Are mugshots public record?

Are Mugshots Public Record? Is There Any Way to Remove Mugshots?

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If you have ever been arrested, at some time you are sure to be asking “are mugshots public record?”

At best, a mugshot online is an embarrassing reminder of a past mistake. At their worst, mugshots online punish people from crimes they never committed. Even after you have served your sentence, even after your charges have been dropped, even after you have been exonerated, your mugshot stays online to keep on punishing you.

What makes online mugshots such an important question to millions of people?

Many former convicts and arrestees find that having their mugshots on the Internet poisons job opportunities. It’s hard enough to get a job with a gap in your job history. It’s nearly impossible to get a job, many aspiring applicants discover, when your mugshot is online.

Mugshots aren’t just a hurdle to finding a new job. They discourage new social connections. They can be a source of endless embarrassment if the booking camera caught you with an unusual facial expression and your mugshot becomes a meme.

Your mugshot never catches you at your best. Maybe your hair and your clothes are disheveled. Maybe you have red eyes from crying, or you look a little drunk or drugged out. You could have a black eye. Or your reaction to the embarrassment of having your photo taken could have been an addled grin.

Every year, the Prison Policy Initiative tells us, 600 hundred thousand Americans are booked into the nation’s 80 Native American Nation jails, 110 federal prisons,2 18 immigration detention centers, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 1,833 state prisons, and 3,134 local jails as well as into state psychiatric hospitals,civil commitment centers, military prisons, and corrections facilities in the U.S. territories. Each and every prisoner gets a new mugshot.

The bigger picture is that 10.6 million Americans annually are booked into holding on criminal charges. These are people who have not yet been found guilty of any crime. Most of them will make bail or be granted personal reconnaissance and released. Sometimes their charges will be dropped. Sometimes their charges will be handled with a deferred adjudication agreement that eventually erases the defendant’s criminal record.

Only about 1.6% of the millions of Americans who are forced to pose for a mugshot every year will be convicted of a crime and incarcerated as a result. But every one of those 10.6 million people will have a mugshot that state and federal laws allow to go online.

People of color have special problems with mugshots. Black people are arrested at a rate five times higher than white people, according to ABC News. A survey by the Fusion Channel on Univision found that 74% of Spanish-language newspapers publish mugshots.

There is little doubt that mugshots of people of color, no matter whether they are published in print or online, reinforce biases against them.

“People of color are already more likely to be found guilty at trial than their white counterparts,” said director of U.S. incarceration programs for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture Johnny Perez. “Anytime a mugshot is made public existing biases are reaffirmed and new biases are created where none existed before. They create this situation where people are criminalized before the facts are known,” he told the Marshall Project.

Countless newspapers post mugshots of people who are arrested in sting operations, especially those involving soliciting prostitution. In an era when fewer and fewer people buy print copies of the daily paper and more and more people get most of their news from social media, posting mugshots stimulates circulation of the printed paper and increases clicks on their website. And the obvious solution to the problem is usually an expensive exercise in futility.

Lawyers aren’t the answer when your mugshot shows up online.

Lawyers have many tools for addressing your criminal record. Here are a few of the most common legal tools for attempting to remove an arrest or conviction from public records.

Orders of Expunction

Expunction is the legal process of “expunging” something. Expunction deletes it, removes it, crosses it out.

Expunction is also known as expungement. Expunction is most commonly applied to criminal records, but there are also instances it is used on credit reports.

In theory, you don’t absolutely need an attorney to get your criminal record expunged. You would need to fill out an application on an application form, or file a petition with the court with jurisdiction over your arrest (if you were never tried) or your trial (if your case went to trial), in the appropriate legal language, with the right clerk, with an application fee.

Then, depending on where you live, you might have to hire a process server to deliver these carefully filled-out paperwork to the county attorney or district attorney who was in charge of your case, or their successor in office. You may need to prepare the actual Order of Expungement to be filled out by the judge.

The judge may require you to present your case in court to explain why your record should be expunged. Some states have automatic expungements for certain classes of crimes, but you can be required to cite the applicable law to the judge, as if the judge didn’t know it, and you need to be able to explain how your charge or conviction fits into the category covered by the law.

Once you get your expunction, then you must arrange for the judge’s order to be served on all the offices that maintain records of your arrest and/or trial. And sometimes the prosecuting attorney can raise an objection that shoots down all your progress.

Some persistent people get expungements of arrests and convictions on their own. Most people need to pay an attorney a few thousand dollars to get everything done procedurally right.

Habeas corpus

It’s also possible to get the court records of your arrest and conviction removed by an order of habeas corpus. It’s your constitutional right. Section 9, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution says, “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

Over the last 150 years, the right to a writ of habeas corpus has been extended to courts regulated by the states.

You may have a right to seek a writ of habeas corpus for crimes and accusations of crimes that do not involve national security if:

  • A mistake was made by the court during your trial,
  • Your attorney objected to that mistake during your trial, and
  • The mistake contributed to your being found guilty.

Getting a writ of habeas corpus is never a do-it-yourself proposition. You’ll need an attorney, and you will pay a substantial fee, usually in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Here’s some bad news. Even if you go through expungement or habeas corpus, you won’t have an answer to “Are mugshots public record?”

Let’s say you jump all the legal hurdles and get your public record cleared. These time-consuming, nerve-wracking, budget-busting legal actions don’t get your mugshots off the Internet. You won’t ever have to identify yourself as someone who has been arrested and convicted for that crime, but your photo will still be out there on countless websites.

But why are mugshots public record? Don’t they have to remove my mugshot once I’ve done my time?

It seems only fair that people convicted of crimes who have served their sentences shouldn’t be further penalized by having their intake photographs online. Mugshots just extend the punishment for the deed after you’ve completed your sentence from the court. It just doesn’t seem fair.

Employers take a different view of this issue. Certain kinds of jobs require careful scrutiny of the job applicant’s past for hints of criminality.

Even in the 13 states and numerous cities and countries with “ban the box” laws that prohibit asking about criminal history on a job application (usually just for government jobs), all it takes is a simple online search for a potential employer to relegate your application to the rejected pile.

That’s true even if you weren’t ever convicted of a crime, as long as your mugshot is online. Even if your criminal record has been sealed, expunged or statutorily eradicated, an online mugshot

And once your mugshot is online, there will always be people who just want to cause you trouble.

The legal reality is that your mugshot is made public in part because jails and prisons and other sites of incarceration are bound by our Constitution to honor the previously mentioned principle of habeas corpus.

A jail legally can’t hold you indefinitely (which isn’t to say it never happens) without letting the public know where you are. Mugshots are made public record so no one who has been accused and arrested for a crime gets lost in the system.

The fact that the jail or prison makes your mugshot publicly available is not about your constitutional right to be treated as innocent until you are proven guilty. It’s about your constitutional right not to be held indefinitely without a charge.

The fact that newspapers and other websites make your mugshot publicly available, however, is about increasing their bottom line. Laws that before the Internet were designed to protect you have been turned upside down to cause you harm. Fortunately, there is a way to get your mugshots off the Internet.

Mugshot removal can be as easy as 1-2-3.

The simple way to get your mugshots taken offline is to let RemoveMugshots.com do all the work for you. The sites that post your mugshot post them to make money. That means that they are using your private property — your image — to increase their profits without paying you.

And they have no intention of paying you.

RemoveMugshots.com finds every website that posts your mugshot. They demand justice for the use of your image. And when faced with the legal reality of substantial commercial liability, these websites take down your mugshot, usually within 72 hours.

It takes about another 48 hours to get your mugshot out of Internet search results.

Don’t let some attorney discourage you from getting your mugshots off the Internet the easy way. The same lawyers who will charge you thousands of dollars for getting an order of expungement will tell you that mugshot removal services are scandalously expensive.

You don’t have to stay up at night worrying “Are mugshots public record?”

Contact us for a free estimate of the cost of getting your mugshot off the Internet. Your new reputation may be just a week away.

We provide fast, permanent Georgia inmate mugshots removal.

Removing Georgia Inmate Mugshots: What You Need to Know

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The worst happens: you’ve been arrested. While you’re likely stressed out dealing with court fees and other ramifications of your arrest, it can also be tough to move forward knowing that Georgia inmate mugshots and arrest records may be available to people who search for you online.

It’s easy enough for anyone to look up mugshots online in the state of Georgia. Sadly, many businesses attempt to profit from publicizing mugshots, in hopes that the person in the photo will pay an exorbitant amount of money to have the mugshot removed.

Many websites make it tough to actually have the mugshot photo (and corresponding arrest record) removed. People who want their mugshots to be taken down have to jump through hoops and may have to pay several fees.

This isn’t a one-and-done process. Mugshots often appear on multiple sites, and people who want them remove find that they’re repeatedly paying the same fees, and going through the same time-consuming processes, on multiple mugshot sites.

The process of figuring out how to get a mugshot removed isn’t just tedious — it can also be stressful. Having a mugshot floating around online can make it hard to find a job, or even participate in social situations without wondering if a person has researched you before and has awareness of your history.

Thankfully, you don’t have to go through life constantly worried that someone has found your mugshot. Whether you’ve committed the crime you were charged with or not, you shouldn’t have to live your life in fear that others have preconceived notions of you that prevent you from moving forward. There are ways to have your mugshot removed so that you can get on with your life, no matter what your past has entailed.

How Can a Public Mugshot Affect Your Life?

You’ve moved on with your life after being arrested, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else will do the same. There are many ways that a public mugshot can affect your life, including:

Employment struggles — Even if you weren’t convicted of a crime after your arrest, having a mugshot floating around online can still affect future employment. Most businesses search for potential new employees online before making a job offer. Seeing that you’ve been arrested — even if you didn’t commit the crime — can create worry that you’ll tarnish the image of the company.

This also creates the constant question of whether you should be upfront and reveal your past during an interview, or wait and hope that the company simply doesn’t come across your Georgia inmate mugshots.

Relationship problems — We’ve all been there: before going on a date or meeting up with a new friend, it’s normal to want to get some more information about someone you don’t know well. Having a mugshot floating around online can make it nearly impossible to engage in social situations with new friends or romantic prospects.

Even if you didn’t commit the crime for which you were arrested, or if you’ve paid your dues and have put the past behind you, it can be hard to convince others that you’re trustworthy and safe.

Problems renting an apartment — Landlords want to know that they’re renting to reliable tenants. Many states allow landlords to reject potential tenants based on criminal records. If you have Georgia inmate mugshots on the internet, it’s natural to assume that a landlord will see the mugshot while deciding whether to offer you a lease.

In many states, it’s illegal to deny someone a lease due to an arrest without a conviction, but it may be tough for a landlord to form a positive impression of you after viewing your mugshot online.

Issues getting a loan — Lenders are prohibited from discriminating against potential borrowers for many reasons, including on the basis of gender, race, and religion. Lenders are permitted to refuse a loan based on criminal history. Some lenders run a full background check before providing a loan, while others may simply search the internet to get some information on whether you’re trustworthy.

If the first thing a lender sees when they search for you is your mugshot, the odds are high that they’ll deny your loan application.

Removing Georgia Inmate Mugshots: Two Options

When you decide that you’d like to take steps to have your Georgia inmate mugshots removed, you have a few options. You can work to go through the mugshot removal process yourself, or you can work with a company that specializes in mugshot removal.

Remove Georgia Inmate Mugshots Yourself

Some states, including Georgia, prohibit third-party entities from charging people who want to have their mugshots removed. The law in Georgia states that mugshot companies must remove mugshots within 30 days of receipt of a written request to have the photo removed.

If you decide that you’d like to go through the process of having your Georgia inmate mugshots removed on your own, the first step is finding all the locations in which your mugshot has been published.

This can be difficult, as mugshot businesses are extremely lucrative, and new websites pop up regularly. It’s a good idea to search for your mugshot regularly so that you can stay on top of all the locations in which it’s been published.

For each website, you’ll need to write a letter to the webmaster asking that your photo be removed from the site. Be sure to keep copies of each letter. You may also want to reach out to the site owner to explain the situation. Sometimes, this is enough to have your photo removed, but often, it takes more work than a letter to get the site to comply.

Another option is to go through the legal process of getting your case expunged or sealed. While this process can be time-consuming and expensive, it can render your Georgia inmate mugshots irrelevant.

In order to get your case sealed or expunged, you’ll likely need to work with an attorney to petition the court. After your record has been expunged or sealed, send a copy of the paperwork to the website that has published your mugshot.

No matter what route you choose to go to begin the process of having your mugshot removed from the internet, you may need to work with a lawyer to help the process go smoothly. Often, companies respond far more quickly to requests from lawyers than requests from people asking that their mugshots be removed.

Work With A Professional Company For Mugshot Removal

A simpler option is to work with a company that can take care of the removal process for you. A company that works specifically to remove Georgia inmate mugshots can take care of all the steps listed above, allowing you to go on with your life while you have a team working tirelessly to keep your reputation clean.

When you work with a professional mugshot removal company, you won’t have to worry that you missed something, or that a company won’t respond to your request to take a mugshot down. The company will take care of this for you.

Companies that work to professionally remove mugshots often have relationships with the entities that post mugshots online, creating a faster, smoother process than if you were to try to reach out to these companies on your own.

The Bottom Line

If you’ve been arrested and your mugshot has been posted online, your life isn’t over. It can feel daunting to take on the task of refurbishing your reputation, but you don’t have to go it alone.

Our takeaways on what you need to know when it comes to getting your Georgia inmate mugshots removed:

  • Keep your eye on the prize. Know why it’s so important that you clear up your reputation. From relationships to loans to renting a property, you don’t want someone’s first impression of you to be your mugshot.
  • Posting mugshots online is a business. Companies that post pictures make money both from ad revenue and from people who are willing to pay to have their mugshot taken down. In Georgia, it’s illegal for companies to ask for money to take down your mugshot, so it’s important that you don’t give in to requests to pay to have your mugshot removed.
  • You can work to have mugshots removed on your own. You can write to companies directly, work to have your record sealed or expunged, or work with a lawyer who can reach out to companies on your behalf and request that mugshots be removed.
  • You can also work with a company that specializes in the removal of Georgia inmate mugshots from for-profit websites. This can give you peace of mind that your reputation is handled by professionals.

Need Your Georgia Mugshot Removed? We Can Help.

If you’ve been arrested, and you have a Georgia inmates mugshot floating around the internet, you’re not alone. Your past doesn’t define you, and you shouldn’t have to live in fear that an employer or social acquaintance will come across your mugshot while browsing the web.

We’re here to help.

At RemoveMugshots, we know how important it is for you to get your mugshot removed from the internet so that you’re able to move forward with your life. It can be tough to stay on top of all the websites publicizing your mugshot, and we can help track them down and get them removed.

Contact us to start the Georgia inmate mugshots removal process today. We know that time is of the essence, and we’ll work with you to get the job done fast.

Bustedmugshots.com removal is possible! Learn more today!

Is Bustedmugshots.com Removal Possible?

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If you’ve landed yourself in trouble with the law, chances are your mugshot appears online. A company like BustedMugshots.com displays relevant and up-to-date reports of arrests for the benefit of the wider community. If you have been arrested and see your mugshot on their website, with the proper legal documents that outline a dismissal or expungement, they will remove the information nine times out of ten. You will find bustedmugshots.com removal will not apply to those convicted of serious violent crimes or sex crimes.

Everyone deserves a second chance, especially if the arrest and corresponding mugshot is due to a lapse in judgment.

You may not realize it is possible to remove all traces of your mugshot and arrest record from the internet. You can pay to remove a mugshot one at a time, but this becomes expensive and frustrating.

Just as you have one mugshot removed, another one appears that’s buried deeper online.

Following are some common questions and answers people ask about bustedmugshots.com removal.

What Happens After an Arrest?

What happens after an arrest? Your mugshot and records are kept for life according to the county, state, and federal laws.

Fortunately, for the wider community’s safety, websites like bustedmugshots.com allow people to enter the name of a person they are interested in to find out any details of a possible arrest.

How Is This Helpful?

By providing details of an arrest, bustedmugshots.com is helpful to the general public because they can find out if a crime has taken place in their community. This service also allows potential employers to search if a candidate has a previous criminal record and, if so, how serious was the crime?

It also protects families by finding out if they live near a registered sex offender or violent criminals.

What is a Mugshot?

Whether you are arrested for a serious crime like murder or a simple speeding ticket, you will be booked for the crime. As part of the booking process, the police will take a photo of you – commonly known as a mugshot.

The mugshot will typically show a full-length front-on view, a profile, and a close-up photo from the waist up.

Why do Companies Specialize in Publishing Arrest Records?

Companies specialize in the publication of mugshots for transparency and because it’s legal in some states. This means that a mugshot can be available online within 24 hours of an arrest.

Many parents, employers, and other citizens feel it is their right to know who their neighbors are and who they are employing to ensure their family’s safety and the safety of the workplace.

What are the Ramifications of Having a Mugshot Published Online?

An arrest doesn’t always translate into a conviction, and publishing an arrest record and mugshot can be damaging to a person’s reputation even if found not guilty. A person could lose their job or be prevented from finding another job should an employer request a search for prior arrests.

The arrest record or mugshot could appear online even if the case was dropped or found not guilty.

Do any States Prevent the Publication of Mugshots?

Currently, twelve states in the US have enacted laws preventing the publication of arrest details and mugshots. Some states also prevent companies charging to take the mugshots down off the internet.

