In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in 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 not known to 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 in police reports is a witness description of the suspect (as a witness generally describes a perpetrator, while a mug shot is of a suspect). Frequently it is stated that police are looking for the suspect, when there is no suspect; the police could be 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 use person of interest, possible suspect, and even possible person of interest, to mean suspect.[citation needed]
Under the judicial systems of the U.S., once a decision is approved to arrest a suspect, or bind him over for trial, either by a prosecutor issuing an information, a grand jury issuing a true bill or indictment, or a judge issuing an arrest warrant, the suspect can then be properly called a defendant, or the accused. Only after being convicted is the suspect properly called the perpetrator.
Look up suspect or perpetrator in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Suspect Suspicious and Suspect.
^"Word Court". Theatlantic.com. July 1997. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
January 01, 1970
suspect, perpetrators, redirects, here, band, perpetrators, genocide, studies, perpetrators, victims, bystanders, other, uses, disambiguation, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, thes. Perpetrators redirects here For the band see The Perpetrators For use in genocide studies see perpetrators victims and bystanders For other uses see Suspect disambiguation This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Suspect news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2012 Learn how and when to remove this message The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject You may improve this article discuss the issue on the talk page or create a new article as appropriate March 2012 Learn how and when to remove this message This article is written like a personal reflection personal essay or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor s personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style February 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message Learn how and when to remove this message In law enforcement jargon a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense perp in 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 not known to 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 in police reports is a witness description of the suspect as a witness generally describes a perpetrator while a mug shot is of a suspect Frequently it is stated that police are looking for the suspect when there is no suspect the police could be 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 use person of interest possible suspect and even possible person of interest to mean suspect citation needed Under the judicial systems of the U S once a decision is approved to arrest a suspect or bind him over for trial either by a prosecutor issuing an information a grand jury issuing a true bill or indictment or a judge issuing an arrest warrant the suspect can then be properly called a defendant or the accused Only after being convicted is the suspect properly called the perpetrator See also editArguido CriminalReferences edit nbsp Look up suspect or perpetrator in Wiktionary the free dictionary Suspect Suspicious and Suspect Word Court Theatlantic com July 1997 Retrieved 2012 03 19 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Suspect amp oldid 1179548244, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
