Last Updated on September 22, 2025 by Matt Staff
Nothing resets a public image quite like arrests. One flash, a tangle of uniforms, and suddenly the most powerful people on Earth look small; caught mid-stride, mid-speech, or mid-stare as history pivots around them.
This gallery revisits 20 historic arrests that shocked the world when leaders, icons, and everyday names turned headlines. Some photos feel like reckonings, others like inflection points, and all of them are time capsules you can feel in a single frame.
1. Martin Luther King Jr.
Arrested multiple times during the civil-rights movement, including Birmingham in 1963, where his picture became a symbol of nonviolent resistance. He wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” soon after.
2. Rosa Parks
Booked in Montgomery after refusing to give up her bus seat, her arrest photo became an icon of the boycott that reshaped U.S. civil rights. It’s the calm on her face that still speaks volumes.
3. Emmeline Pankhurst
The British suffragette leader faced repeated arrests for militant tactics, demanding votes for women. Hunger strikes and force-feeding turned her into a global symbol of defiance.
4. O.J. Simpson
The 1994 arrest and instantly famous booking photo ignited the “trial of the century”. He was acquitted in criminal court the following year.
5. Lee Harvey Oswald
Arrested in 1963 for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, he was shot by Jack Ruby during a jail transfer two days later. The images feel history in motion.
6. Charles Manson
Manson was arrested in 1969 and later convicted for directing the Tate-LaBianca murders. His arrest images became shorthand for a dark end to the 60s.
7. Ted Bundy
Bundy was a serial killer. Captured after multiple escapes and arrests in the late 70s, his detention pictures chart a chilling cat-and-mouse with the police. He was executed in 1989.
8. Patty Hearst
Kidnapped by the SLA in 1974, she resurfaced in their crimes and was arrested in 1975. Convicted and later granted clemency, her booking photo remains startling.
9. Saddam Hussein
Hussein was captured by U.S. forces in December 2003. The arrest images signaled the fall of his regime.
10. Al Capone
Chicago’s Prohibition kingpin, whose 1931 booking for tax evasion became his most famous photo. The mobster who beat rivals couldn’t beat the IRS.
11. David Bowie
Arrested in Rochester in 1976, his booking photo became one of history’s most stylish mugshots. The case fizzled, but the photo lives forever.
12. Frank Sinatra
Sinatra was busted in 1938 in New Jersey on a now-bizarre “seduction” charge that later was dropped. His youthful mugshot reads more crooner than criminal.
13. Pablo Escobar
The Medellín cartel boss posed for a casual 1977 mugshot that’s as chilling as it is mundane. Years later, he was killed while fleeing authorities.
14. Jeffrey Dahmer
Dahmer was arrested in 1991 in Milwaukee. His booking photo launched a case that horrified the world. He received multiple life sentences and died in prison.
15. Wynona Ryder
The actress was arrested in 2001 for shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue. She received probation and community service. The incident became a tabloid era snapshot.
16. Kurt Cobain
Cobain was picked up in the mid-80s in Aberdeen on a minor charge, yielding a rough-around-the-edges mugshot that predated Nirvana’s breakthrough. Even here, the future icon peeks through.
17. Jane Fonda
Detained in 1970 in Cleveland, her fist-raised mugshot became a protest image. The charges were dropped very quickly.
18. David Berkowitz
He was arrested in 1977 as “Son of Sam”, and his mugshot closed a summer of fear in New York City. He’s serving multiple life sentences.
19. Johnny Cash
The Man in Black was arrested more than once, including a 1965 border bust in El Paso. His booking photos fed the outlaw legend he later came to own.
20. Jim Morrison
The Doors frontman faced arrests from New Haven to Miami, where his 1969 case made headlines. His mugshots captured the chaos that trailed his fame.
Explore more historical content:
If these flashbulb moments grabbed you, keep the nostalgia rolling with these 20 Mugshots from the Prohibition Era, or these 20 Throwback Celebrity Yearbook Photos from the Late 1900s. You can also enjoy these 20 Things You Used to Be Able to Buy for $1 in 1970.
