Hi everyone! I’m European. And lately, I have been wondering about “mugshots”. If I have understood correctly (but correct me if I’m wrong, that is why I am posting here: to learn!), whenever someone is arrested under the suspicion of some crime, mugshots are taken, and made publically available.
Is this true, or is this just an impression of mine? Can anyone just view the pics of people who have been arrested without being proven guilty?
Thanks in advance to anyone who cares to shed some light on this topic!
Much love to you all from Europe!
Memory <3
In: 331
> Can anyone just view the pics of people who have been arrested without being proven guilty?
Yep! The actions of the government in arresting people is public information, and in many states the photographs the state obtains are treated similarly.
As a European you are probably thinking something like “That is crazy, wouldn’t that lead to people being unfairly treated from the stigma of arrest?!” But you should understand that this legal norm is a reaction against the alternative common in Europe where arrests are not public knowledge.
So when someone gets arrested they just… disappear. What happened to Bob? Someone thinks he might be visiting his mother, someone else thinks he just skipped town, other people speculate that maybe it has something to due with him annoying the Mayor. Nobody really knows if he was charged with any crimes, or got a trial (fair or not). The government is free to just snatch up whoever they want and they vanish without a trace.
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