Tag Archives: mugshot

Hello all! I stumbled upon this interesting article while searching for something to post.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/murder-solved-after-cops-find-crime-scene-tattooed-on-gang-members-chest/

Anthony Garcia committed the murder of John Juarez in 2008 and tattooed the murder scene on his chest. This story amazes me because if it wasn’t for the tattoo on Mr. Garcia’s chest he probably would have never been caught. The case had been closed for four years until Mr. Garcia was arrested for driving without a license. Linking all the way back to Lombroso, the police took photos of Mr. Garcia’s tattoos as part of procedure and entered it into their database. Also, linking back to Bonneville the police are keeping photo’s of tattoos to find the recidivist or the habitual offender. A police officer was viewing the photos one day and noticed the similarities of the tattoo on his chest and the murder scene of John Juarez. In the 21st century it’s stunning that a murder case was cracked from 19th century ideologies and procedures. Anthony Garcia would have been a justification to Lombroso’s ideology that whomever has a tattoo is a criminal. However, we know in today’s society that tattoos are a popular trend among young individuals, sports players, business people and so on. I wonder what Lombroso would have to say about tattoos in the 21st century. In a world of about 7 billion people, many get tattoos to set themselves apart, express themselves or to tell ones own life story. Anthony Garcia told his story on his chest and it got him convicted. The mugshot created by Bertillon is still an essential part in the police force and it was the only thing that cracked this murder case. I’m sure there is so much more to say about this. I would love to hear others thoughts on this. Feel free to comment.