Shurtleff debuted his redesigned Web site Wednesday, which features the arrest of a man suspected of arranging to have sex with an underage girl online.
''He's innocent until proven guilty, but it's important for people to see there are consequences for getting online," Shurtleff said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah immediately criticized Shurtleff for posting a video of someone who hasn't been convicted of a crime.
''We are concerned that by posting the arrest video of an unconvicted person, the Attorney General is more interested in political grandstanding than protecting the public," ACLU staff attorney Marina Lowe wrote in a prepared statement. ''This action amounts to a gratuitous attempt to convict this man in the court of public opinion."
The video shows no evidence that the man committed a crime and features detectives warning of the dangers of online predators. The suspect does not speak in the video and it is unclear if he has an attorney.
''Government Web sites can play an important role ini education and public safety. Unfortunately, sensationalized videos of arrests before conviction do little to educate or improve safety," Lowe said.
However, Shurtleff notes that news organizations regularly air video and show pictures of those charged with crimes. He said the ACLU is only being critical of him because it's an election year.
He said the videos are being posted as a service to news organizations and the public.
''We think that we should be fighting for the right of the public to know as much as possible," said Paul Murphy, Shurtleff's spokesman.
Shurtleff says criminal evidence won't be posted in any of the videos because he doesn't want to jeopardize prosecutors cases, although he said eventually charging documents might be posted.
He said videos, audio clips and other documents will also be posted in other criminal cases, including white collar crimes.
''We hope everything we do is a deterrent," he said.
--
On the Net:
