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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
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"Person of interest"

I've been hearing the term "person of interest" on a lot of legal oriented shows describing a suspect. Is this some kind of PC lingo for "suspect", or some new category? Did some "suspects" threaten to sue for character defamation or something?
Larry
  

Top answer

[nq:1]I've been hearing the term "person of interest" on a lot of legal oriented shows describing a suspect. Is this some kind of PC lingo for "suspect",or some new category? [/nq] More or less.

  • [nq:1]I've been hearing the term "person of interest" on a lot of legal oriented shows describing a suspect.
  • Is this some kind of PC lingo for "suspect",or some new category?
  • [/nq] More or less.
  • This is a new(ish) item of police jargon for a suspect.
  • A current judicial inquiry is looking into the deportation of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, arrested in transit by US authorities and sent to his birthplace Syria, where he was tortured for a year before repatriation to Canada.
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8 Answers
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[nq:1]I've been hearing the term "person of interest" on a lot of legal oriented shows describing a suspect. Is this some kind of PC lingo for "suspect",or some new category? Did some "suspects" threaten to sue for character defamation or something?[/nq]
More or less. This is a new(ish) item of police
jargon for a suspect. A current judicial inquiry is looking into the deportation of Canad
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Larry G.:
[nq:2]I've been hearing the term "person of interest" on a ... of PC lingo for "suspect", or some new category? ...[/nq]
Don Phillipson:
[nq:1]More or less. This is a new(ish) item of police jargon for a suspect.[/nq]
Mmm, I wonder. A suspect is suspected of having done* something illegal, right? "Person of interest" sounds more general; in particular, it could include
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[nq:1]I've been hearing the term "person of interest" on a lot of legal oriented shows describing a suspect. Is this some kind of PC lingo for "suspect", or some new category? Did some "suspects" threaten to sue for character defamation or something?[/nq]
There was a recent case of multiple murders in which a man was identified as a "person of interest" because he was known to have attended a
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[nq:1]I've been hearing the term "person of interest" on a lot of legal oriented shows describing a suspect. Is this some kind of PC lingo for "suspect", or some new category? Did some "suspects" threaten to sue for character defamation or something?[/nq]
In the U.K. there has long been a distinction between somebody identified by the Police as a "suspect" and somebody who is merely "helping t
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[nq:1]I am also not clear in the U.K. environment what the motive or reasoning is behind when a person is ... undiscovered sins. Is it perhaps to pre-empt them from surfacing later and triggering a subsequent trial with subsequent additional penalties?[/nq]
Precisely.

Alec McKenzie
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[nq:2]I am also not clear in the U.K. environment what ... later and triggering a subsequent trial with subsequent additional penalties?[/nq]
[nq:1]Precisely.[/nq]
It saves the cost to the public purse of investigating and prosecuting the "further offences" to which the accused has confessed. Judging by court reports in the newspapers, I assume that the further offences must be of a simila
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[nq:1]I am also not clear in the U.K. environment what the motive or reasoning is behind when a person is ... undiscovered sins. Is it perhaps to pre-empt them from surfacing later and triggering a subsequent trial with subsequent additional penalties?[/nq]
You got it.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
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[nq:1]I've been hearing the term "person of interest" on a lot of legal oriented shows describing a suspect. Is this some kind of PC lingo for "suspect", or some new category? Did some "suspects" threaten to sue for character defamation or something?[/nq]
You really could've seen something happen, and therefore be a person of interest to the police, but not a suspect in the actual doings of th

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