Any chance I can get florida.arrests.org to take down a mugshot of me?

[KTTNMD]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Any chance I can get florida.arrests.org to take down a mugshot of me from over ten years ago (2000)?

I was convicted of the crime, a misdemeanor, and was 19 at the time.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Any chance I can get florida.arrests.org to take down a mugshot of me from over ten years ago (2000)?

I was convicted of the crime, a misdemeanor, and was 19 at the time.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

You can ask them, sure.

But it's unlikely that you can get a court to compel them to remove the mug-shot.

 

[KTTNMD]

I did just send a formal email.

If it's unlikely that I can get a court to compel them to remove my mug-shot, then that means there is still the possibility. If so, what are the legal circumstances? Libel, slander, defamation, or something else entirely? Can you also provide details of the process. Thanks.

 

[Proserpina]

I did just send a formal email.

If it's unlikely that I can get a court to compel them to remove my mug-shot, then that means there is still the possibility. If so, what are the legal circumstances? Libel, slander, defamation, or something else entirely? Can you also provide details of the process. Thanks.

...none of the above.

You were arrested and then convicted. Hence libel, slander and defamation are completely out of the window.

 

[The Occultist]

Defamation (which includes libel and slander) requires that whatever is being stated is FALSE. If what is being stated is true, then there is no defamation.

 

[quincy]

KTTNMD, you do not say whether you had the misdemeanor expunged from your criminal records. If the misdemeanor was a first offense, getting an expungement is something that you may wish to consider now, to help restrict any future public access to the conviction.

Unfortunately, having your misdemeanor expunged at this point in time will not help you get your mug shot removed from the site where it appears currently. Your best chance of getting the arrest records site to remove the mug shot is to appeal to them personally, as you have already done.

There was a rather interesting case decided recently by the New Jersey Supreme Court that relates to your concerns here, although in the New Jersey case the records being publicized were ones which had been previously expunged.

In the New Jersey case, "G.D." filed a defamation and invasion of privacy action against Bernard Kenny and the Hudson County Democratic Organization over political flyers that published the fact that G.D. had been convicted of a crime. This crime was one that G.D. had earlier expunged from his criminal records. Under the law and with an expungement, arrests, charges and convictions are deemed not to have occurred.

The New Jersey Supreme Court stated, however, that an expungement "does not transmute a once-true fact into a falsehood. It does not require the excision of records from the historical archives of newspapers or bound volumes of reported decisions or a personal diary. It cannot banish memories. It is not intended to create an Orwellian scheme whereby previously public information - long-maintained in official records - now becomes beyond the reach of public discourse on penalty of a defamation action. Although [New Jersey's] expungement statute generally permits a person whose record has been expunged to misrepresent his past, it doesn't alter the metaphysical truth of his past, nor does it impose a regime of silence on those who know the truth." (see G.D. v Bernard Kenny and the Hudson County Democratic Organization, A-3005-08T3, New Jersey, January 31, 2011)

In Florida, the applicable expungement statutes are found in 943.0585 through 943.059.

The best thing for anyone who wishes to have public access to an arrest or a charge or a conviction limited or restricted is to expunge these from their records as soon as it is legally possible to do so. Once the record has been publicly accessed and published, there is little a person can do to retrieve this information from where it has been published or have it deleted from the publications (although it is possible to have it removed from background check reports).

Good luck.

 

[KTTNMD]

Unfortunately, I cannot get it expunged. I looked into it several times over the years, but the misdemeanor the mugshot is from was a concomitant violation of probation for a previous misdemeanor (only other offense as adult; one as juvenile). Thus, I am ineligible for expungement.

 

[KTTNMD]

I read elsewhere that the image can be reproduced but it cannot be altered. Is this correct? I doubt it considering how many images one can find altered in media, but, if so, the first thing I found disturbing about my mugshot on their site is the aspect ratio. The image is squeezed horizontally, making my ugly mug look a thousand fold worse. Any thoughts?

 

[cyjeff]

I read elsewhere that the image can be reproduced but it cannot be altered. Is this correct? I doubt it considering how many images one can find altered in media, but, if so, the first thing I found disturbing about my mugshot on their site is the aspect ratio. The image is squeezed horizontally, making my ugly mug look a thousand fold worse. Any thoughts?

I would encourage any activity by the site that would make it harder to recognize the mug shot as my own... err... mug.

 

[KTTNMD]

Very true and I thought the same thing, but you could still recognize the compressed face as being mine.

 

[cyjeff]

Very true and I thought the same thing, but you could still recognize the compressed face as being mine.

There is, of course, a lesson here for everyone else that visits this site.

Even relatively minor infractions can have lifelong consequences. think twice.

 

[sandyclaus]

Very true and I thought the same thing, but you could still recognize the compressed face as being mine.

Then it appears you are stuck with it.

Moral of the story? If you can't afford the lasting reputation, then don't commit the crime. Criminal records, unless expunged, follow you around for life, and often pop up in the most inopportune and unexpected moments.

 

[KTTNMD]

There is, of course, a lesson here for everyone else that visits this site.

Even relatively minor infractions can have lifelong consequences. *think twice.

I contemplated this also, but the problem with this as a deterrent is that one can never fully grasp the distress and negative consequences it can create until long after it has already occurred to oneself. I think this is particularly true for someone who is young and particularly true in these rapidly changing times. I could not have predicted that my mugshot would become publicized by the sheriff's department on the internet, then easily [and legally; I would think this to be illegally] reposted by a third party, then easily found through a search engine. I have always had a vague understand that this sort of thing could be "public information", but never in the the sense that it could be found this easily (unless you are celebrity); always in the sense that you had to schlep over to the courthouse with identification to access this information. I was certainly wrong.

 

[KTTNMD]

Then it appears you are stuck with it.

I do believe I can safely assert that whether you can recognize my face and whether the image has been altered are two separate things.

 

[KTTNMD]

...none of the above.

You were arrested and then convicted. Hence libel, slander and defamation are completely out of the window.

I figured as much, hence the reason I questioned whether this might fall into a different category entirely. This subforum relating to defamation was the closest I could find.

Any non-defamation-related categories this could more effectively be argued under?