Suspect
In the law enforcement jargon, 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. 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. A common error in police reports is a witness description of the 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.