Legal Definitions - mug book

A mug book refers to a collection of photographs, specifically known as "mug shots," of individuals who have been arrested or are suspected of committing crimes. Law enforcement agencies maintain these compilations as a critical tool to assist victims and witnesses in identifying potential perpetrators.

Here are some examples of how a mug book might be used:

• Imagine a scenario where a convenience store clerk witnesses a robbery. After the incident, the police might ask the clerk to come to the station. Instead of a live lineup, the detective could present the clerk with a physical or digital mug book containing photographs of individuals previously arrested for similar crimes in that area. The clerk would then review these images to see if they recognize the robber.

  This illustrates how a mug book helps law enforcement use a collection of suspect photos to aid a witness in identifying a criminal offender.

• Consider a cold case investigation where detectives are re-examining a series of unsolved burglaries from several years ago. They might consult archived mug books from the period when the crimes occurred, looking for individuals with a history of similar offenses whose physical descriptions match the original witness accounts or forensic profiles.

  This demonstrates how law enforcement utilizes historical collections of suspect photographs (mug books) to identify potential perpetrators in long-unsolved cases.

• Following a recent spree of bicycle thefts in a city park, police apprehend a suspect based on a tip. Before formally charging them, detectives might access their agency's digital mug book database. They would compare the arrested suspect's photograph with descriptions provided by victims of other recent, similar thefts to see if there's a visual match that could link the suspect to multiple incidents.

  This example shows how a mug book, even in a modern digital format, serves as a resource for law enforcement to connect a current suspect to other potential crimes based on visual identification.