Criminal mark

A criminal mark is a special variety of facial tattoo. These tattoos are given to criminals who have committed crimes in New Domino City or to fugitives.

Usually, people with these marks are sentenced to live in Satellite to serve their time working in the factories. If they have broken stricter laws (such as trespassing into New Domino City without authorization), they are sent to the Facility. These marks serve various purposes, like identification of people with criminal records or tracking fugitives down in case they escape or commit further crimes.

Branding criminals
Criminal marks are placed on the offender using a laser that carves a unique shape on the offender's face. In the English anime, the carving is replaced with a tattoo of radiophilic dye that creates a specific pattern unique to each criminal and cannot be removed. Additional criminal marks may be put on a criminal's face if that criminal commits repeated crimes.

Tracking people with markings
Security trackers are used to find the location of a marked criminal by tracing the signal emitted by the mark. An individual criminal can be tracked due to the unique pattern of the tattoo. The criminal appears as a dot on a map.

The signal is known to be easy to jam. Yusei Fudo and Blister have been able to almost effortlessly jam criminal marks using a laptop or a small handheld device.

Social attitudes
People with criminal marks are treated negatively by residents of New Domino City. It was stated by Luna that her father once fired a pool cleaner simply because the pool cleaner had a criminal mark; it is implied that this sort of discrimination is normal in New Domino City, and that Luna's disapproval of it is considered a minority opinion. Leo was apprehensive to assist Yusei at first because of his status as a (former) criminal. During Yusei's first Fortune Cup match, the crowd was initially against him when it was shown that he had a criminal mark; it was only Yusei's dueling ability that enabled him to gain the crowd's approval.