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Tattoos are used among criminals to show gang membership ^[1] and record the wearer's personal history—such as his or her skills, specialties, accomplishments and convictions. They are also used as a means of personal expression. Certain designs have developed recognized coded meanings^[2]. The code systems can be quite complex and because of the nature of what they encode, the tattoos are not widely recognized.

A Mara Salvatrucha gang member with a tattoo showing his gang membership

[edit] Australia

Prisoners who were transported from Britain to Australian penal colonies between 1787 and 1867 were sometimes tattooed with marks intended to signify disgrace, for example D for deserter. However, prisoners often modified these tattoos to conceal the original design or to express wry or rebellious messages.^[3]

[edit] North America

Common tattoos are names of relatives or gang members, symbols of aggression, tattoos advertising a particular skill, or religious imagery. One of the most well-known tattoos is the teardrop tattoo, which commonly indicates the bearer has served multiple prison terms.^[3]

[edit] Egyptian tattoos

• Eye of Horus – Protection from enemies/back-stabbers
• Anubis – Protection from death
• Ankh – Eternal life

[edit] See also

• Gang signal
• Irezumi, Japanese tattooing
• Russian Mafia
• Teardrop tattoo
• Triad (underground societies)
• Yakuza
• bergin mafia
• HWDP - Polish anti-Police acronym

[edit] References

[edit] Citations

[edit] Other sources

• Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia Volume I Danzig Baldaev, ISBN 3-88243-920-3
• Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia Volume II Danzig Baldaev, ISBN 978-0955006128
• Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia Voume III Danzig Baldaev, ISBN 978-0955006197
• Russian Prison Tattoos: Codes of Authority, Domination and Struggle Alix Lambert, ISBN 0-7643-1764-4
• The Mark of Cain (2000), film on Russian criminal tattoos; DVD, ASIN B0011UBDV8