These states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

How Can I Get My Bustedmugshots.com Mugshot Removed?

The best way to get a mugshot removed is to pay for it. Some companies specialize in this service. If you wish to have these records taken down, it’s best to contact a company that is located in the State where the arrest took place.

With bustedmugshots.com removal, you can contact them directly for your mugshot to be removed, especially if you have grounds for removal. Grounds for removal can include a case that was dismissed, when a person is found not guilty, and in the case where records are sealed or expunged.

How do Companies Obtain Arrest Records?

Companies like bustedmugshots.com obtain this information through the Freedom of Information Act. This allows them to publish this information online, as can the mainstream media. You can ask for this information to be removed; it’s not a right, only a request.

Can an Attorney Remove Mugshots Online?

They can, at a cost, which in many cases is prohibitive for the average person. By the time you pay an attorney their billable hours, you are better off paying a company that specializes in mugshot removal online.

Often attorneys outsource the removal of a mugshot to specialist companies as it saves them time and money. Then they bill you with added fees so that they make money as well.

My Record Was Expunged and Sealed. Can Sites Still Publish my Mugshot?

The simple answer is yes. When a record is expunged, it applies to official government agencies and their records only. This is not the case for the private or commercial sector. There are currently no statutes in place for when mugshots can or can’t be posted unless prohibited by law.

A website is not obligated to accept expungements. Quite often you will find websites that publish mugshots online are offshore, therefore, do not operate with the laws of the US anyway.

How Does Mugshot Removal Work?

A company that specializes in the removal of mugshots has access to hundreds of different mugshots companies online. When contracted to remove mugshots, they search these databases to see what sites have published that person’s arrest records online.

Once they have identified where the mugshots and arrest records appear, they then work to remove the information.

A company that is good at removing arrest information online removes the information from the identified websites and removes all the associated links on Google, Bing, and Yahoo as well. This can happen within 72 hours or less, depending on the complexity.

Most of these mugshot removal companies offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If the mugshot were to reappear, they would remove the links for free.

How Much Does it Cost To Remove Mugshots?

It can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on the removal process complexity. The costs would be estimated by the number of arrests and the number of sites publishing the information.

You would need to get a quote to remove mugshots accordingly. Most companies offering a remove mugshot service will provide you with a free estimate.

Can I Get my Mugshot Removed Myself?

You can if you don’t want to pay someone to get your arrest details and mugshot removed. It can be a long and protracted process.

To remove a mugshot online means going to the source – usually the webmaster. They might agree to remove your details if you are lucky. The other option is to find out who owns the website through ICANN or WHOIS and explain your situation.

Just send through the relevant documentation; if your case is sealed, expunged, you were found not guilty, or the case was dropped, they may remove the information for free.

How Can I Remove a Mugshot from BustedMugshots.com

The process is the same for removing a mugshot from bustedmugshots.com as any other site that published arrest details online. In the first instance, contact them directly and provide details of the arrest and the outcome by providing the relevant documentation.

How to Remove Mugshots From Google?

You can also request to get mugshots removed from Google for free with a little work on your part. To have your mugshot removed from Google, provide them with your name, email, or URL and website with the mugshot, along with details of the city and state where the arrest occurred.

How Can I get my Mugshot Removed for Free?

The most effective way to remove mugshots for free is to provide the relevant documentation related to the most common grounds for removal and directly contact the website. Make sure your approach is polite and non-threatening – they are far more likely to consider your request.

What are the Common Grounds for Removal?

Some websites will remove mugshots for free for the following reasons:

  • Information sealed
  • Expungement
  • Identity theft
  • A not-guilty verdict
  • Dismissal of the case
  • Acquitted or exonerated
  • Pardoned
  • Death

What Sites Will Facilitate a Bustedmugshots.com Removal?

One of the most common sites that will facilitate the removal of a mugshot is Arrests.org. Simply fill in your name and the state where you were arrested. It will take you to a contact page where you can submit your inquiry.

You will find a “remove record” button in the upper right-hand corner of some of the pages where they have posted the mugshot.

If you don’t see a link or button on the page where your mugshot appears, that means the page won’t be found on Google. If you do see the link or button, they provide steps on the contact page to submit the request and upload relevant documentation.

How Can I Minimize the Damage?

The other thing you can do is use a reputation management company specializing in restoring a person’s reputation online. Consistently adding new articles and recent photos to the internet – can make your mugshot and arrest records get buried further down the pages in a search engine.

