Editor’s Note: Why you won’t see many mug shots on courant.com anymore

Starting today, the Hartford Courant will begin dramatically scaling back its use of mug shots on crime stories both on our website, courant.com, and in the newspaper. While up until now our general practice has been to use one if it’s available, under this new approach we will only use them in exceptional circumstances.

First, the longstanding policy of the Courant has been to avoid identifying a suspect in a criminal proceeding by their race unless absolutely necessary to the telling of the story. Publishing a mug shot can undermine that policy. Second, mugshots can enforce stigmas, especially around individuals and communities of color. They often reinforce stereotypes, bolstering…