Viral Video Claims New Jersey Inmate Records May Mislabel Some People’s Race: “This Is a Problem”

A social media user is raising questions about what they say is a discrepancy found while reviewing inmate mugshots on the New Jersey Department of Corrections website.

The website does allow public access to past and current inmate mugshot photos. In the now-viral clip, the woman suggests there are several men who are being identified with the wrong race, further suggesting the crime statistics being shared with the nation may be inaccurate.

Woman Claims Some Inmate Mugshots Have Incorrect Race Labels

In a clip making the rounds, which has since been reshared by X user @WallStreetApes, a woman begins by stating, “They are hiding the race of so many people, mainly men, who have been arrested.”

She then shows a screenshot of what looks like several mugshots of men and points out their race, which lists them as “white.” The problem, she says, is that their appearances did not match the race labels shown in the database, according to her claim.

She says that after going to the New Jersey state website and filtering mugshots using the “white” race category, “you’re gonna see several non-white men.” She then says that if the scenario was flipped and white men were being listed with the race of Black, she believes the “left would flip out.”

But she then points out that because of the alleged discrepancy (the actual race of these men can’t be verified), she says the statistics regarding Black men “committing a disproportionately high amount of violent crime is actually worse,” adding, “We have to face reality because this is a problem!”

A quick scroll on the New Jersey Department of Corrections website with the race “white” set as a filter, along with dark hair and eyes, since simply choosing white produces too many results, appears to show some mugshots where the listed race differs from what some viewers expected based on the images.

It seems viewers also took it upon themselves to search and see for themselves, with some finding that certain mugshots with the race listed as white did not appear to match the individuals shown in the images, according to commenters.

Others said it's more than just a few people that are allegedly being mislabeled by their race, and another person pointed to a possible “software issue” as the problem. “This is possibly a software issue, or data entry issue. Meaning, either the state’s system is storing the data from all jails incorrectly, or the officers are not paying attention and putting in incorrect data. Either way no one is making sure their data is correct.”

Another commenter wrote, “They’ve been doing it nationwide for years to skew the stats. Needs to be corrected.”

The Daily Dot could not confirm whether the records shown in the video contained errors or whether the listed race information was accurate.