James Richley. Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums

Criminal faces of Newcastle. These images are a selection from an albums of photographs of prisoners and convicted criminals. Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums manages a collection of 12 museums and galleries across Tyne and Wear.

There have been many famous mugshots throughout history, but some of the most well-known ones include those of Al Capone, the notorious American gangster; Ted Bundy, the American serial killer; and Charles Manson, the American cult leader. Other famous mugshots include those of John Dillinger, the American bank robber; Adolf Hitler, the former German dictator; and Rosa Parks, the American civil rights activist. These mugshots have become iconic and have become associated with the crimes and personalities of the individuals depicted in them. Though it is generally considered unethical to make assumptions or judgments about an individual's criminal behavior based solely on their physical appearance, in criminology, there is a subfield known as criminal profiling, which often uses techniques such as analyzing mugshots to try to identify common physical traits or characteristics that may be associated with certain types of criminal behavior.