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In law enforcement jargon, asuspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing acrime. Police and reporters in theUnited States often use the wordsuspect as a jargon when referring to theperpetrator 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 notknown 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 inpolice reports is awitness description of the suspect (as a witness generally describes a perpetrator, while amug shot is of a suspect). Frequently it is stated that police are looking for the suspect, when there is no suspect; the policecould 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 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 toarrest a suspect, or bind him over fortrial, either by aprosecutor issuing aninformation, agrand jury issuing atrue bill orindictment, or ajudge issuing anarrest warrant, the suspect can then be properly called adefendant, or the accused. Only after beingconvicted is the suspect properly called the perpetrator.
Suspect Suspicious and Suspect.
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