ABSTRACT
This chapter serves as a source of inspiration for sociologists and criminologists. It tells the history of police photography and shows how mug shots can be used as basis for both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Unlike American mug shots, which often end up on the front pages of newspapers because of laws permitting free access, Danish laws are stricter. This has influenced the present chapter, which uses photographic material produced by Danish police authorities as its case study, in the sense that has had to limit my material to the oldest photos. The chapter also shows that police photography made branding, cutting off limbs and other forms of visible stigma unnecessary to inflict on criminals, because the mug shots made it possible for others to recognize them anyway. The chapter shows mug shots are only a first step towards a much deeper understanding of each individual subject's route into crime, as well as an understanding of crime.
