Keep an Eye on the Ugly Ones

"I’m too ugly to get a job."

— Daniel Gallagher, a Miami bank robber, after police captured him in
2003

The hapless Mr. Gallagher may have been ugly, but he was also wise.

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," claim Naci Mocan
of the University of Colorado and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University.

from the Washington Post

This is the kind of social science study that raises more questions
than it answers. It is easy to imagine or invent causality to explain
the link between ugly people and crime:

• The ugly are rejected by play groups as children and grow up with feelings
  of aiienation and a desire to get back at an unfair society and popular peers.
• Physically attractive kids get more attention and encouragement in school,
  and as a result do better, graduate at a higher rate, and have more successful
  careers. Lack of education and high drop-our rates are correlated to crime.
• Good looking people learn early to get others to do things for them, like
  the dirty work. Many attractive people may be living off of others, or
  gettting others to committ crimes for them.
• Ugly people have a harder time getting hired, or being successful in
  jobs involving face-to-face interaction with clients. They may be more inclined
  toward crime as their careers flounder.

However, it is dangerous and difficult to make connections without
solid evidence, of the sort that these studies can never provide. Clearly,
more
attention and speculation need to be turned on this topic.  How do
changing standards of beauty affect the equation? How about cosmetic
surgery? What strategies do ugly people develop to compensate for their
disability? How ugly would we have to be to qualify for disability
payments?