Under the Louisiana mugshot law, your booking photo is exempt from public disclosure in most cases, and any website that posted it must take it down within seven days of a valid request if your case ended in acquittal, dismissal, expungement, or pardon. Louisiana also caps what a removal site can charge at fifty dollars and treats overcharging as criminal theft. The rules come from Code of Criminal Procedure Article 234 and a 2022 amendment to the Public Records Act.
Are Louisiana Booking Photos Public?
Not since 2022. Act No. 494 amended R.S. 44:4 to add booking images to the list of records exempt from public disclosure.1Louisiana State Legislature. HB 729 Engrossed – 2022 Regular Session Law enforcement may still release your photo in two situations: if you are a fugitive, or if release is necessary because you pose an imminent threat to someone’s safety. A judge can also order release before conviction if the court finds it serves the public interest.
The written booking record (your name, the charge, the date) remains public under R.S. 44:3, but the photo itself does not come with it by default.2Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 44:3 – Records of Prosecutive, Investigative, and Law Enforcement Agencies An officer also cannot hand over a booking photo to anyone the officer reasonably believes will post it on a “remove-for-pay” website. Anyone requesting a copy must sign a written statement affirming the photo will not end up on such a site, and lying on that statement is prosecutable as filing false public records under R.S. 14:125.3Justia. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 234 – Booking Photographs
How to Get Your Mugshot Removed From a Website
Article 234 gives you a direct right to removal when your case ended favorably. You qualify if you were acquitted, never prosecuted, or had the charge expunged, vacated, or pardoned. The site then has seven calendar days from your request to remove and destroy the image.3Justia. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 234 – Booking Photographs
Send the request in writing and include evidence of the favorable disposition. The strongest proof is a certified copy of the court judgment showing the outcome, stamped with an embossed seal by the clerk of court.4LouisianaLawHelp.org. Expungement Or Sealing Of A Criminal Record If you went through expungement, the Louisiana State Police will also issue a Certificate of Compliance confirming the record has been sealed. Attach that too.
If the site ignores a valid request, you have more than a complaint letter. A violation of Article 234 can support criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages, including compensatory damages for reputational harm, emotional distress, and lost income. A court can also issue an injunction ordering the site to take the photo down and stop further publication. The civil route is often the practical one, since criminal prosecution requires a district attorney’s involvement while a civil suit is something you can file directly through an attorney.
What a Website Can Charge, and What Happens If It Overcharges
A mugshot site cannot charge more than fifty dollars to remove your photo. Charging anything above that amount exposes the operator to prosecution under Louisiana’s theft statute, R.S. 14:66.3Justia. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 234 – Booking Photographs That dollar cap sits on top of the removal duty, not in place of it: if you qualify for free removal because of an acquittal, dismissal, expungement, or pardon, the site is not supposed to charge you at all.
The penalty routes under Article 234 come through existing criminal statutes rather than a flat administrative fine:
- Lying on the written statement to obtain a booking photo: filing false public records under R.S. 14:125.
- Charging more than fifty dollars for removal: theft under R.S. 14:66.
- Refusing a valid removal request backed by proof of acquittal, dismissal, expungement, or pardon: violation of Article 234, supporting criminal and civil action.
Removing Mugshots From Background Checks
A booking photo or arrest record showing up in an employment background check is a separate problem governed by federal law. Background check companies must follow reasonable procedures to ensure accuracy under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and cannot report information that has been expunged or sealed; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau considers reporting an expunged record “misleading and inaccurate.”5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening Even without expungement, arrest records that did not lead to a conviction generally cannot appear in a background report more than seven years after the arrest date.
If you find inaccurate arrest information in a background report, file a dispute directly with the reporting company. Federal law requires the company to investigate within thirty days and either verify, correct, or delete the disputed item, and to notify you of the results within five business days after completing the investigation.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy If the information cannot be verified, it must be deleted promptly.
Expungement as the Permanent Fix
Removing a photo from one website solves one URL. Expungement seals the underlying record, which gives you the proof needed to force removal from any site that still has it and keeps the record out of most future background checks.
Who Qualifies
Louisiana’s expungement rules sit in Articles 971 through 995 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as restructured by Act No. 145. Eligibility turns on how your case ended and how much time has passed:7Louisiana State Legislature. Act No. 145 (HB 55) – Expungement Law Summary
- Arrests without conviction (charges dropped, dismissed, or acquittal): generally eligible with no waiting period.
- Misdemeanor convictions: five-year wait with no felony conviction during that time.
- Felony convictions: ten-year wait with no conviction during that time.
- Drug offenses: convictions for possession of a controlled substance or possession with intent to distribute are eligible, unlike most other drug offenses.
Crimes of violence, sex offenses, and most other controlled substance violations cannot be expunged, and there is a cap on the total number of expungements a person can obtain.
What It Costs
The total cost of a court-ordered expungement in Louisiana is capped at five hundred and fifty dollars. The Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information charges a processing fee of up to two hundred and fifty dollars inside that total, with the remainder covering the court filing fee and the clerk’s processing.8Justia. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 983 – Costs of Expungement of a Record; Fees; Collection; Exemptions; Disbursements Fee exemptions exist for people who cannot afford to pay, and some expungements tied to arrests that never resulted in charges may carry reduced costs.
Once the expungement is granted, keep the certified court order and your Certificate of Compliance from Louisiana State Police together. That package is what you send to any website still displaying the photo, and it is what you cite when a background check company reports a record it should not.