PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – If you or someone you know has recently been arrested in Clay or Putnam counties, there’s a good chance the mugshot has been posted on social media.
Community Facebook groups like Putnam County Mugshots 2.0, which has 25,000 members, and Clay County Florida Mugshots, which has 35,000 members, appear to screengrab mugshots from booking websites.
Then they post those mugshots on their Facebook pages for all to see and comment on.
But are those posts causing more harm than good?
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Mugshots in Florida are public record, which means anyone can access them from a jail booking site.
News4JAX sometimes uses them as a visual aid in certain crime stories. But some say just because mugshots are easily accessible, doesn’t always mean the people in those mugshots should have their faces plastered all over social media, especially without context.
Every day, a new mugshot is posted on Putnam County Mugshots 2.0 and Clay County Florida Mugshots, group Facebook pages in which people are allowed to post all kinds of comments about the person who was arrested.
Putnam County Sheriff Gator DeLoach says Putnam Mugshots 2.0 is a double-edged sword.
On one hand, the page helps the sheriff’s office notify the public about a missing child or that a registered sexual offender has just moved into the area. However, he said posting mug shots of people who were arrested for simple misdemeanors such as not paying child support, or not showing up in court has no value to the general public.
“In my mind, those are not necessarily cases of public interest. Personally, I don’t understand the need to post something like that, but at the same time, it’s public record,” DeLoach said.
Kelly McBride is the Vice President of the Craig Newman Center for Ethics and Leadership at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg. Her views on the indiscriminate posting of mug shots are based on media research.
“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it. It doesn’t mean it’s ethical just because it’s legal,” McBride said. “I think mugshots are exploitive and prejudicial and I think anyone who just posts them without any sort of explanation or even a common good or purpose is really exploiting people and harming people and mostly harming people who are lower income.”
In the News4JAX newsroom, reporters and news managers have discussions about how news stories will be covered both on air and on our website. Those discussions include the use of mugshots.
When discussing the use of mugshots, we consider things like the severity of the charges, especially if the accused is a minor. We also take into consideration if the accused has a documented history of mental health problems.
A Putnam County woman who asked to remain anonymous sent News4JAX a message via Facebook regarding Putnam County Mugshots 2.0.
“Their website makes people look guilty before innocent instead of innocent until proven guilty. So, in the public eye, you’re already guilty when your mugshot gets posted on these pages,” the message reads, in part.
On Thursday, News4JAX sent Facebook messages to all the administrators of Putnam County Mugshots 2.0 and Clay County Florida Mugshots. News4JAX was requesting an interview with them because we wanted to know the purpose of posting the mugshots.
Only one administrator responded to the message after publicly posting a screenshot of the request to see if anyone recognized me as a news reporter. Then she denied the request after some of the members posted comments to suggest I was fake.
Ed Birk is a news media and First Amendment attorney who specializes in media law. He said these Facebook groups could find themselves embroiled in lawsuits if they are not removing mugshots when criminal charges against the accused have been dropped.
“The people whose mugshots are being posted here on social media are not without recourse. If the person who posted the mugshot doesn’t follow up, let’s say the defendant was acquitted and the mugshot stays out there, that can be defamation. So, the person in the mugshot can sue the poster for defamation,” Birk said.
On Thursday, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert about mugshot page extortion.
It said it involved a Facebook group called Flagler County Mugshots that attempted to trick people into thinking the page was associated with the Sheriff’s Office.
The agency described it as a poorly veiled attempt to make money off the mistakes of others.
By law, if your mugshot is on one of these pages and you ask them to take it down, it’s illegal for them to charge you to remove your mugshot.
In another instance a few days ago, someone anonymously posted an unredacted arrest report on Clay County Florida Mugshots. The report indirectly identified the victim of a sexual assault. That victim was a minor.
The report was later removed.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said it was aware of the post.
We want to know: How do you feel about mugshots of people being posted online without context? Fill out the form below and tell us.