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perp walk

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From perp +‎ walk. First use appears c. 1980. See cite below.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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perp walk (plural perp walks)

  1. (chiefly US, idiomatic, law enforcement) The intentional public display before news cameras of a person in police custody, especially someone famous or notorious, for the purpose of satisfying public interest, demonstrating the effectiveness of the authorities, or shaming the person.
    • 1980, Paul Fussell, Abroad - British Literary Traveling Between the Wars, page 114:
      ... as well-dressed masters of the universe did the ritualized perp walk with their expensive Armani suit jackets draped over their handcuffs.
    • 2002 August 12, Daniel Eisenberg et al., “Jail To The Chiefs?”, in Time:
      FBI agents gave former WorldCom executives Scott Sullivan and David Myers the same star treatment, parading the handcuffed quarry in an early-morning perp walk and prompting Sullivan's lawyer to complain about “the unfair taint of the current political climate.”
    • 2024 December 19, Eric Levenson, Ray Sanchez, “A whirlwind day for Luigi Mangione ends with new charges, revelations from a notebook and transfer to a federal prison”, in CNN[1], archived from the original on 20 December 2024:
      The copter’s arrival at the Wall Street heliport led to an extraordinary scene: [Luigi] Mangione, surrounded by a swarm of gun-toting NYPD officers, in a slow, lengthy “perp walk” from the helicopter into a black van, with cameras catching every step.

See also

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Further reading

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