Mugshots: Something For Everyone

Crime docs, true crime, crime fiction, they all hold something of a collective fascination. Watching Donald Trump's recent Fulton County mugshot become one of the most circulated photographs of all time raises the question: why are so many of us fascinated by mugshots? As photographers, is there something in these rigidly photographed images that captures our attention?

A Very Brief History

Mugshots were first used by policing organizations as far back as the early 1840s. Given that Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of people in 1838, and it's estimated the first mugshots were taken in Brussels sometime in 1843, that's a pretty quick adoption of photographic technology by law enforcement. By the 1880s, Alphonse Bertillon, a French police officer considered to be the pioneer of biometrics, standardized the mugshot, which today looks much like it did 143 years ago in Paris.

A Very Important Aside

Before moving on, I would be remiss to not at least briefly reference the racial implications that gave birth to the mugshot. Early anthropologists suggested that anthropometric measurements could be used to determine the intelligence, and therefore evolutionary value, of a given group of people. This data and the related anthropometric photographs have been used to justify colonialism and racism around the world. For example, the Minneapolis Police Department used Bertillon's mugshots to categorize sex workers based on facial structure through the lens of race.

The pseudo-science implications of anthropometric photography is an article for another day.

Why Do We Care?

Mugshots are omnipresent; you can barely flip through the news without seeing one. What is it about mugshots that draws us in and fascinates us?

In my opinion, we're drawn to these mugshots for four basic reasons. First, we like to see our heroes as unflappable, even in the face of arrest. Second, we also like to pull our heroes down or see the heroes of others exposed for the frauds we think they are. Third, we all think that we're a good judge of character and mugshots give us the chance to evaluate whether or not we can recognize evil. Last, there are historically important mugshots that give us the chance to gaze into the accused's eyes and try to figure out just what they might have been thinking.

A Rite of Passage for the Cool

We love to see our heroes fight the power. Mugshots are proof of a run in with the authorities, something of a right of a rite of passage for the troublemaker. Take, for example, Al Pacino's and Frank Sinatra's mugshots.

The images are like street cred for two guys who have always played up a chip on their shoulder, a bad boy mystique.

There's even those who find a way to smirk when their mugshots are taken. Think of David Bowie or Jimi Hendrix, the epitome of cool.

The smirk implies that our rules, the rules of mere mortals, don't really apply to them. 

Somewhat related, you also have those whose mugshot is cry to fight the power. Falling in this category, you have Jane Fonda holding her fist up in defiance. 

There's also a series of mugshots from the Civil Rights era, looking through these mugshots is like a pantheon of heroes. 

There's a calm defiance in Martin Luther King's image that is hard to find almost anywhere else. 

Just Desserts or Schadenfreude

My second theory is that we like to see people get what we might think are their just desserts. Perhaps a bit of schadenfreude. I'm looking at you, if you had an adverse reaction to my mention of Fonda.

For some reason, we want to feel justified in our distaste for those who we might have seen as ne'er-do-wells.

For some reason, we like to build or heroes up just so that we can see them fall. There is certainly a trend in our modern world to pull down our heroes.

Trump's Mugshot: Something for Everyone

Coming back to Trump, his mugshot is combination of both hagiography and schadenfreude. Some are going to see his dark hard gaze as heroic; for some, he's standing up against the machine. On the other hand, there are those that see his mugshot as something of a Saturday morning cartoon caricature of a villain. He's a polarizing figure, and so, his mugshot offers something for everyone.

Am I a Good Judge of Character?

I also think we're drawn to mugshots for another reason: as something of a self-test. We ask ourselves, can I tell why this person is a criminal? We all like to think that we're a good judge of character, so we look at mugshots and ask: can I sense someone's personality? 

What Were They thinking?

Last, and as a history major a lifetime ago, I like to fancy that I can look into the eyes of a mugshot and figure them out. I think that I can solve a mystery or enigma. For example, how'd Harvey Lee Oswald get to this point? Battered and bruised, what could he possibly be thinking when the Dallas Police snapped this image?

Sticking with political history, looking at Sirhan Sirhan's mugshot is chilling. He can't make eye contact with the camera and is covered in blood. Like Oswald, you have to wonder how he got there. Perhaps if you look at the image long enough, you might just figure it out.

Or, as another example, what drove Mark David Chapman to shoot John Lennon?

Art?

I had wanted to talk a little about mugshots as art, focussing on Andy Warhol's 13 Most Wanted Men, but I couldn't get a hold of an image that wasn't protected. I'd suggest if you're interested in this topic that you take a quick look. 

What do you think? Why are we drawn to mugshots?

All images are either in the public domain by virtue of the fact that the law is always in the public domain or used under fair use doctrine as part of a commentary on the general fascination of mugshots.