perp walk

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

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 "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.

Purpose

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 can be intentional disregard for the privacy of a suspect, for the purpose of bolstering the image of law enforcement, to humiliate a suspect, both, or neither. Perp walks are often done to politicians or businesspeople accused of white-collar crimes (whose reputations may be susceptible to damage by public spectacle).

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. Michel 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, saying: "I put them on the street so everybody could see them. They can see this is what happens to people who break the law." It has been alleged^[who?] that 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.

Such marches have been referred to in the media as "perp parades", or as the "parading of perps".

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, July 28, 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, but also declared: "It is important, however, to understand the limitations of our holding. First, we do not hold that all, or even most, perp walks are violations of the Fourth Amendment (...)" (C, 46). In the case of Caldarola v. County of Westchester (2003): Caldarola, 343 F.3d at 572-73., 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.

Although Freeman possessed a privacy interest in not having his "perp walk" broadcast to the public, that privacy interest was outweighed by the County's legitimate government purposes ^[1].

—Caldarola v. County of Westchester (2003).

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 nearly three hours before he was officially arrested for the bombing.^[2]

Notable non-violent offenders to receive perp walks include former WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan, and former Adelphia CEO John Rigas.^[3] Both Rigas and Sullivan turned themselves in when they were being investigated. Despite their requests, law enforcement still invited the media to watch the former executives being handcuffed and hauled in.

See also

Look up perp walk in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

External links

• Investopedia: Perp Walk
• TalkLeft: Federal Appeals Court upholds "perp walks"
• Legal Watch: 'Perp Walks' serve legitimate government purposes
• The Crime Beat: Perp Walks
• Free Dictionary definition of "Perp Walk"
• Caldarola v. County of Westchester (2003): Caldarola, 343 F.3d at 572-73.