Florida bill would create a public records exemption for photos and recordings of people dying by suicide

Share
Aerial photo of downtown Tallahassee, Florida and the State Capitol
Aerial photo of downtown Tallahassee, Florida and the State Capitol. By felixmizioznikov via iStock for WMNF.

©2023 The News Service of Florida

Pointing in part to concerns about information appearing on the internet, a Senate Republican on Wednesday proposed creating a public records exemption for photos and recordings of people dying by suicide.

The bill (SB 474), filed by Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, also would create a records exemption for autopsy reports about suicides.

Certain family members could continue to have access to the photos, recordings and reports.

“The Legislature recognizes that the existence of the internet and the proliferation of personal computers and cellular telephones throughout the world encourages and promotes the wide dissemination of such photographs, video and audio recordings and that widespread unauthorized dissemination of such photographs, video and audio recordings would subject the immediate family of the deceased to continuous injury,” part of the bill said. “The Legislature further finds that such photographs, video and audio recordings that depict or record the suicide of a person are harmful to the public. The release of such photographs, video and audio recordings may trigger persons who have a mental illness or who are experiencing severe depression to consider suicide.”

The bill is filed for consideration during the 2024 legislative session, which will start in January.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

The Morning Show Thursday
Player position: