Pediatrics

What parents need to know about the signs of child sexual abuse

Recent events, including the conviction and sentencing of George Pell for sexually abusing two children in the 1990s and the documentary airing allegations about Michael Jackson's abuse of two young boys, have made prominent ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Risk for violence perpetration up for people with schizophrenia

(HealthDay)—Individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders have an increased risk for perpetrating violent outcomes compared with community controls, according to a review and meta-analysis published online Dec. 22 in ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Identifying the bad guy

Flinders University psychologist Professor Neil Brewer is proposing a radical alternative to the traditional police line-up, arguing current eyewitness identification tests often fail to pick the culprit, or worse, wrongfully ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

One in three US youths report being victims of dating violence

About one in three American youths age 14-20 say they've been of victims of dating violence and almost one in three acknowledge they've committed violence toward a date, according to new research presented at the American ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Why it's 'homicide bomber' not 'suicide bomber'

A University of Adelaide suicide prevention expert has called for the term "homicide bomber" to replace the widely used "suicide bomber", because he says people who kill themselves while murdering others have few similarities ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

'Follow the leader' mentality a hallmark of gang rape

Physically violent rapes by multiple perpetrators are most frequently carried out by groups in which a strong leader is able to influence the behavior of followers, new research shows.

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Suspect

In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.

Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word suspect when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp for short). The perpetrator is the robber, assailant, counterfeiter, etc. --the person who actually 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 actually 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.

A common error in police reports is a witness description of the suspect (as a witness generally describes the perpetrator, while a mug shot is of the 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 have begun to use person of interest, possible suspect, and even possible person of interest, to mean suspect.

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.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA