Tampa Bay Mug Shots site. The information posted on the site is available to the public through the sheriff’s department, but it is the presentation of the mug shots that isn’t quite kosher.

Mug shots from the last 24 hours are the main focus of the site, instead of the crimes that were committed in that time. Since these people haven’t been convicted of the crime, it’s a little distasteful to display them where the public will view them as criminals. There is a small disclaimer under “About Us” that these people have not been convicted, but it’s not emphasized.

This crosses the line into voyeurism. The public can search through these criminals based on height, age, weight, eye color and booking district. Why would the general public need to search like this? The site seems fit mostly for people to browse through photos of people whose day was worse than the viewer’s. It’s just entertainment, not news.

Mug shots are an important part of crime stories, but the mug shot should not be the story itself.