Suspect

In law enforcement jargon, asuspectis a known person accused or suspected of committing acrime.Police and reporters in theUnited Statesoften use the wordsuspectas a jargon when referring to theperpetratorof the offense (perpin dated U.S. slang). However, in official definition, the perpetrator is the robber, assailant,counterfeiter,etc.—the person who committed the crime. The distinction between suspect and perpetrator recognizes that the suspect is notknownto have committed the offense, while the perpetrator—who may not yet have been suspected of the crime, and is thus not necessarily a suspect—is the one who did. The suspect may be a different person from the perpetrator, or there may have been no actual crime, which would mean there is no perpetrator.^[1]

A common error inpolice reportsis awitnessdescription of the suspect (as a witness generally describes a perpetrator, while amug shotis of a suspect). Frequently it is stated that police are looking for the suspect, when there is no suspect; the policecouldbe looking for a suspect, but they are surely looking for the perpetrator, and very often it is impossible to tell from such a police report whether there is a suspect or not.

Possibly because of the misuse of "suspect" to mean "perpetrator", police in the late 20th and early 21st century began to useperson of interest,possible suspect,and evenpossible person of interest,to mean suspect.^{[citation needed]}

Under the judicial systems of the U.S., once a decision is approved toarresta suspect, or bind him over fortrial,either by aprosecutorissuing aninformation,agrand juryissuing atrue billorindictment,or ajudgeissuing anarrest warrant,the suspect can then be properly called adefendant,or the accused. Only after beingconvictedis the suspect properly called the perpetrator.

References

SuspectSuspicious and Suspect.

^"Word Court".Theatlantic.com. July 1997.Retrieved2012-03-19.

[1] "Word Court".Theatlantic.com. July 1997.Retrieved2012-03-19.

[1]

Suspect

See also

References