Suspect - wikipedia Suspect `` Perpetrators '' redirects here. For the band, see The Perpetrators. For other uses, see Suspect ( disambiguation ). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( March 2012 ) The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. ( March 2012 ) In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense ( perp in dated US 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 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 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 a perpetrator, while a mug shot is of 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 in the early 21st century began 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. See also Arguido Criminal Perp walk References Look up suspect or perpetrator in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Jump up ^ `` Word Court ''. Theatlantic.com. Retrieved 2012 - 03 - 19. Criminal procedure ( investigation ) Criminal investigation Arrest warrant Search warrant Probable cause Knock - and - announce Exigent circumstance Reasonable suspicion Search and seizure Search of persons Arrest Detention Right to silence Miranda warning Arguido Suspect Criminal prosecution Statute of limitations Nolle prosequi Bill of attainder Precognition Grand jury Indictment Ex post facto law Criminal jurisdiction Deferred prosecution agreement Extradition Habeas corpus Bail Inquisitorial system Adversarial system Charges and pleas Alford plea Arraignment Information Indictment Plea Peremptory plea Nolo contendere Plea bargain Presentence investigation Related areas Criminal defenses Criminal law Evidence Legal abuse Criminal justice portal Law portal Wiktionary Wikibooks Wikiquote WikiSource Wikinews Wikiversity Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suspect&oldid=799484981 '' Categories : Criminal law Law enforcement terminology Criminals by status Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from March 2012 All articles needing additional references Articles with limited geographic scope from March 2012 USA - centric Talk About Wikipedia Беларуская Čeština Deutsch Eesti فارسی 한국어 Հայերեն Bahasa Indonesia ಕನ್ನಡ Қазақша Lietuvių Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Simple English Slovenčina Suomi Türkçe Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 8 September 2017, at 00 : 36. About Wikipedia

Question: who is the person who commits a crime
Answer: perpetrator