Fact Check

The New Fashion Rage in Mug Shots

Mug shots demonstrate a preponderance of Obama supporters among arrestees.

Published Jan. 2, 2009

Claim:

Claim:   Mug shots demonstrate a preponderance of Obama supporters among arrestees.


UNDETERMINED


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, January 2009]


This tells you a lot. The new fashion rage in mug shots.

Just think about this for a second: Did you ever see anyone arrested wearing a Bush T-shirt, or for you older guys, a Gerald Ford, or Nixon, or Bob Dole
shirt.

There's a message here, but I can't quite grasp it, or maybe I am afraid to.








 

Origins:   No context is provided with the above-displayed photographs to document that they are in fact mug shots of arrested individuals, much less provide information about when, where, and under what circumstances the arrests occurred. However, all the pictures were all taken from a page of the
The Smoking Gun's "2008 Mug Shots of the Year" collection.

Given that this collection represents a handful of mug shots "selected from among the tens of thousands reviewed this year by TSG's staff," drawing any statistically significant conclusion from them is problematic.

Last updated:   14 January 2009

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

Article Tags