This is a longer-term strategy using the frequency of blog articles on a variety of social media platforms. Statistically, 75% of people don’t go beyond the first page of a search.

Get Your Bustedmugshots.com Removal Solution Today

Having your arrest details and mugshot posted online doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the world. Keep in mind; there are no guarantees; however, if this is affecting your ability to keep a job, get a new job, or it affects your relationships, you might consider paying someone to remove it.


In many cases, when it comes to bustedmugshots.com removal, the company will answer any questions you might have. If you have any concerns regarding the removal of a mugshot appearing on bustedmugshots.com, contact them directly to plead your case.

Need help with Bustedmugshots.com removal? Contact Our Mugshot Removal Experts today!

What is the Georgia mugshot law? Here's all you need to know.

Georgia Mugshot Law 101: Here’s What You Need to Know

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If you’ve been arrested for any reason and your mugshot is online, it can hurt your reputation. It could make it hard for you to find a job or cause other personal and financial ramifications. Maybe you’re wondering if Georgia mugshot law allows other people to access your arrest records and personal information regarding the case.

According to an annual report from the Georgia Department of Public Safety, every year, there are approximately 300,000 arrests throughout the state. The truth is mugshots and arrest records are available to the public so employers and others can conduct a background check when needed.

But what are your rights?

What if you were wrongly accused or didn’t receive a conviction for committing a crime, yet your mugshot remains online? If you’re wondering about Georgia mugshot law and what you can do to protect your privacy, here’s what you need to know.

Are Mugshots Available for Anyone to See Online?

When you get arrested, you generally go through booking before anything else happens. The officer records biographical information, including taking your fingerprints and your photograph, AKA your mugshot.

The Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) houses all the state’s arrest records and arrestee data, including mugshots. In compliance with the Georgia Open Records Act, the Georgia mugshot law categorizes mugshots and other arrest information as public records.

And it’s all available to citizens upon request.

How Can You Find a Mugshot?

There are various ways to find a mugshot online. One of the most convenient ways is to conduct an online public records search. You can also pay a company a fee to search your arrest records and find out what other vital information there is about you online.

Some places you can search for free include:

  • The state department of corrections website
  • State sex offender registry
  • Local sheriff and police department websites
  • The Federal Bureau of Prisons website

Public records are updated daily with the arresting officers’ reports, including the reason for the arrest, the date of arrest, and the court ruling and related charges. Since arrest records are public domain, you can find everything from mugshots to return criminal records and more.

Does Georgia Mugshot Law Make It Legal to Post Mugshots?

A decade ago, commercial mugshot aggregating sites found it easy to profit from exploiting mugshots to make a profit. That changed in 2013 with new legislation prohibiting collecting fees for removing certain mugshots from a website.

While it is legal to post mugshots online, Ga. Code. Ann. §35-1-18 prohibits law enforcement from publishing mugshots except as required by law. It also requires commercial websites to remove the information upon written request when the person meets certain criteria.

That means commercial websites must take down all the information they publish about you, including mugshot, your name, birthday, and arrest date. And they must remove the information within 30 days at no charge.

How Can Georgia Mugshot Law Help You Remove Your Mugshot?

While potential employers, among others, have a right to know if someone is a sex-offender or a convicted felon, Georgia mugshot law also recognizes that innocent citizens should be able to request the removal of their mugshots from public records.

Removal requires a written request that includes your name, birthday, arrest date, and the arresting officer or agency’s name. Send the information to the company via certified mail with a return receipt requested. You may want to include a copy of the court’s final disposition, but it’s not a requirement.

If the company doesn’t comply within 30 days, you can file a complaint with the Georgia Department of Law’s Consumer Protection Division.

What Are the Categories for Free Mugshot Removal?

If your arrest is eligible or is restricted, you can request the removal of the mugshot and accompanying information. The following categories qualify for eligibility for free removal.

  1. According to Code Section 35-3-37, there’s restricted access to your case.
  2. The arresting law enforcement agency never referred the case for further prosecution, and the case was closed before the indictment.
  3. The statute of limitations expired before indictment.
  4. Before the indictment, accusation, or other charges, your case was referred to the prosecuting attorney and later dismissed.
  5. Before the indictment, accusation, or other charges, the grand jury returned two no bills.
  6. There was a dismissal or “nolle pros” on all charges after indictment or accusation.
  7. You completed the terms and conditions of your probation when found guilty of possession of a narcotic drug and sentenced with the provisions of Code Section 16-13-2.
  8. You were acquitted of all the charges by a judge or jury.

