Why do some criminals have this distinct look?

[Mouse88]

This question sounds weird but seemingly true.

Why do some criminals have this distinct look?

I was just pondering over the look of most of the criminals I see in the news. Rarely do we find a criminal who is handsome, most of them have this distinct look like say drooping eyes, blank look.etc.

This is pretty upsetting to people who are born looking like criminals or sex maniacs when they are not. I have a few friends who look like that and they are goody two shoes.

 

[spidergoat]

You should see a book I have, Criminals of 1880, it's full of old mug shots, aliases, and crime descriptions. I've done some drawings from that. Their faces are distinct, but I wouldn't say I could pick out a criminal face from a non-criminal one.

 

[James R]

I was just pondering over the look of most of the criminals I see in the news. Rarely do we find a criminal who is handsome, most of them have this distinct look like say drooping eyes, blank look.etc.

You're probably seeing their police mugshots. Imagine how you'd look if you'd just been picked up by the police and were being photographed, printed and charged.

 

[Baron Max]

This question sounds weird but seemingly true.

Why do some criminals have this distinct look?

Seemingly true? What does that mean exactly? Do we now have a new classification for "true"? The linear classification: true, almost true, seemingly true, Internet true, Wiki true, might be true, I think it's true, could be true, probably not true, almost false, probably false, false.

I was just pondering over the look of most of the criminals I see in the news. Rarely do we find a criminal who is handsome, most of them have this distinct look like say drooping eyes, blank look.etc.

Check the photos of white-collar criminals. Some of the Enron criminals were even called handsome, elegant, etc.

This is pretty upsetting to people who are born looking like criminals or sex maniacs when they are not.

Yep, I think it's probably upsetting to be born ugly, but there's a helluva lot of ugly people, so maybe there's some comfort in such large numbers?

Baron Max

 

[Dywyddyr]

This question sounds weird but seemingly true.
Why do some criminals have this distinct look?

Because you know they're criminals before you see the photo.
That colours your perception.

 

[ScaryMonster]

I guess the real question is does an evil or perverse mind effects how people’s faces look.
I’ve noted that when I met my resent girl friends, best friend that she (the best friend) had what you would term as a “Bitch Head”, so not wanting to upset my GF or jump to premature conclusions I decided to give her five minutes before I started the sarcasm.
It turned out that my first impression was right, she really was a bitch!
Is there a genetic marker for “Bitch headedness” and its behavioral aberration? Does it run in families?

 

[Read-Only]

I guess the real question is does an evil or perverse mind effects how people’s faces look.
I’ve noted that when I met my resent girl friends, best friend that she (the best friend) had what you would term as a “Bitch Head”, so not wanting to upset my GF or jump to premature conclusions I decided to give her five minutes before I started the sarcasm.
It turned out that my first impression was right, she really was a bitch!
Is there a genetic marker for “Bitch headedness” and its behavioral aberration? Does it run in families?

There's no genetic marker - but things certainly DO run in families. Why? nothing to do with genetics - just that kids often learn their behavior from their parents.

a good example of that is the fact that many people who were abused as children grow up to be child abusers themselves.

 

[cosmictraveler]

So would you think that this guy is one of the greatest thieves of all times just by his looks?

 

[Mouse88]

Ok not be ridiculous.

I said seemingly true to be less unfriendly to some of us who might look like well you know..

To tell you the truth I never noticed this one of my friends; among them some of these are adults with some mental disability as kids. They are fine people but one of them with an iQ of 180 or something. [he got damn smart with coding]. He mentioned that people have this impression of mental disabled people that they have a "distinct" look.

Then not being handsome himself, he showed me that newspaper with the latest like say homicide murderer or the latest sexual maniac in the paper. They seem to have a looks that surprisingly looks similar to those adults with mental disabilities! Look not to insult my friends or anything, we just find the looks very similar. My friends [joking] think that the reason why they have no Girlfriends is that they look like pedophiles next door.

Is it me of just coincidence.

 

[WillNever]

A HUGE amount of criminals are afflicted by fetal alcohol syndrome, for one thing. That disease is notorious for its correlation with criminality in those affected. It is also responsible for the physical deformities that we see in many criminals: the sloped forehead, the short bridged nose, the thin upper lip, the flattened neck.

BELOW: a freaky looking criminal born with fetal alcohol syndrome

 

[TBodillia]

Which one looks like a murder?

Answer?
All 3.

Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, & John Wayne Gacy.

The question is a perfect example of why I hate the Susan Boyle "story": Real life is NOT a Disney cartoon. You can not tell how talented, or how evil, someone is just by looking at them.

 

[Baron Max]

A HUGE amount of criminals are afflicted by fetal alcohol syndrome, ....

I read something about that about a year ago, but I sure don't remember anything like "huge" numbers of criminals affected. Do you have some info that's more recent, perhaps?

Baron Max

 

[madanthonywayne]

This question sounds weird but seemingly true.

Why do some criminals have this distinct look?

I was just pondering over the look of most of the criminals I see in the news. Rarely do we find a criminal who is handsome, most of them have this distinct look like say drooping eyes, blank look.etc.
.

Those people with a criminal mindset who happen to be good looking go into politics.

 

[madanthonywayne]

There's no genetic marker - but things certainly DO run in families. Why? nothing to do with genetics - just that kids often learn their behavior from their parents.

a good example of that is the fact that many people who were abused as children grow up to be child abusers themselves.

I don't know. I think genetics plays a role too. Kids have distinct personalities from the moment they're born. Where does that come from? And have you heard any of those stories about twins seperated at birth? One set of twins met at a fireman's convention. They'd both become firemen. Both married women who looked similiar. It was eerie.

 

[Orleander]

A HUGE amount of criminals are afflicted by fetal alcohol syndrome, for one thing. That disease is notorious for its correlation with criminality in those affected. It is also responsible for the physical deformities that we see in many criminals: the sloped forehead, the short bridged nose, the thin upper lip, the flattened neck.

BELOW: a freaky looking criminal born with fetal alcohol syndrome

a thin upper lip or a short nose are deformities??? And what the heck is a flattened neck?? That guy looks fine to me. He might have Will Smith's ears, but if you put him in a football uniform instead of prison orange, I don't think anyone would think twice about him.

 

[ScaryMonster]

Which one looks like a murder?

Answer?
All 3.

Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, & John Wayne Gacy.

The question is a perfect example of why I hate the Susan Boyle "story": Real life is NOT a Disney cartoon. You can not tell how talented, or how evil, someone is just by looking at them.

Check out the poem I wrote in the Art & culture poetry thread, if you lyrically minded. These sort of guys were the theme.

 

[Scaramouche]

http://www.physorg.com/news179674450.html

 

[Celt]

In the 18th and 19th century, It was a common practice to use facial features to "find" the criminal aspect of society. I believe the term was ATAVISM, or the reversion to the primitive stage of human development. (according to the encyclopedia). I do see Mouse88s point. I am an officer in law enforcement, and I do see this fetal alchohol syndrome referenced a lot in mental assessments. I have my own theory that elevated testosterone levels may be a factor in more violent crime, seeing that it effects aggression and the features of a person. Also, the way a person is raised as a child to adulthood not only teaches criminal behavior, but can effect the way a person dresses, emotional responses and habbits. I consider these among the few things that I refer to when I describe how a person "looks". By the way, This is my first post, COOOL site!

Edit: I just now read the article posted above mine. hmmmm

 

[FreshHat]

BELOW: a freaky looking criminal born with fetal alcohol syndrome

At first glance, I thought he was a Philadelphia Flyer.

 

[FreshHat]

I heard this woman interviewed on CBC Radio last year :

Even if you can’t distinguish NHL enforcers Todd Bertuzzi and Chris Neil from a referee, you’d probably know at first sight not to mess with them. And not just because of their physical size. The men employed to intimidate the opposition tend to have wide faces, and that, Brock University’s Cheryl McCormick has discovered, is characteristic of a more aggressive nature.

More here : Faces Of Aggression