Is it screwed up that the US criminal justice system releases a suspect’s name & mugshots prior to convictions (or even trials?). Should this change?

[Anonymous]

This is specifically about the key suspect in the Idaho University quadruple murder incident. I am not going to say the suspect’s name. But Google if you want to know.

Anyway I got three major issues about law enforcement releasing a suspect’s identity and mugshot to the public. It’s realize it’s likely inevitable that their identity would come out anyway. But why the hell do the police have to release this information when there is no confession or conviction?

Here is why I think police should keep a suspect’s identity sealed until at least a criminal trial starts:

#1: You are supposed to be guilty until proven innocent. But mass media attention results in the opposite

The US justice system is supposedly based on fairness to prevent mob justice and witch hunts.

But given the advent of mass media & online communication everybody knows instantly about someone and quickly formulate their own opinion while making it near impossible for a suspect to tell their side of the story thoroughly.

There were also media reports on how the suspect supposedly acted aggressive & creepy towards female restaurant workers (but didn’t do anything criminal).

Seriously what the hell does that matter when there hasn’t been a trial yet for the suspect? It also poisons the well & makes juror selection much more difficult. Everybody knows who this guy is now making it more difficult for a juror to be impartial. But what if he’s innocent?

#2: Suspects gain infamy and attention which can result in copycats

Some deranged individuals seek attention no matter what. Making accused & convicted serial killers famous only makes this more morbidly enticing for psychos.

#3: The suspect’s family suffers greatly

I don’t blame innocent relatives of the criminal for the heinous (alleged) actions someone else committed. Especially when the suspect is a legal adult.

Why expedite this undeserved shame for the family by releasing a suspect’s full identity?

Anyway this really needs to change. Fuck the media.

Yes

No

Updates

1 y

Correction #1:

#1: You are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. But mass media attention results in the opposite.

Updates

1 y

If you disagree tell us why.

[WhiteSteve]

Yeah, I’m not sure how that works. I think it used to be that they didn’t show faces when there was “perp walk” footage shown on the news. Instead, they’d zoom in on their cuffed hands. Actually, the long form of the old Dukes Of Hazzard theme song had a line that went “Just a good ol’ boy…. you know my mama loves me…. but she don’t understand why they keep showing my hands and not my face on TV.” So that was definitely a thing back in the day.

[Asker]

Well his mugshot was immediately released when he was first taken in. Maybe some slimy media reporter paid a cop a bribe for it. But nowadays that doesn’t sound like the case.

[msc545]

This is a feature, not a bug of our system. It makes it a lot easier to prosecute whoever it was that cops decided was guilty, and much harder to defend that person in court. This is illegal as hell and it's done anyway, and it sucks.

[Asker]

I noticed that not one media outlet brought this up about the Idaho murders case.

The police do have very hard evidence on the guy (DNA) but STILL he’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. This also glorifies him when it comes to copycats. Also his family doesn’t deserve all this attention either.

[msc545]

Thanks for MHO

[DizzyDesii]

Yes i agree with your statements and find the media annoying. Same goes for when people win the lotto and are expected to take a pic with the check and so on. Some things are just not meant for the public. When my friend got shot, some suspects were still on the loose and these idiots were on the news saying “so and so is still alive and being kept at this specific hospital”. Its like they wanted the suspects to go there and find him

[Asker]

I know in Ireland they have laws about not releasing a suspects identity until an official criminal trial begins. Why can’t the USA do this?

Anyway the suspect for the Idaho murders is getting lots of assumptions thrown at him since he looks “creepy” and “psycho”. He may very well he guilty but until it’s proven beyond a reasonable doubt that’s extreme bullshit everybody is formulating their opinions on him thanks to the media.

If he’s innocent then he will have to suffer that suspicion for the rest of his life. False accusations do have long lasting negative effects on people.

[jshm2]

Yah it makes a mockery of "until proven guilty".

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's how many innocent men have their lives destroyed.

[KostasKouvalis]

A little. This is one of the only countries that does this

[Asker]

It really negates the “innocent until proven guilty” principle.

While I do realize that it’s next to impossible to conceal a high profile suspect’s identity it’s still screwed up that law enforcement releases it to the public and media.

I know thing don’t look good for the Idaho murderer suspect. However he still has a right to a fair trial. But how are you going to find truly impartial jurors at this point?

[KostasKouvalis]

Exactly, you're guilty unless proven innocent. They don't take innocent people to court. When you're in that courtroom, you're trying to disprove your guilt.
Exactly, he's technically only a suspect, yet even cops are going on TV saying, "We're 100% certain we got our man, and he's going down." That shit ain't right. You don't get to decide if he's guilty or not.

Yeah, the jury thing is kind of stupid. Officially, they're not supposed to know ANYTHING about the case, but with today's technology, it's virtually impossible for such a high profile case to stay off someone's radar, which should automatically eliminate any potential jurors.

[Asker]

I just wonder why more people aren’t calling this out. I think people are addicted to the fearmongering and drams the mass media provides.

[Anonymous]

I agree, that's not right and the person doing the leaking should be punished.

[Asker]

No police just released his identity outright. Mugshot and all. There is no law preventing them from doing that.

Seriously why do they have to do that? Just to give into media pressure?