Georgia has two laws to help prevent residents from becoming victims of exploitation because of their mugshot. Code 10-393.5 requires mugshot companies to remove any eligible arrest images as noted by the above guidelines, and they must remove the image within 30 days of receiving a written request. If not, the website will face civil and criminal penalties.

Should You Pay to Remove a Mugshot?

Georgia’s second law explicitly states that companies cannot access mugshots to publish and then charge a fee to remove them. The thing is, removing your mugshot online can potentially mean contacting many websites. You might want to pay a company to take care of locating and assisting you in contacting the websites that published your mugshot.

Since mugshot images are in a searchable database, there’s no limit to who could publish them. To that end, you’ll need to search Google, Yahoo, Bing and continue monitoring those results to find out if your mugshot is showing up on search engines. Additionally, you’ll want to scour the well-known mugshot sites, such as Mugshots.com, Arrests.org, and Rapsheets.org, to name a few.

Do You Want to Do It Yourself?

You can do it yourself, contact the website owners via email or by phone, and follow up with a written request to remove the information. They are required to do it for free as long as your arrest meets the criteria. Be aware that there are some mugshots that publication websites won’t remove, such as guilty verdicts for murder, violent domestic abuse, rape, and kidnap.

The bottom line is that depending on the other information people find about you online, mugshots can further damage your reputation. Ultimately, you might want to take a more thorough approach.

Is It Time to Clean up Your Internet Reputation?

Today, it’s essential to protect your online reputation. Employers, creditors, and others can find out everything they need to know through an online search. That’s why maintaining a positive reputation online starts with your search results to find out if your mugshot or other negative information shows up.

Mugshots are specifically for victims and law enforcement to help identify criminal suspects. However, arrest records and mugshots are in the public domain and available online for background checks. Georgia mugshot law ensures that you can request to remove arrest information that meets the criteria, and those websites will have to comply.

But you have to continually monitor the results to ensure the mugshots don’t pop up again somewhere else.

Should You Hire Professionals to Manage Your Online Reputation?

You can hire a reputation management company to help find and contact the websites that need addressing to remove your mugshot. Professionals offer a comprehensive removal solution to protect your privacy and manage your reputation online that goes beyond removing mugshots.

A company such as Remove Mugshots will focus on removing harmful information from over fifty background checking sites. Additionally, an online reputation management company can help fix negative search results, in general, that stand to damage your reputation.

With a service like this, you can achieve a positive web presence to clean up your reputation and land your dream job in a few short weeks.

Improve Your Internet Reputation

Whether you need to remove a mugshot or fix negative results on search engines, our reputation management experts at RemoveMugshots.com can help rebuild a more positive search presence. Some of our services include:

  • Mugshots and criminal records removal from search engines
  • Personal and private information removal from people-search-sites
  • Suppress negative search results for your name
  • Delete photos on social media that give the wrong image
  • Monitor and optimize your online presence
  • Grow your online image with new websites and social profiles

If you need to remove mugshots and clean up your online reputation, we can help. Contact RemoveMugshots.com today to get started.

We offer the best mugshot removal service in the industry!

All About the Best Mugshot Removal Service

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People make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes lead to arrest and that dreadful mugshot that eventually gets posted online. What is the best mugshot removal service that will help you get rid of your mugshot on the internet?

What is a Mugshot?

When you are arrested, whether the charge is something like speeding or something more serious like murder, one of the first things to happen is that you are booked. During the booking process, an officer will take your mugshot.

The mugshot first originated in the 1880s, when Alphonse Bertillon, a French police officer, invented the practice. We’ve all seen a mug shot. Heck, we’ve all probably laughed at a celebrity mugshot or two over the years.

These mugshot pictures typically show a frontal view, profile view and closeup view of a suspect from the waist up. They are usually taken with a plain background and are most often very unflattering, showing the subject at their worst.

The Business of Mugshots

Technology improved from those first mugshots taken in the late 1800s, and so did public access to mug shots. Now, with social media, mugshots are available nearly instantly on the internet. There are numerous websites devoted just to publishing mugshots. Several of these sites publish the mugshots and then charge people to have their images removed.

While this sounds like a shady practice, in most states it is totally legal and extremely lucrative. Sites often post the pictures and then charge people to take them down.

