Mugshots Origination Process In The State Of Florida

Mugshots are a key component of arrest records in Florida and the state generates over 700,000 of them annually. Upon an arrest in any county in Florida begins, a booking process follows at the Sheriff's Office or the county’s jail. This booking process is incomplete without taking a mugshot of the defendant as a photographic evidence. While this process is the same in all counties, it is managed differently in each jurisdiction. Consequent upon arrest in any county in Florida, it is important for the defendant to be conversant with the arrest process in that county. This include how one’s arrest records and mugshots are handled by the local Sheriff’s Office.

Arrest records which include mugshots are public documents and form part of the arrest history of an arrestee. Arrest history information in the state of Florida is collated by the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). This history comes from arrest data collected from booking suspects at every Sheriffs' offices and/or jail centers in counties across the state. Arrest data include biographical information, charges, fingerprints and mugshots of the suspects. In accordance with the Florida Public Records Act, law enforcement agencies across the state provide public access to this information by publishing them on their websites.

If you have had an arrest history in Florida, you will find resources here on locating the mugshots, obtaining the relevant arrest history records, discovering the sealing/expungement process in the county of your arrest and contacting the right local authorities to help you accomplish this.

Official Florida Criminal Justice System and Statistics

The Florida's criminal justice process begins with an arrest by any of the 387 law enforcement agencies in the state and a booking at the Sheriff's Office. Incarceration follows for defendants who cannot make bail and/or are eventually convicted upon trial. The state has made an average of 1million arrests annually in the last decade with counties like Miami-Dade, Hillsborough and Broward recording over 50,000 arrests yearly. Florida also has one of the highest incarceration rates in the U.S. jailing 833 people for every 100,000 residents. This statistic is higher than the national average (of 698 people jailed in every 100,000) and higher than any country in the world.

Some of Americas most dangerous cities are in Florida with many of them being major tourist destinations. This includes Orlando, Miami Beach, and Tallahassee; county seats of Orange, Miami-Dade, and Leon Counties respectively. Jails in these counties and in Bay, Brevard, Broward, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, St. Lucie and Volusia record over 1,000 average daily population at their detention facilities.