2. Functions of tattoos in the criminal environment of minors

Tattoos perform primarily signal-separative function: they serve as an indicator of the identity of their carrier to a particular social community - the criminal world. With the help of tattoos, the underworld recognizes its own kind, as in ancient times people identified representatives of their ethnic group by certain tattoos. Signs and drawings that emphasize the belonging of their carriers to the "prison fraternity" also belong here.
The second function of tattoos - personal and installation. It is not enough to determine the belonging of a person to a certain community (the criminal world, the community of prisoners), but with their help the “certification” of tattoo carriers is achieved. Indeed, according to drawings, signs, inscriptions, you can determine the name, age of a person, place of birth, number of convictions, places of serving his sentence, number of escapes, term spent in a colony and other "passport" data.
However, with the help of tattoos, the position of the minor in the criminal hierarchy is recorded. This is the third - stratification - the function of tattoos: they can accurately determine the status of a teenager in a criminal group. Thus, high-status persons are given honorary insignia called per ally, for which special devices and high-quality, mainly foreign, dyes are used. Apply their highly skilled professionals. The bulk of the members of the criminal community inflicts homemade, called portchits in the criminal jargon (porting - spoiling). They are applied using certain templates using improvised dyes, self-taught teens. Low-status adolescents, especially from the number of rejected ("lowered", "garbage", etc.), tattooed applied. These are stigma tattoos (in criminal jargon - “nahalki”, “shameful”). As you can see, the stratification function of tattoos leads its history from the distant past. Among the ancient peoples, the leaders of the tribe, the warriors, had particular differences in the drawings and symbols applied to the body. At the same time, when status was changed in the direction of its increase, some signs and symbols were applied, and when it was reduced, others were put. The same is true in the modern underworld: for services to the criminal community, the criminal is encouraged to apply a tattoo of honor, and at the same time to “lower” is accompanied, as in the ancient world, when they have branded slaves, debtors and prisoners, and applying shameful tattoos. Thus, the tattoo can act as a means of encouragement, awards distinguished, means of depersonalization - the guilty.
In the underworld there are their own concepts of the beautiful and the ugly, the sublime and the base, the dramatic, the tragic and the comic, their own prison art, of which tattoos are a variety. This is decorative and artistic, i.e. aesthetic, the function of tattoos, which also came from the distant past. Long before the appearance of clothing, tattoos served as a means of decorating a person and were associated with the aesthetic concepts of this ethnic group. For this purpose, man painted his body in order to please others, especially those of the opposite sex, to arouse their admiration, disposition, and worship. In modern conditions in the law-abiding environment, tattoos have become a special kind of visual art. Many (both boys and girls) spend huge sums of money to decorate their bodies with tattoos from prestigious artists in the tat booth, |,?, Arisen in many large cities of our country. At the same time, the decorative and artistic function of tattoos turned out to be closely related to its stratification function. Therefore, now tattoos not only decorate a teenager and a girl, but are a sign of dignity. The higher his position in the group hierarchy, or the better off he is, the more highly tattooed his artwork is.
Since ancient times, tattoos have performed an important religious function. Applying tattoos meant a kind of communion with God. It was a ritual that was magical in nature. Tattoos served as a sign of magical protection against
evil spirits, they were endowed with magical properties. Therefore, primitive peoples tattoos were closely related to their beliefs and culture. Each clan had its own tribal cult object (tree, beast, fish, star, bird, etc.). This function of tattoos is also preserved in modern conditions. Both religious adolescents and atheists use different creeds for tattooing (crosses, tombstones, bell towers, church domes, altars, crucifixes, etc.), believing in their magical power. Thus, it is believed that the timely application of tattoos protects a teenager from the negative consequences when entering into a criminal community or when he is placed in prison. Therefore, when a teenager is placed in a detention facility, he seeks, first of all, to tattoo him. At the same time, resorting to the same creeds, atheists and believers put different meanings in them. Thus, Jesus Christ on crucifixion is a symbol of belonging to a clan of thieves, and a naked woman crucified on a cross enveloped in flame, depending on the accompanying components, may mean that “a woman was pushed to a crime”, “love for an unmarried woman” or which betrayed me "etc.
In the adolescent and youth environment, the sexual-erotic function of tattoos acquires an important significance. They manifest sexual orientation in connection with puberty, sexual identification, reflect dreams of future sexual partners or frustration in people of the opposite sex. Often, for the purposes of prophylaxis, a sign of an active homosexual is applied, guaranteeing others from possible sexual pretensions. This type of tattoo can be moderately erotic as a reflection of the overall sexual orientation of minors and young people, then the image of naked women or female busts prevails; cynical-erotic, with a predominance of the image of the genitals, sexual intercourse, accompanied by cynical inscriptions indicating the names of sexual partners. Cynical erotic tattoos are depicted primarily on closed parts of the body. Erotic tattoos also include emblems of love (cupid with a bow and arrow; a heart pierced by an arrow), as well as stigma marks on persons who have committed sodomy, and women who are active lesbians. This also includes the quality mark applied to active homosexuals on the penis, passive - on the buttocks, women - on the pubic part. By erotic tattoos are and assurances of love in the form of text on the lower abdomen and in the pubic region, various sayings of love and erotic content.
In the life of every minor and young man there are events that he would like to capture "forever." These goals serve the sentimental function of tattoos. In such tattoos are displayed important events, significant dates for a teenager, the names of people dear to him. If we consider that the criminal environment, especially in places of deprivation of liberty, is characterized by a vivid manifestation of the manifestation of sentiment as the reverse side of cruelty, then it is clear that such tattoos are widely used among adolescents. For this purpose, prison bars, a torch, a rose behind barbed wire and expressions like "Wait, Mama" are depicted. Against the background of a prison lattice there can be an inscription: “My youth passed here,” “I go to where there is no law,” “How many mistakes have been made, how many roads have been traveled,” etc.
It should also be said about the professional-oriented function of tattoos. They reflect the dreams and aspirations of adolescents and young men to any professional activity. Often these tattoos are used to identify criminal activities with heroic and most prestigious professions in society (pilot, seaman, geologist, etc.), which uses traditional attributes of heroic professions: sailors, for example, lighthouse, anchor, lifebuoy, sailboat, caravel , albatross, beauty in a vest and peakless cap. The meaning of such tattoos - in the expression of love for the sea, sea romance. The prevalence of marine tattoos is also influenced by the fact that many sailors have become tattooed while in overseas voyages. They did it in foreign beauty salons. The prevalence of professional tattoos is affected by adults themselves, flaunting their tattoos, often made during the period of military service. Teenagers most often take an example from them.
Tattoos can carry a humorous function when their application and interpretation is associated with entertainment, teasing, humor.
Thus, tattoos are not an accident in criminal groups. They perform a variety of interpersonal and intergroup interaction functions. Many functions of tattoos came to us from ancient times, of course, modified and transformed in new conditions. They compensate for the values ​​lost by adolescents and young people due to their exclusion from society or their isolation in places of detention. To apply a tattoo, do not necessarily have to fall into the "zone". However, there they are applied more often. It should be noted that along with generally accepted drawings, sayings, symbols in each region, each closed institution has its own traditions, "art schools", its own symbols and methods of tattooing.