A suspect is a person believed to be connected to a crime, but not yet positively identified as the perpetrator. They may be taken into custody for questioning and asked to provide samples. If formally tried, they become the defendant. Police may use the term “person of interest” to avoid negative associations with “suspicious.” Suspects are entitled to legal rights and can only be held for a short time before being charged or released.
A suspect is a person believed to be connected to a crime. Commonly, law enforcement agencies think the suspect is the perpetrator, the person who actually committed a crime. Depending on the nature of a case, several suspects may emerge and be eliminated with the assistance of detective work, or the police may only have one suspect to work with. Sometimes no suspicion emerges. If a witness positively identifies someone as the person who committed a crime, that person is more properly known as the perpetrator.
The difference between suspect, accused, and assailant can get a little tricky, and these terms are sometimes misused, especially in the press. When law enforcement personnel believe that someone has committed a crime without any hard evidence, that person is considered a suspect. The suspects may have behaved in an unusual way, left traces at the crime scene, and so on, but have not been positively identified as the perpetrators of the crime. Suspects may be temporarily taken into custody for questioning and may also be asked to present samples of hair, fibers and so on to see if they can be matched to evidence found at the crime scene.
If a suspect is formally tried, he becomes the defendant. The accused is entitled to a number of rights which are not available to a suspect, in recognition of the fact that the accused must be able to mount an effective defense in court. If the outcome of a trial is a guilty verdict, the defendant becomes the convict and is recorded as the perpetrator.
Police sometimes use the term “person of interest” to describe a suspect. This term is used in part because of the negative associations with the word “suspicious.” Many members of the general public confuse suspects with perpetrators, and when it is announced that someone is a suspect in a case, the public may assume that this means that he actually committed the crime. A person of interest, on the other hand, is simply someone the police would like to have a conversation with.
The use of the term “suspect” to describe someone who may be involved in a crime dates back to the late 16th century. Since then, the legal system has changed dramatically and there are many steps between being named a suspect and being convicted of a crime. Suspects are also entitled to certain legal rights in many nations, such as the right not to implicate themselves in a crime, and typically can only be held in custody for a short time before being formally charged or released.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
