Perp walk

Two police officers escorting a man wearing sunglasses and a blue shirt out of a door in a wall on a city street. The wall and door are painted with the logo of the New York City Police Department. Above it is a promotional banner with the words "The NYPD and community working together". In the foreground is a police car. People taking photographs and microphones on booms intrude on the edges of the image.
Actor Russell Crowe perp-walking before media on the way to his arraignment in New York City on an assault charge in 2005

A perp walk, walking the perp,[note 1] is a practice in law enforcement of taking an arrested suspect, usually right after arrest, out in public, usually from the police station to the vehicle to the courthouse and then after the court hearing back to the vehicle, creating an opportunity for a media frenzy to take photographs and video of the event. The defendant is typically handcuffed or otherwise restrained, and is sometimes dressed in prison garb. Within the United States the perp walk is most closely associated with New York City.[1][2] The practice rose in popularity in the 1980s under U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, when suspects charged with felonies were perp-walked.[3]

The perp walk arose incidentally from the need to transport a defendant from a police station to court after arrest. Law enforcement agencies often coordinate with the media in scheduling and arranging them. It has been criticized as a form of public humiliation that violates a defendant's right to privacy and is prejudicial to the presumption of innocence, but is defended as promoting transparency in the criminal justice system. American courts have permitted it on the grounds that it arises from the limitations and necessity of police procedure, but have also limited it only to those times when it is actually necessary.


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  1. ^ Rovzar, Chris (May 19, 2011). "Walk Like a Perp: A Brief History of Making an Entrance in Handcuffs". New York. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
  2. ^ Lauro v. Charles, 292 F.3d 202, 203 (2nd Cir. 2000).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Reuters story was invoked but never defined (see the help page).