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How to Avoid the Perp Walk

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Wed Mar 22, 2006 at 11:14:34 PM EST
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Very few law enforcment practices are more inisidious than the perp walk. The National Law Journal has an article (free link here) on how to avoid them in white collar crime cases. It begins by telling us who was responsible for creating them: Rudy Giuliani.

Rudolph Giuliani is given credit for "patent[ing] the perp walk" for white-collar defendants during his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. ...When the time came to arrest three prominent Wall Street traders and bankers that his office accused of insider trading, Giuliani directed that the defendants be arrested at their offices, handcuffed and escorted from the building to a mob of press that had been previously alerted. Charges against one of the defendants were dismissed, although damage to his reputation based on the perp walk and media frenzy was irreparable.

Since the decision in federal cases whether to arrest or issue a summons is up to the prosecutor, there's often little that can be done to avoid it. The Second Circuit, however, has case law that says the perp walk is only constitutional if it satisfies a legitimate law enforcment purpose. (Lauro, 219 F.3d 202, 212.)

The U.S. Attorneys' Manual also can provide some help.

.... Specifically, the policy provides that, when an arrest warrant is to be executed, "no advance information will be provided to the news media about actions to be taken by law enforcement personnel, nor shall media representatives be solicited or invited to be present." [U.S. Attorneys' Manual" §1-7.600.]

Via Wall Street Journal's Law Blog which has some good comments, including this one:

"Perp walks" have nothing to do with the criminal justice system, and everything to do with the political ambitions of the prosecutor. See Spitzer, Giuliani, etc.

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    How to Avoid the Perp Walk | 16 comments (16 topical)
    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#1)
    by Lora on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 06:43:57 AM EST
    "Innocent until proven guilty" is at the very core of our judicial system, and a principle we should rigorously defend for all Americans, practice for anyone we detain anywhere, and promote worldwide. I am saddened to see how badly we as a country have fallen short of this basic ideal.

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 06:48:55 AM EST
    I have a three step method for avoiding perp walks: 1. Don't commit crimes (white-collar or otherwise). 2. Don't be complicit in criminal enterprises (that means you, Enron secretaries!) 3. Don't associate with people who you know are associated with criminal enterprises. Follow those three steps and you stand a great chance of never being subjected to a perp walk. Don't follow them and be ready to smile for the cameras, baby!

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#3)
    by legion on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 06:57:59 AM EST
    Wow. If only that were true, the entire Republican party, and every registered GOP voter would be shufflin' down the walk right now. A man can dream, can't he?

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 08:20:19 AM EST
    Chase T
    Follow those three steps and you stand a great chance of never being subjected to a perp walk. Don't follow them and be ready to smile for the cameras, baby!
    Are you for real? That is the most thoughtless statement ever. We are talking of subjecting innocent people to cruel and sadistic social humilating punishment without trial. Your statement assumes guilt as well as guilt by association. You would be very comfortable in Hitler's Germany or Stalins Russia. You couldn't be more Un-American.

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#5)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 08:24:13 AM EST
    I think the practice is wrong too, but the WSJ law blog's comment isn't entirely fair. After prosecutors demonstrate a willingness to use hardball tactics like the perp walk, they gain powerful leverage in negotiations with white collar suspects. In some cases, that leverage might be the only thing that puts the prosecutor on an equal footing with the high-powered, elite corporate defense team. Still smells, tho.

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 08:37:30 AM EST
    First:
    Are you for real? That is the most thoughtless statement ever.
    No, I'm not really for real but there is some truth in what I say right? Don't commit crimes, don't worry about perp walks! Obviously, I think the practice is sketchy and should be abandonded. Second:
    You would be very comfortable in Hitler's Germany or Stalins Russia. You couldn't be more Un-American.
    Moderator, my questionably offensive commment was deleted earlier. This is as equally offensive. Maybe my comment didn't pass the political ideology test and this does. Who knows. I would rather it stay up: I, as an American, abhor censorship of all kinds.

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 08:37:53 AM EST
    First:
    Are you for real? That is the most thoughtless statement ever.
    No, I'm not really for real but there is some truth in what I say right? Don't commit crimes, don't worry about perp walks! Obviously, I think the practice is sketchy and should be abandoned. Second:
    You would be very comfortable in Hitler's Germany or Stalins Russia. You couldn't be more Un-American.
    Moderator, my questionably offensive comment was deleted earlier. This is as equally offensive. Maybe my comment didn't pass the political ideology test and this does. Who knows. I would rather it stay up: I, as an American, abhor censorship of all kinds.

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 09:01:55 AM EST
    Chase, if you read the article you'd see that being innocent is no guarantee that you won't be humiliated by a politically ambitious prosecutor. But the media are as much to blame as the DAs, for treating arrests as convictions. They do far more to undermine the presumption of innocence than the prosecutors ever could.

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#9)
    by Darryl Pearce on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 09:33:11 AM EST
    Don't commit crimes, don't worry about perp walks!
    Ha-ha, great advice! Doesn't help if they make you do a perp-walk anyway....

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 10:51:21 AM EST
    Guess my snarkiness was lost on kth and Darryl (who, by the way, makes a great point about the media being to blame).

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 12:17:42 PM EST
    Chase T If you were just being snarky. I'm sorry for taking you so seriously. I'm sure Adolf and Joey got a little chuckle at my expense. Now let me ask you, what you would think if you found yourself being perp walked even though you followed all three of the little piggy rules you posted?

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 01:28:39 PM EST
    Ed: Good ol' Uncle Joe doesn't mind, I'm sure. How would I feel? Well, I would be kicking myself for hanging out with criminals. Or standing silently by while criminal activity happened under my nose. Ok, honestly, I wouldn't be too pleased. But I wonder (oh do I ever) how many people taken through public perp walks are actually innocent of the crimes they are accused of (and I don't mean exonerated of). My visceral reaction is very few. No matter: I would like to see perp walks ended. I would replace perp walks with public shaming of white-collar criminals. Is that a fair trade-off Ed?

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 02:20:40 PM EST
    Chase T I accept your trade assuming that they are Convicted of a Crime first! Now we can argue over what kind of shame should be employed and should it be decided by a judge or jury! LOL ;)

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 02:27:33 PM EST
    Oh yeah, that would be part of the sentence. And to pick the shaming, I have the perfect plan: we have an American Idol style national telephone poll and give people 4 options (nothing too physically painful, just enough to embarrass them thoroughly.) ;-) See, look--even some conservatives are against corporate raiders (they give the responsible business leaders a bad rap).

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 05:38:37 PM EST
    A friend had a client who was an unpopular local politician pursued by a local DA for various blue-colar stuff. The DA leaked his impending arrest to the local paper. But the reporter and photog got there too late; the cops had already rousted him at 7 a.m. and loaded him into a cruiser. The reporter and photog complained, and the DA investigator and cops thoughtfully took him out of the cruiser, walked him back into his house, then walked him back out again and to the cruiser for the cameras. Scumbags.

    Re: How to Avoid the Perp Walk (none / 0) (#17)
    by Johnny on Fri Mar 24, 2006 at 12:34:26 AM EST
    Whether or not they knowingly associated with criminals is not the case. The perp walk is designed to sway potential jurors minds pre-trial. The more guilty the media makes these people look, the better chance of conviction. Must be all those liberal criminal lovers in the media...

    How to Avoid the Perp Walk | 16 comments (16 topical)