Crowds read criminal identity from physiognomy and dress as a folk science of crime

Evidence

One sought to rediscover the face of the criminals who had had their glory; broadsheets recalled the crimes of those one saw pass; newspapers provided their names and recounted their lives; sometimes they provided a description of their persons and dress, so that their identity might not pass unnoticed: like programmes for spectators. People also came to examine different types of criminals, trying to decide, according to facial appearance or dress, the ‘profession’ of the convict, whether he was a murderer or thief: it was a game of masquerades and marionnettes, which was also, for more educated eyes, something of an empirical ethnography of crime. From spectacles on trestles to Gall’s phrenology, according to the milieu to which one belonged, one practised the semiologies of crime at one’s disposal — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 395

Categorization

• XREF: Physiognomy-as-ethnography connects to how the surveillance apparatus reads subjects’ bodies for signs of deviance — a precursor to the delinquent’s constructed identity Foucault develops later in this chapter. — connects to: Convicts actively narrated and performed their own criminality in the spectacle — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 395; Physical appearance details can instantly characterize a dangerous personality — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 326; Medieval audiences read human bodies as signs carrying monster meanings (+2 more)

Related

• Depicting characters as Victorian criminal types implies deep observation (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Physical appearance details can instantly characterize a dangerous personality #expands (0.85) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 326
• Historic cities permanently marked criminals through bodily branding to advertise moral difference #expands (0.82)
• Medieval audiences read human bodies as signs carrying monster meanings #corroborates (0.80)
• Authors can reveal character through meticulous attention to physical attire. #expands (0.80) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1179