perp walk

noun

plural perp walks

: the public escorting of an arrested individual (as from a courthouse to a police car) by law enforcement officials

Oh, the perp walk: A glorious American tradition in which a person not yet convicted of any crime is paraded handcuffed before the media as an instantly recognizable icon of guilt.

—Chris Rovzar

Sheriffs sometimes put prisoners in orange during perp walks in front of reporters …

—Christopher Beam

… U.S. District Court judge Allen G. Schwartz ruled that the so-called "perp walk" serves no legitimate law enforcement purpose other than to "humiliate" the defendant and "titillate" the public.

—David Noack

At the perp walk, the federal prosecutor told the press that they were conducting "extensive discussions" about a plea bargain …

—Carolyn Meinel

Examples of perp walk in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

An officer of the law takes me downtown for public inebriation, and my perp walk is captured for posterity by a jerk with a camera phone and a blog. —IEEE Spectrum, 22 Feb. 2010

Several days after the Capitol Hill perp walk, the Internet Association suddenly reversed course. —Christine Biederman, WIRED, 18 June 2019

New Yorkers were heard shouting at one of the two men arrested in the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller during his perp walk on Wednesday. —Danielle Wallace, Fox News, 27 Mar. 2024

Now, Myrta Romanos, 47, who lived with the father and son, has been arrested and charged with three felonies: Abuse of a corpse, tampering of evidence, and altering/destroying/or concealing a human corpse, police announced at a press conference following her own perp walk Wednesday afternoon. —Emily Palmer, Peoplemag, 11 Jan. 2024

His father, Ramón Preciado, 53, who was brought out in a perp walk just before his son, was charged with abuse of a corpse, after allegedly helping his son discard the vehicle with the couple’s dead bodies inside. —Emily Palmer, Peoplemag, 11 Jan. 2024

Watch the perp walk as Swilley arrives at the Marion County Jail ALLEGED ‘BLACK WIDOWER’ ACCUSED OF MURDERING 6TH WIFE, APPARENT HITMAN After the crime, Swilley allegedly went to great lengths to cover it up, the sheriff said. —Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 6 Nov. 2023

Watch the perp walk as Swilley arrives at the Marion County Jail —Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 6 Nov. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1986, in the meaning defined above