Crime and Punishment in the 19th - 20th Centuries

Discover photos of U.S. citizens who committed crimes in the 1800's and early 1900's. Most of the crimes for which they were arrested are very different from current offenses - selling liquor (for which you could be imprisoned for life), anarchy, fighting for women's rights, pickpocketing, train robbing - and at least one is still rampant today: murder. There's even a photo of the first documented serial murderer in the United States. You can click on any of the photos to read more about the people and their crimes.

Note: Some of these mug shots may seem to be of the dead. They aren't - they had been beaten while or after being arrested. We've identified the two photos taken of actually dead outlaws. It was common practice in earlier times to take photos of dead outlaws.