A History of the Mug Shot

Al Capone mugshotSome of the very earliest photographs from the late 1830s are of alleged and/or convicted criminals, and law enforcement officials used photographs of criminals in Belgium as early as the 1840s to track down wrong-doers.  In Paris, a clerk in the Prefecture of Police Office originated the “mug shot” as we usually imagine it — two shots side by side, with one shot being a frontal shot and the other being a profile.

This so-called “Bertillon System” was displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, and it quickly caught on with American urban police departments.  It was an age of science, and some thought of the mug shot as a useful component in “scientific law enforcement.”  Indeed, there are surviving efforts by police departments to superimpose photographs of certain types of criminals on top of one another.   We could then, theoretically, have distilled images of, to note only two of many possibilities, the typical pickpocket or typical forger.

In the present, mug shots are still with us, but we now live in an era in which the market rather than science is seen by many as our savior.  It is possible to round up mug shots from public records and post them regardless of whether the pictured individuals have been prosecuted and/or convicted. 

Continue ReadingA History of the Mug Shot

Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States”

For over twenty years, I have enjoyed reading and assigning Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States.” I especially like Zinn’s efforts to see history “from the bottom looking up,” that is, to capture the thoughts of not leaders and prosperous citizens but rather simple and subjugated people – workers, immigrants, women, African Americans, and Native Americans, among others. It therefore came as a surprise to learn that Mitch Daniels, Indiana’s former Governor and now President of Purdue University, attempted to drive Zinn’s book from Indiana’s schools.

While he was still Governor, Daniels emailed Indiana education officials asking them to prevent the use of Zinn’s book in the state’s K-12 classrooms. Daniels said “A People’s History of the United States” was a “truly execrable, anti-factual piece of disinformation.” Daniels also called the book “crap,” and he seemed pleased that “this terrible anti-American academic has finally passed away.”

Daniels’ criticism of Zinn and his work is on one level political. To wit, we have a right-wing politician condemning a leftist historian, albeit one who is deceased. (Didn’t Daniels’ parents ever tell him to let the dead rest in peace?) On a more fundamental level, Daniels’ criticism of Zinn also betrays a failure to grasp what the writing and the study of history entails.  

Continue ReadingHoward Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States”

The Societal Backdrop of the Martin/Zimmerman Tragedy

Gated Community EntranceNot surprisingly, the killing of Trayvon Martin and trial of George Zimmerman have prompted much reflection on race-related assumptions and tensions in the U.S. It might also be appropriate to reflect on the societal backdrop of these tragic events and to underscore two social developments that set the stage, namely, concealed carry laws and private, gated communities. Both suggest troubling aspects of contemporary American life.

Concealed carry laws allow the practice of carrying handguns in public in a concealed manner. These laws have grown more common in recent years, and Illinois, which had held out as the last state to ban concealed carrying, just recently gave in. Florida, one of the champions of concealed carry, has issued well over 2 million licenses for concealed carrying since 1987. No clear evidence exists proving that concealed carrying reduces crime, but the concealed carry laws seem to relieve people’s anxiety. For some, concealed carrying or, at least, the option to conceal and carry bolsters a sense of one’s “manhood.”

Private, gated communities, meanwhile, are also on the rise. Again, Florida is one of the leaders, and countless Floridians have taken comfort in residing in private enclaves, often behind walls and gates. The society outside those walls and gates is taken to be menacing and dangerous. In other states as well, many have abandoned any sort of deep and defining affiliation with a town or a city in favor of belonging to private spaces supposedly sealed off from the surrounding trouble and tumult. Often these communities have corny names such as “Deer Run” or “Oak Crest,” which are designed to connote nature. Some scholars have dubbed these private, gated communities “Privatopia.”

George Zimmerman was carrying a concealed handgun and guarding a gated community, and Trayvon Martin is dead. I do not underscore these facts in order to challenge the jury’s verdict. However, I do think the rise of concealed carry and the gated community suggests how frightened and anxious, how hostile and combative our society has become. According to the defendant in Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska,” “There’s just a meanness in this world.”

Continue ReadingThe Societal Backdrop of the Martin/Zimmerman Tragedy
Newer Posts
Older Posts