Perp walk. A perp walk, or walking the perp,[note 1] is a common custom of American law enforcement, the practice of taking an arrested suspect through a public place at some point after the arrest, creating an opportunity for the media 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] Originally only those accused of violent street crimes were subjected to it, but since Rudolph Giuliani had accused white-collar criminals perp-walked in the 1980s, it has been extended to almost every defendant. Procedure[edit] In the United States, once a person has been charged with a crime, the government may request that a judge either issue a summons for that person or an arrest warrant, which can lead to a perp walk.
This decision is largely at the discretion of the prosecutor; judges often defer to it.[3] Defendants[edit] French Shocked by I.M.F. Chief's 'Perp Walk' A Reuters video report on Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s ‘perp walk.’ As our colleagues Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold report, “The arrest in New York of one of France’s leading global figures and a possible next president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on charges of attempted rape produced an earthquake of shock, outrage, disbelief and embarrassment throughout France on Sunday.” Though horrified by those alleged crimes, the French press and political elite on Monday seemed perhaps more scandalized still by the images of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s brusque treatment by the New York police, and his exposure in the American media. “I found that image to be incredibly brutal, violent and cruel,” the former justice minister Elisabeth Guigou told France-Info radio on Monday, referring to widely published photographs of a beleaguered-looking Mr.
Strauss-Kahn, handcuffed and led by several New York police officers. “I am happy that we do not have the same judicial system.” As justice minister, Ms. Ms. Mr. Mr. La justice américaine est violente" Eva Joly - une vidéo Actu et Politique. The Front Row: The Perp Walk Is Not a French Tradition. Among the more incisive French responses to the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on charges of sexual assault comes from Eva Joly, the French magistrate, representative to the European Parliament, and possible 2012 presidential candidate (for the Green Party), whose remarks on radio today are quoted, in the Communist daily L’Humanité, about the reporting of Strauss-Kahn’s arrest and the American judicial system: Funny to think that a leftist would want an international banker to get preferential treatment; the perp walk seems to have no French counterpart. But Joly’s more substantial remarks, regarding the differences between the two countries’ judicial systems, deserves consideration, especially from a cinematic perspective.
The documentary filmmaker Raymond Depardon has gotten inside the French system with an extraordinary pair of films. Life without the Fifth Amendment. P.S. See What I Mean About the Perp Walk? I hate to be an old I-told-you-so, but…. Shortly after Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested and charged with rape and assorted other major crimes, he was subjected to a perp walk, led into court in handcuffs before hundreds of photographers. The pictures appeared in just about every newspaper and TV news show on the planet. Now it seems, the case has fallen apart, with the alleged victim’s testimony severely compromised.
The judge, while not dismissing the charges, has released Strauss-Kahn on his own recognizance–not exactly normal in a rape case. One has the sense the charges will be dropped before long. Of course, Strauss-Kahn has lost his job as head of the International Monetary Fund, and his once leading candidate status to run against President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s French elections is also gone. There are two things, at the very least, to take away from this debacle. This is not America at its best. The Pernicious Perp Walk. Editor's Note: This column is reprinted with permission of the Washington Examiner. Click here to read it at that site. I have to admit, I found the Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) rape case irresistible. It stroked so many of my political prejudices: distrust of globalist bureaucrats, disdain for “public servants” living high on the hog, and residual annoyance with the French.
In DSK, the sanctimonious former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), you had the Platonic form of the “champagne socialist,” a character whose flaws would be too over-the-top even for an Ayn Rand villain. He was the perfect metaphor for the IMF, that “fund for nation-rape,” as my colleague Doug Bandow describes it, “an institution of privilege that routinely acts to the disadvantage of the vulnerable.” Or… maybe you can, because last week the case against DSK imploded due to serious doubts about his accuser’s credibility. Irritating as it might be to admit it, the French have a point. I’ll say. Bloomberg Changes Mind About Perp Walks, Now Calls Them "Outrageous" Inevitable Perp Walk Backlash Follows DSK Prosecution Failure - Global. Presumption of Innocence Lost. Share Editor's Note: This article—warning of the media's rush to judge Dominique Strauss-Kahn—was originally posted on May 24. When Dominique Strauss-Kahn first mulled over the idea of running for president of France, he professed concern that his vulnerabilities in the coming election would be the trifecta of “money, women, his being Jewish.”
In the week since a housekeeper at New York’s Sofitel Hotel alleged that he assaulted and attempted to rape her, all three of those elements have converged to render any thought of a political future for Strauss-Kahn entirely beside the point. On the surface, Strauss-Kahn’s troubles are all about “women.” He has long had a reputation for salacious advances. On the surface, furthermore, the case can be framed as one individual charging another with sexual crimes, period. Unfortunately, what has unfolded is not that simple. First, we do not know what happened. Secondly, it is Dominique Strauss-Kahn who has been charged in this matter. No doubt.