Study finds ugly faces more likely to end up in mug shots

SFGATE.com ^ | Saturday, February 18, 2006

[MRMEAN]

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Washington -- Not only are physically unattractive teenagers likely to be stay-at-homes on prom night, they're also more likely to grow up to be criminals, say two economists who tracked the life course of young people from high school through early adulthood.

"We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones, and very attractive individuals commit less crime in comparison to those who are average-looking," say Naci Mocan of the University of Colorado and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University.

Mocan and Tekin analyzed data from a federally sponsored survey of 15,000 high schoolers. One question asked interviewers to rate the physical appearance of the student on a five-point scale ranging from "very attractive" to "very unattractive."

These economists found that the long-term consequences of being young and ugly were small but consistent. Cute guys were uniformly less likely than averages would indicate to have committed seven crimes, including burglary and selling drugs, while the unhandsome were consistently more likely to have broken the law.

Other studies have shown that unattractive men and women are less likely to be hired, and that they earn less money than the better-looking. Such inferior circumstances may steer some to crime, Mocan and Tekin suggest.

[the anti-liberal]

"How come you guys aren't knocking her door down for a date?"

Simple really- I don't date libs.

[Slings and Arrows]

She's still married to that Marine. What I lack in morality I make up for in self-preservation.

[phantomworker]

Just don't get too fugly and we'll take off that ankle bracelet! ;)

[Maceman]

Obviously, we need a federally funded program to disfigure attractive individuals in order to level the playing field.

[Caipirabob]

Oh jeez...I can't stop laughing...

[the anti-liberal]

Quite you - we don't want to incubate any ideas here. :^)

[gridlock]

If they're not ugly at the beginning, they will be soon enough...

[Millee]

As for me, I leaned the truth at seventeen that love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles who married young and then retired.

[presidio9]

You should at least ping people when you steal their jokes.

[meanie monster]

Sorry,,,I thought I did.

[cyborg]

This doesn't surprise me. Attractiveness has its privileges (and drawbacks). Look at teacher sex threads and how they're treated on FR based on appearance for instance.