Exactly what is the difference between a suspect and a person of interest?

[bluestateguy]

Is a person of interest like a suspect-lite, or a potential suspect?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Let's put it this way... he was IN the video which shows the little girl being sexually abused....

I have a feeling they don't want to scare him away but can't wait to get their hands on the @@@hole.

[TomInTib]

2. They would like to talk to a "person of interest"...

They would like to arrest a "suspect".

[HardWorkingDem]

3. A "person of interest" is a sly way of...

avoiding the tag of "suspect", thus, avoiding US Constitutional protections. We can thank the Bush Administration for yet another wonderful thing.

[mudesi]

4. Ass covering

If they call him a suspect and plaster his face all over TV and it turns out they are wrong, he might be able to sue for defamation.

[LisaL]

6. Right. I think they started calling everyone a person of interest

rather than a suspect after Richard Jewell's fiasco.

[Crabby Appleton]

11. Correct -

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/lazarus/20050526.html

"Once exonerated, Jewell sued a bunch of his accusers and achieved some substantial settlements. NBC paid him more than $500,000 to settle a suit stemming from comments by news anchor Tom Brokaw that suggested that the FBI must have had significant evidence against Jewell, given that it had named him.

The lesson the police and press gleaned from the Jewell debacle, however, was not the right one. They should have learned that prematurely naming suspects is a really bad idea - as is suggesting that suspects must have been named because there's strong evidence against them.

But what the police and press learned, instead, was simply that using the loaded term "suspect" opens the door to potential legal liability.

Thus, a euphemism was born. After all, calling someone a "person of interest" doesn't suggest official suspicion or evidence of guilt. Wink; wink."

[HardWorkingDem]

9. Seriously, it is more than that....

go back and look at the history of this "person of interest" crap. It started with the Bush fiasco of a terrorist behind every tree and is a subtle way to avoid applying constitutional protections to what is now almost everyone.

Then law enforcement picked up on this trick and started using it.

[CoffeeCat]

5. If he is the guy in the video...

...I would be honored to donate a ten-gallon drum full of starving fire ants and a wading
pool filled with honey.

[TankLV]

8. I'll feel sorry - for the ants...

[TankLV]

7. maybe the same between "sight" and "vision"...

think they're the same meaning?

I went out on a blind date last week - mine was a sight but my friend's was a vision...

[HardWorkingDem]

10. Nope...not at all....

there is a HUGE difference between "person of interest" and "suspect", especially when it comes to case law.

[FloridaJudy]

12. I do believe in Great Britain

He'd be referred to as someone they'd like to "assist the police in their inquiries". The English have really strict anti-libel laws: odd, since their tabloids are much juicier than ours.