Allow me to introduce you to Julius Rufus. He took up residence in San Quentin on November 12, 1901 for a 6-month sentence.

Julius’ crime was fairly minor, especially when compared to many of the characters we cover here. According to the San Francisco Examiner, Superior Judge Cook sentenced the 29-year-old barber to six months in prison for entering the residence of A. Heynemann at 2508 Fillmore street and stealing “several razors.”

This seems like quite a harsh sentence for stealing razors, at least when other criminals were getting a year or two for assault with a deadly weapon or manslaughter.

Some other factor must have been at play. It’s possible Julius Rufus had a terrible personality and he annoyed the judge. But my theory is that Rufus got the sentence he did because of how he looks. Nobody would trust a guy who looks like him.

I looked into this a little and there’s a 2010 study from Cornell  that showed unattractive defendants typically serve 22 months longer than good-looking defendants.  This may not apply: I wouldn’t say Rufus is unattractive, he just looks really dodgy. 

He favors Charlie Sheen a little, another person who is not to be trusted. I’m not sure they look enough alike to be another doppelgänger example, but there is something around the eyes.