Different states have different laws controlling public access to criminal records, but many make mug shots publicly available almost instantly. This means that your mugshot could be online less than 24 hours after your arrest. If it is out there, can you get it taken down? If so, what is the best mugshot removal service?

To the concerned citizen, it may seem like posting mugshots on the internet might seem like a great idea. The pinnacle of free speech if you will. However, an arrest is not the same thing as a conviction.

Even if you are arrested, you might not ever be charged with a crime, or your case could be dropped. The release or posting of your mugshot to the internet might mean that you lose your job or have damage to your reputation. It could even hurt you during the college admissions process.

States React to Publishing Mugshots Online

The debate over whether publicly posting mugshots on the internet is akin to free speech or extortion is heavily contested. There are great arguments on both sides of the issue.

Now, there are at least twelve states that have enacted laws prohibiting publishing mug shots online and prohibit charging to take the photos down. They include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

There was even a recent class-action lawsuit claiming that Buck County’s Inmate LookUp Tool violated the privacy of 68,000 plaintiffs who were processed at the jail from 1938 to 2013 and whose information was posted online between 2011 and 2013.

The lawsuit found that Bucks County, Pennsylvania violated the state’s Criminal History Record Information Act by posting information and mugshots online about inmates. As a result of the settlement, eligible class members will receive about $600 each from the $10 million that will be paid out in the lawsuit.

In other states, where there aren’t laws prohibiting mugshots from becoming public records, companies often scramble to post mugshots online for all to see. They make money by charging people to remove the mugshots from the internet. You can contact the best mugshot removal service to get the picture taken off the internet or you can try to do it by yourself.

Best Mugshot Removal Service

Pay Someone to Remove it

The first option to get your mugshot off the internet is to pay someone to remove it. There are many online mugshot removal services to choose from but what is the best mugshot removal service? Think about using a mugshot removal service located in the State in which you were arrested.

When you employ one of these services, expect the cost for the best mugshot removal service to range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on how many websites published the mugshot.

Do it Yourself

If you don’t want to or can’t afford to pay a service to remove your mugshot from the internet, you can always go about it yourself. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

  • Contact the webmaster

Sometimes the best way to handle a problem is to go directly to the source. Contact the webmaster of the website that posted your mugshot by using their contact page. You may get lucky and the site may agree to remove your mugshot from the website.

You can also find out who owns the websites by going to ICANN or WHOIS to look up the site owner. Contact the site owner, explain the situation, and provide as much documentation as possible.

  • Get case sealed or expunged

If you get your case sealed or expunged, it may not be necessary to pay someone to remove your mugshot. It might actually be free.

Getting a case sealed or expunged is a legal process. The process requires that the crime you committed (or were arrested for) fall in a narrow list of expungable cases, often including minor drug offenses and non-violent crimes.

Usually, you have to file a petition with the court to get the case expunged or sealed. There may also be a requirement that a certain amount of time has passed since your arrest or conviction in which you have not garnered additional criminal offenses.

Once you are successful in getting the case sealed or expunged, you can obtain a copy of your order of expungement and send it directly to the source, demanding that they remove the mugshot from their database.

  • Post fresh content online

The internet works in mysterious ways. If you can post fresh content about yourself and pictures of yourself online, using your name exactly as it appears in your mugshot, you might be able to bury your mugshot down a few pages in a search engine. Try starting a blog and posting a few times a week or utilizing these websites:

  1. Facebook
  2. Pinterest
  3. WordPress
  4. YouTube
  5. LinkedIn
  6. Tumble
  7. Instagram

According to multiple sources, 75% of internet users don’t ever click on the second page of a search result. Therefore, if you can bury your mugshot down a page or so in a search result of your name, it is likely that many people will never see it.

The Takeaways

When your mugshot shows up online, it can affect every part of your life. Your ability to get a job, keep a job, or form new relationships. Merely being arrested does not mean that you have been charged with a crime. On the contrary, you can be arrested and never end up being charged with a crime.

Posting mugshots online is a big, lucrative business in a lot of states. Some people describe the process as extortion because companies post mugshots and then demand money for their removal. However, it isn’t illegal in many states.

If you are the victim of your mugshot being posted online, your world isn’t over. There are ways to have it removed or bury the information online. It will be up to you whether you want to pay a fee to have a mugshot removed from the internet or chose to go about it on your own.

Most of the time, paying a fee will result in the removal of the image but there are no guarantees. It might not be fast or painless, but there are solutions to the problem of your mugshot being posted online. When you are ready to find out the best mugshot removal service, contact us now.