Each year in the US, more than 10 million people are arrested. If you are one of these people, one of the first things the police will do is take your mugshot while you are being booked.
For law enforcement officials, mugshots serve a valuable purpose. For everyday people, however, these photos can be extremely problematic. The Internet has made it easier than ever to access photos like these. That means that your mugshot could easily appear online anytime someone searches for your name. This can influence how people see you and can affect everything from your relationships to your ability to get a job. Fortunately, there are some steps that you can take to minimize the impact of your mugshot.
Understanding The Effects Of Mugshots
If your mugshot shows up whenever people search for you online, it can negatively impact your life in many different ways.
Tabloids And Other Sensational Media Outlets Frequently Publish Mugshots
People are naturally curious about the misfortunes of others. Tabloids and other trashy publications often showcase mugshots of everyday people along with details of their arrests. In many cases, the full name of each individual is published along with their mugshot.
The police are also responsible for a large number of these photos showing up online. Many small police departments have Facebook pages where they publish mugshots of perpetrators. Posts like these often include the name, age, and arrest details for the individual.
When someone searches for another person online, mugshots like these can easily come up in the search results. If they do here is a good guide on how to remove a mugshot from Google.
This has become such a huge problem over the years that major media outlets like NBC, Fortune, and CNN have all published content about it in the past. If your mugshot comes up at the top of the search results when people type your name into one of the major search engines, it can have a huge negative impact on your life. Not only are sites that publish mugshots like these embarrassing but they also can make it hard for you to meet new people.
Your Mugshot Can Harm Your Career And Can Ruin Your Chances Of Getting Hired
Researchers at CareerBuilder found that approximately 70% of companies search online for the names of applicants to prescreen them before hiring them. If anything negative comes up in the search results for a particular candidate, they usually will be rejected. This poses a major problem for individuals who have mugshots published online – particularly if the mugshot shows up at the top of the search results.
The Brennan Center for Justice found that there are approximately the same number of individuals who have criminal convictions on their record as there are people who have four-year degrees in the United States. That means that mugshots could be ruining the lives of many individuals throughout the US.
You Don’t Have To Have A Criminal Record To Be Negatively Affected By A Mugshot
In certain states, juvenile records are automatically sealed. This is to keep mistakes that people made in their youth from impacting their ability to go on and live productive lives. Unfortunately, law enforcement officials sometimes publish mugshots online. If this happens to you, your mugshot can be discovered even if you don’t officially have an arrest record. Having your mugshot removed can be quite expensive, regardless of whether or not you actually have a criminal history.
