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Photo courtesy Louisiana State Police’s Facebook page.
The Louisiana Legislature passed a bill Tuesday that was on track to upend a law approved last year that limits the release of criminal booking mugshots, but a small group of state senators negotiated a bipartisan compromise that largely neutralized the proposal.
House Bill 265, sponsored by Rep. Bryan Fontenot, R-Thibodaux, received final approval on the House floor in an 82-11 vote.
A previous version of the bill would have effectively repealed a law that prohibits police from publishing or publicly releasing booking photos of people accused — but not yet convicted — of non-violent crimes and other minor offenses. Current law still allows law enforcement to disseminate mug shots if they believe the suspect poses a threat to public safety.
Fontenot’s bill would have allowed police to release booking photos for any “investigative purposes” or upon the request of an alleged victim or a television station. Other media outlets — such as newspapers, radio stations and websites — did not lobby for the change and weren’t included in the legislation.
In a Senate Judiciary C Committee hearing last month, Fontenot falsely claimed current law prevents the parents of child sex abuse victims from being able to see “who raped their child.”
Existing law applies only to non-violent offenses. It doesn’t force police to withhold mugshots of people charged with rape or child molestation.
A Senate floor amendment removed most of the provisions in Fontenot’s bill that would have gutted the law in place.
Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, who authored legislation last year that led to the law currently in effect, worked with Fontenot and Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, to hammer out a compromise both sides could support. The final version would allow law enforcement to release mugshots for “investigative purposes” or upon the request of bail bond agents.
Limiting the release of mugshots is part of a nationwide trend in criminal justice aimed at minimizing the often permanent harm that published booking photos can have on people who later have their charges reduced or are fully exonerated of the accusations.
Duplessis remains weary of any efforts to weaken the mugshot rules he helped enact last year. In an interview Tuesday, he said he agreed to the final version of the bill in the spirit of compromise, but he noted the bill isn’t actually needed because the current law already gives police enough discretion to release booking photos when needed.
“So I don’t know if there is some other intent behind that, but we’re going to see,” Duplessis said.
The bill next heads to Gov. John Bel Edwards for consideration.
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