Page "Mug shot" Paragraph 9

The U. S. legal system has long held that mug shots can have a negative effect on juries.

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held ' The double-shot picture, with front and profile shots alongside each other, is so familiar, from ' wanted ' posters in the post office, motion pictures and television, that the inference that the person involved has a criminal record, or has at least been in trouble with the police, is natural, perhaps automatic.

' The Handbook of Massachusetts Evidence says " Because of the risk of prejudice to the defendant inherent in the admission of photographs of the ' mug shot ' variety, judges and prosecutors are required to ' use reasonable means to avoid calling the jury's attention to the source of such photographs used to identify the defendant.

' " ( p. 617 ) Elsewhere it cites a ruling in Commonwealth v. Martin " admission of a defendant's mug shot is ' laden for characterizing the defendant as a careerist in crime '" Other states have similar rules.