I’m in a minor state of shock after discovering a website maintained by the St. Petersburg Times, for they have managed to turn crime into a glossy web 2.0 application – their succinct, concise, data-intensive packaging of criminal mug shots is simply devastating. Devastating because it manages to commoditize something that, to me, is an issue between the police and the criminal. There is a tiny disclaimer that these people are innocent until proven guilty, but just appearing on a website like this implies guilt to those who view it. It seems extremely unnecessary and possibly unfair and damaging.
You can search by last name, by zip code, you can sort by county (Pinellas, Hillsborough, etc.), by gender, height, weight, etc. This is all publicly available information, but the way this website packages it is is something uniquely dehumanizing.
The first thing that surprised me is how many of the people look the same. Similar hair cuts, similar expressions, and those people are often convicted of similar things. Most of the people I picked out as “normal looking” were usually booked for DWI or possession of marijuana. Most of the people I picked out as looking like “thugs” or “hooligans” tended to be assault, battery, theft, grand theft, etc. I am surprised at how few Hispanic people are on the list – this is significant considering that Florida is a fairly Latino-heavy state. Hillsborough County is 18% Hispanic, but they certainly seem to make up only about 10% of the mug shots using my unscientific estimate.
Also, the way the counties are ranked is slightly deceptive – clearly, Pinellas and Hillsborough are much more populous than Manatee and Pasco County, but the bar graph makes it appear that crime is several times worse in those counties, even when their crime rates are only slightly worse.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at the fact that the plurality of offenders are 20-25 or so in age.
Here’s an example of someone that would frighten me:
Here’s someone who is named after an unreliable compact car from the early 80’s:
But that wasn’t Chevette’s first time in jail:
I don’t think traffic tickets are included on this page – if so, I would be scared, because I once forgot to pay a speeding ticket many years ago and would hate to think that I could potentially end up on a page like this.
I am no legal expert, but it seems like this kind of website should only feature those who have been proven guilty, at least for crimes below a certain level. I would imagine that a small percentage of these people are in fact innocent, and knowing that their careers, their reputation, or their dignity might suffer as a result of this kind of website leaves me depressed and even more cynical about the justice system.
