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Suspect

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Perpetrator )
An Iraqi police officer detains a suspect during a training exercise

A suspect is a person believed to have done something wrong, committed a crime or caused something bad to happen. [1] In criminal law a person who is under suspicion or under investigation by law enforcement is considered a suspect. [2] A prime suspect is believed by police to be the suspect who most probably committed a crime. [3] A formal suspect may be arrested when the facts and circumstances would lead a reasonable person to believe a suspect may have committed a crime or is about to. [2] In common law countries a suspect may have a defense attorney present while being questioned. [4] The attorney may advise his or her client (the suspect) how to answer questions. [4] Once a suspect is charged with a crime he or she becomes a defendant . [5]

Questioning a suspect [ change | change source ]

Common law countries [ change | change source ]

In the past in common law countries, a suspect could not be questioned against their will . In the United Kingdom , under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 , police can require suspects to be questioned. [6] Suspects are now required to listen to all questions, but may legally refuse to answer a question. [6] In the UK once a suspect has been formally charged, no questions may be asked. In France , however, a suspect may still be questioned after being charged. The suspect may still legally refuse to answer any question. [6] In the United States , once a suspect becomes the prime suspect, they must be advised of their Miranda rights before they can be questioned. [3] Then they may be formally questioned, with a defence attorney present if the suspect requests one. [3]

Civil law countries [ change | change source ]

In civil law countries a suspect may be questioned by police and the judiciary . This is to decide if there is enough evidence against a subject to bring the suspect to trial. [7] There are three phases to the investigation. The first phase is a suspect is questioned by police. In the second phase the suspect is questioned by a magistrate (called a juge d'instruction in France ). [7] The third phase is the trial conducted by a state prosecutor in front of a panel of judges or magistrates. [7] Then, if the investigation trial shows a case is strong enough, it is brought before a tribunal for trial. [7]

Terms confused with suspect [ change | change source ]

Person of interest [ change | change source ]

A person of interest is a non-legal term for someone police may be interested in. In some cases a person of interest may simply be someone who has information related to an investigation or could be a witness . [8] Police may be suspicious of someone, but do not have enough evidence to justify calling them a suspect. [8] Sometimes police also misuse the term 'person of interest' to mean the suspect. [9] Another use of the term is by writers meaning simply an interesting person .

An interrogation room in Germany

Perpetrator [ change | change source ]

Police and reporters sometimes misuse the term suspect to mean the perpetrator. A suspect is someone suspected of committing a crime. A perpetrator (slang perp ) is a person who actually committed a crime. [9] Good police work will eliminate suspects until they find the perpetrator (also called a culprit). [10]

In the US and England , police have broad powers to arrest and detain suspects. In Canada police supposedly do not have that power. [10] In a crime that gets a lot of publicity , police will sometimes detain a suspect for a period of time, then release them with no charges filed. [10] Somehow the news media is informed of the release and a swarm of reporters and paparazzi are there to take pictures for next day's tabloids. [10] Generally this is for a day or two in England. [10] In the US it can be up to 72 hours. [11] This process encourages the public to think of suspects as guilty , trusting the police would not arrest innocent people. [12] This is sometimes called "rounding up the usual suspects". [12] Sometimes police will call a suspect a perpetrator or person of interest and question them without giving a Miranda warning. [13] This is a technicality since in the US police are required to give a Miranda warning if arresting a suspect. If after arresting and then questioning a suspect, police may decide they have the perpetrator. Then they will hand the case over to the district attorney . [13]

References [ change | change source ]

  1. ↑ "suspect, noun [C]" . Cambridge Dictionaries Online . Retrieved 2 August 2015 .
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Suspect Law & Legal Definition" . USLegal.com . Retrieved 2 August 2015 .
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Prime Suspect Law & Legal Definition" . USLegal.com . Retrieved 2 August 2015 .
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Vivienne O’Connor, 'Common Law and Civil Law Traditions', INPROL (March, 2012), p. 24
  5. ↑ "Court Terminology" . Office of the District Attorney . Davidson & Davie Counties . Retrieved 20 July 2017 .
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 John Bell, Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, Vol 6, 2003-2004 (Oxford: Hart Publishing Ltd, 2005), p. 211
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Charles Maechling, Jr., 'Borrowing from Europe's Civil Law Tradition', ABA Journal , Vol 77 (January 1991), p. 61
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chen, Stephanie (17 September 2009). "What does 'person of interest' mean? Nothing" . CNN . Retrieved 20 July 2017 .
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Shaw, Donna (February 2006). "Dilemma of Interest" . AJR . Philip Merrill College of Journalism . Retrieved 20 July 2017 .
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Clay Powell (17 May 2011). "The difference between a suspect and culprit" . The Londoner. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016 . Retrieved 2 August 2015 .
  11. ↑ "How Long May Police Hold Suspects Before Charges Must be Filed?" . FindLaw/Thomson Reuters . Retrieved 2 August 2015 .
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Roger J. R. Levesque, The Psychology and Law of Criminal Justice Processes (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2005), pp. 3?4
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Role of the Police" . American Justice Center. Archived from the original on 22 April 2015 . Retrieved 2 August 2015 .

Other websites [ change | change source ]

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