World's First Mug Shots

Flavorwire is one of my favorite sites. So much great wacky and different information. As a mystery reader, I was fascinated by the December 1 article and photos "What Did the World’s First Mug Shots Look Like?" Crime readers and writers will both like this.

"The mug shot has, by now, become so universal that it’s hard to imagine a criminal justice system without it. But in the mid-19th century, when photography was still a new medium, there was no standardized record-keeping system in place to help police departments identify repeat criminals. Random daguerreotypes and loose photographs laying around unfiled weren’t cutting it — which is why in the early 1880s, French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon introduced the Paris police force to a standardized method that documented mug shots, body measurements, and in some cases, early finger prints."

Read the rest of the Article HERE.