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The Editors' Blog
Top editors answer questions and talk about The N&O's print and online news reporting. Contributors are John Drescher, executive editor, and senior editors Dan Barkin, Steve Riley and Linda Williams. Email John with questions or suggestions.
The Perp Walk
Submitted by danbarkin on 06/20/2008 - 05:43
On the front of our Business section today was a photo of a former Bear Sterns hedge fund manager, Matthew Tannin, being helped into a car by a federal law enforcement agent. This is what is known among journalists as the "perp walk." Perp being short for perpetrator.
This is the occasion, after an arrest is made, when the accused is being taken from one place -- like a lockup -- to another place -- like a courthouse. Or maybe from the courthouse to another place. This is usually the best opportunity for photographers to get pictures or video of the perp.
In high profile cases, the perp walk takes on special symbolism. It conveys a message from law enforcement: We got him. We are on the case.
In cases of white-collar crime, it has taken on an even greater significance. It is law enforcement's way of sending the message that even though the accused may be a millionaire and a big-deal executive, he is going to be treated like a common criminal.
There is nothing that focuses the minds of big-shots on Wall Street like the sight of a former colleague being marched in handcuffs past a swarm of cameras by federal agents. Sometimes the federal agents actually walk into the big Wall Street firms and march the accused right out of his office, in front of co-workers.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, when he was a federal prosecutor, is said to have raised the executive perp walk to an art form. Prosecutors have increasingly used the threat of a perp walk in negotiations with targets of their white-collar investigations. Here's a good article on the history and nuances of the technique.
One thing that you have to keep in mind when you see photos or videos of Big Shots being perp walked is that -- in the end -- the government still has to prove the case. The guy that you see being cuffed and put into the back of a car probably has a battery of $700 an hour lawyers at his disposal, who will go up against federal lawyers who do not make $700 an hour. Try $60 an hour. There is a good chance that the perp being walked today will never see the inside of a prison cell when all is said and done.
The feds know this, in the back of their minds, which may be one big reason for the handcuffs and the cameras. Because even if the accused win in court, they'll still have to live down the images of being perp walked being seen on CNN by everyone who went to high school with them.
--Dan Barkin
About the blogger
Dan Barkin, senior editor/online, is a veteran of more than three decades in journalism and came to the N&O in 1996 as business editor. He holds a bachelor's in business administration from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and a master's in journalism from the University of Maryland. He and his wife live in Clayton with their two cats. Want to post a comment?
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Comments
Well, I don't know anything
Mon, 01/19/2009 - 11:19 — fireball11Well, I don't know anything about John's questions, though he seems a bit unhappy. :) I think the perp walk is a great thing, I think the public has every right to stare at the face of the accused and then use that to hold it against them in the future, should he be released. If he were to be released I am sure you would not want to hire him to run your company.
Mike
http://jobs.realestatelicensedirect.com
Perp walks
Tue, 08/12/2008 - 10:19 — killerleftI'm afraid John in Carolina has exposed the N&O again. Bad journalism followed by months of denials never really goes away, does it?
Photojournalism double standards at the N&O
Fri, 06/20/2008 - 10:40 — jwmakmDear Editor Barkin:
Your post today raises a number of important questions concerning N&O photojournalism.
The N&O knew in Spring 2006 that under the worst circumstances only three of the Duke lacrosse players could have been guilty of the wildly improbable gang rape, beating and robbery the liar Crystal Mangum claimed occurred.
Nevertheless, the N&O when ahead and published a large, color photo of team members engaged in the “cover your heads with jackets” type perp walk we often seen Mafiosos engage in.
But, as you know, the players were covering their heads not because of shame for who they were, but because they knew then they would be targeted by hate groups and other unstable people inflamed by false and racially divisive media coverage.
The N&O on Apr. 2, 2006 published a photo of the Vigilante poster containing face photos and the names of 43 white members of the lacrosse team. You published it after concerns for the players’ safety had been expressed. I believe you were the only daily in North Carolina to do so.
The N&O's publication of the Vigilante poster photo came a few weeks after the N&O promised angry Muslims it would not reproduce even one of the Danish cartoons which were the subject of an international story following riots and killings by outraged Muslims in many countries.
Based on the N&O’s decisions in the three instances I cite, a reasonable person will conclude the N&O has double standards for its photojournalism.
It is alright at the N&O to publish the Duke Lax perp walk and Vigilante poster photos because the people pictured are white males. However, in similar news circumstances we can be confident the N&O wouldn't have published those photos had the subjects been black males.
Another double standard the N&O practices can be summarized as follows: Do nothing that will anger Muslims here in the Triangle or endanger McClatchy journalists in the Middle East and elsewhere. On the other hand, when white males are accused by liars like Crystal Mangum and Mike Nifong and enabled by many at Duke, in “advocacy” and “rights” groups, and cheered on by the liberal/leftist media, it’s open season on those white males. Anything goes.
I’d like to think the N&O will adopt a single photojournalism standard, but I seriously doubt it.
In any case, Editor Barkin, I’ve once again called these very serious matters to the N&O’s attention.
I hope you’ll comment. If you do, I’ll publish your comment in full at my blog.
Sincerely,
John in Carolina