Criminal tattoos are classified in different ways. The meaning and histories of criminal tattoos vary from country to country, and they are commonly assumed to be associated with gang membership.[1][2] They could also be a record of the wearer's personal history—such as their skills, specialties, accomplishments, incarceration, world view and/or means of personal expression.[2] Tattoos have been empirically associated with deviance, personality disorders, and criminality.[3][4] There is no direct correlation between tattoos and criminals, but we can observe the developed history of tattoos and their meanings in countries such as Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States.
^Wesley G. Jennings; Bryanna Hahn Fox; David P. Farrington (January 14, 2014), "Inked into Crime? An Examination of the Causal Relationship between Tattoos and Life-Course Offending among Males from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development", Journal of Criminal Justice, 42 (1, January–February 2014): 77–84, doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.12.006
^Joshua Adams (2012), "The Relationship between Tattooing and Deviance in Contemporary Society", Deviance Today, pp. 137–145
