Perp walk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term perp walk is an American slang term which refers to the police practice of intentionally parading an arrested suspect (or "perp", short for "alleged perpetrator") through a public place so that the media may observe and record the event. The suspect is typically handcuffed or otherwise restrained, and is often dressed in prison garb.
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[edit] Purpose and Procedure
In many countries (including the U.S.) it is common for arrested suspects to be concealed from public view while in police custody, so that the suspects' privacy and reputation is preserved prior to guilt being proved. However, transportation of an individual in police custody through a public place is often unavoidable in the normal course of police work.
A perp walk is intentional disregard for the privacy of a suspect, for the purpose of bolstering the image of law enforcement, to humiliate a suspect, or both. Perp walks are often done to politicians or businesspeople accused of white-collar crimes (whose reputations may be susceptible to damage by public spectacle).
[edit] Perp parades
Sometimes large numbers of suspects or prisoners are walked together, in chains or other restraints. This may occur during the transport of large numbers of suspects or prisoners. Foucault wrote about this practice as it occurred in France, for the "Transport of Convicts". More recently, Sheriff Joe Arpaio moved an entire prison population in a highly publicized march down public streets, in which the prisoners were stripped and handcuffed to chains. It has been alleged the stripping the prisoners for transport was a form of humiliation, but the sheriff made the argument that the reason was to prevent prisoners from hiding contraband in their clothes. March in underwear calls attention to new jails.
Such marches have been referred to in the media as perp parades, or as the parading of perps.
Sheriff Arpaio quotes:
“I put them on the street so everybody could see them. They can see this is what happens to people who break the law.”
[edit] Legality
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has recently issued two notable rulings on the legality of perp walks. In Lauro v. Charles (2000), the court ruled that perp walks which are staged solely for the media violate a suspect's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. However, in the case of Caldarola v. County of Westchester (2003), the court found that perp walks undertaken as part of a legitimate law enforcement action (such as transporting a suspect from jail to a courthouse), do not violate a suspect's rights. In addition, the court held that perp walks may serve legitimate government purposes, including educating the public about law-enforcement efforts, and enhancing the transparency of the criminal justice system.
[edit] Examples
Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was paraded in front of TV cameras several times as he was moved from place to place in Dallas Police Headquarters, even being allowed to speak to the media at times. The last of these "perp walks" infamously culminated in Oswald being shot dead by Jack Ruby while being led to a vehicle for transfer to the county jail.
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh received a particularly notorious perp walk, in which he was paraded before television cameras (by a group of a dozen FBI agents who had been selected for the "honor"), nearly three hours before he was officially arrested for the bombing[citation needed].
Notable non-violent offenders to receive perp walks include former WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan, and former Adelphia CEO John Rigas.
Some cultural clichés have arisen as the result of the perp walk:
- The perp's lawyers or assistants obscuring the camera with their hand
- The perp using a newspaper, shirt or other method to obscure his face
- White-collar perps being handcuffed in the front and having a jacket placed over their restraints
- Reviled perps wearing bullet-proof vests over their orange prison jumpsuits to prevent attempts on their life
