Suspect
In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States 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.
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Famous quotes containing the word suspect:
“There’s always something suspect about an intellectual on the winning side.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“A noble heart cannot suspect in others the pettiness and malice that it has never felt.”
—Jean Racine (1639–1699)
“An upright heart does not suspect others; one who suspects others has no upright heart.”
—Chinese proverb.