I think tattoos do imply a sense of immaturity, irresponsibility, superficiality, lack of foresight, etc (and that's my personal opinion)... but I certainly don't think they are remotely synonymous with crime and outlaws anymore, like they were in decades past.
I disagree. A tattoo is an inarticulate label that is meant to reduce a sentient concept or an identity into a mute but reflexive, reactionist symbol. It has never or will never have another purpose. The current attraction is to emulate gangster and skinhead custom, and to display a superficial antisocietal rebellion of a nature not progressive or individuating or liberating, but devolutionary, regimental and, dare I say fascistic and brutal. The custom of tattooing has the unrelenting history of branding for exclusion or imprisonment (the enumeration of Jews in Nazi concentration camps) , or to signify a status or membership in an anti-civil subgroup: warriors, gangsters, convicts, and the like. I'm not in any way conservative; on the contrary, it is my liberalism that objects to this debasing fad. I've said it before, tattoos always have represented and still belie a dehumanistic and therefore ugly sentiment.
As for Hashimoto, the people surveyed were civil employees, many of them teachers, hired to instill human refinement in their students, a purpose antithetical to their tattoos. Thsoe teachers, if they are as intelligent and capable as teacher ought to be, should be able to assert their own individual personalities and qualities without resorting to someone else's marks on their skin. And as for privacy, the tattoos themselves not only are meant to be publicly displayed, but symbolic denials of the concepts of individuality or privacy. There was no regard to privacy or personal integrity when these people subjected themselves to the tattooer's needle. They shouldn't demand it from the employer or the society they are entrusted to cultivate and represent now. Let them work in a sphere that condones such personal debasement, if that's the environment they choose. Of course, they may be forced to sacrifice a finger if they step out of line, but they've already voluntarily mutilated themselves anyway.