A recent study by California's Aizman Law Firm looked at mugshots all over the country. They were trying to to determine which emotions appear most frequently across all mugshots. Using Microsoft Cognitive Services, a tool that detect emotions, they examined over 30,000 mugshots from across the country.

What emotion do you think is most common in Michigan mugshots?

According to Aizman Law Firm's study: Fear.

I can see that; I'm sure getting arrested is scary. Michigan came in as the fourth most fearful state. Here are the other states with the most fearful mugshots:

  1. Hawaii
  2. Kentucky
  3. North Carolina
  4. Michigan
  5. Indiana

The study also breaks down the top five crimes of fearful arrestees: Traffic Offense, Terrorism, Statutory Rape, Obscenity, and Witness Tampering.

So what are the other dominant emotions they found? Sadness, Contempt, Disgust, Anger, Surprise... and Happiness?

Yes, apparently in some states, criminals' mugshots look downright joyful. In fact, the most common emotion they found - with 59 percent of mugshots showing it to some degree - is happiness.

According to the survey here are the top 5 states with the happiest arrestees:

  1. North Carolina
  2. Nevada
  3. Indiana
  4. Maine
  5. New York

And their offenses? Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, Cruelty to Animals, Child Sexual Abuse, Vandalism, and Resisting Arrest.

The Huffington Post makes a good point in that this wasn’t a peer-reviewed scientific study, so you should probably take the results with a large grain of salt. But still, it is pretty interesting. Check out the rest of Aizman Law Firm's  findings on mugshot emotions here.

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