How To Find Your Mugshot

Last Updated on May 11, 2022 by Fair Punishment Team

If you have been arrested, then it can be a distressing experience. Having yourself carted off to a police station for questioning can have a profound effect on your mental and physical well-being. Once you have been arrested you will be taken to a police station for your mug shot to be taken.

If you need to find your mugshot later, either after you have been released or served your time in prison then it may feel difficult to find it and you might be cautious about searching for it.

This is why you should make sure that you know exactly how to find your mugshot quickly and easily so that you do not need to go through the mental distress of looking for your mugshot and not finding it. Luckily, this article sets out exactly how you can easily find your mugshot.

What Is The Purpose Of A Mug Shot?

Before we explain how you can find your mugshot, let’s explain why a mug shot is taken in the first place. Originally, mug shots were taken in order that someone who had been the victim of a crime or had witnessed a crime could identify the perpetrator without having to see them.

It also ensured that the police force would have a handy photograph of repeat offenders, meaning that they could be easily identified.

However, the purpose of a mug shot has changed over the years. Whilst mug shots are still used to identify someone who has been arrested for a crime in the same way that in certain circumstances fingerprints are taken of people who have been arrested of a particular crime, they are used for other things as well.

For example, they determine a person’s height and arm length and therefore can be useful in ensuring that someone’s height makes them eligible or ineligible for the crime that they are accused of committing.

Mug shots can also be useful for determining how a person was when they arrived in custody. Some prisons and federal agencies take mugshot images of prisoners throughout their stay in the chance that whilst they have been incarcerated their physical appearance has markedly changed or not.

In certain instances, a person’s physical features can have changed a great deal in between them entering prison and them leaving it so it is important that an accurate picture of an individual can be accessible.

How to find your mugshot?

The accessibility of mug shots differs across the United States. In some states you can easily find your mugshot through contacting your local Sheriff’s department or via your local state police records center.

If you contact the lawyer that represented you, they will likely be able to request a copy of your mugshot be sent to you. A mug shot will likely also be included in any criminal file the police have on you so if you request your file, you will almost certainly get your mugshot and any other information related to you held by the police.

However, different states have different rules relating to who they will release mug shots to, simply because of the epidemic of mugshot websites that have appeared in certain parts of the country.

The mass spread of sites which post people’s mugshots and state that they will only take them down if the person pays a certain fee has not only caused deep shame to many Americans but also hurt their bank balances. Mugshot sites have popped up all across the USA, however, many states have been slow to act to ensure their removal.

Multiple citizens have found themselves having to choose whether to pay off an anonymous extorter or risk your friends and family finding out you have your mugshot taken.

Most of these websites simply post the mugshot without detailing whether the individual was found innocent or guilty or even taken to trial at all. Most people in the United States have a mugshot taken when they are arrested but most of them are never sent to trial, meaning insinuations are made about a person when they have done nothing wrong.

Fortunately, some states have moved to ensure that these websites are illegal and have taken down the moment the authorities have been notified of their existence. Sadly, this is not a law that applies across the United States.

However, if you find yourself on such a website or receive communication from someone operating such a site then it is best to simply inform the authorities and request that they investigate what is essentially extortion.

Whilst you might feel it is better and easier to take the safe route and simply pay off the person who owns the sites in order to remove your mugshot, you won’t be helping other people in similar situations to yourself and simply allowing a criminal to continue to make money off the pain and shame of others.

Why Finding Your Mugshot Is Important

If you have had your mugshot taken at some time in your life then it can make you feel as if you are lacking in a certain amount of autonomy. That you have been arrested and simply becoming a part of a system, that you are no longer an individual.

Whether or not you were sent to trial for your accused crime or whether or not you were found guilty, a mug shot can have a long-lasting impact on a person’s psyche.

It can make them feel powerless and seeing their mugshot might give them a feeling of emotional distress. However, finding your mugshot and seeing it for yourself can also help you move forward with your life and away from a part of it you would rather forget.

If you see your mugshot first before it is then if it is posted on a mugshot extortion site, then you will not feel as emotional and be readier to simply ignore the demands for money.

Seeing your mugshot for yourself and being to see it as a picture of a time past and not a reflection of how you are now can truly make you grow as a person. So make sure to seek yours out today and cast any personal demons aside.