A bizarre phenomenon is sweeping the World Wide Web. The Internet-savvy population has recently found a new way of making money, this time at the expense of criminals.
Mugshots.com, and a variety of other similar websites, now capitalize on arrests, even relatively minor ones, by pulling mug shots off the public domain and posting them online. These sites are usually the first page to pop up on the results of a Google search, and in order to remove the pictures, individuals often have to pay hundreds of dollars. Because the mug shots are in the public domain, these websites are not technically illegal.
In order to combat this practice, Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center has decided to not publish the mug shots of its inmates in hopes of discouraging these questionable websites, a decision we support.
True, there are downsides to this decision. In cases of big crimes, it’s always good for civilians to have a face to match the criminal as a safety precaution for the future. However, the mug shots will still exist and be available for media and journalists by request.
As citizens and students who make mistakes, we understand being arrested on a small charge like underage drinking should not be a mistake that follows us around for the rest of our lives and makes it difficult to get a job if we can’t pay $400 to remove it from a Google search.
Perhaps other nearby counties, like Lexington and Fairfield, should adopt similar policies, too. The last thing we would want is to jeopardize people’s reputations irreversibly in the long run.
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