New York, NY – NYC Mayor: Perp Walks Are Outrageous

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    AP File - Doing the perp walk, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (2nd R), head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), departs a New York Police Department precinct in New York late May 15, 2011.New York, NY – Mayor Bloomberg did a flip-flop today in the direction of French critics who’ve denounced the NYPD’s “perp walk” of Dominique Strauss-Kahn by calling such public displays “outrageous” and a “circus.”

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    “We’ve done perp walks for the benefit of newspapers and television for a long time,” said the mayor.

    “I’ve always thought the perp walks were outrageous. That’s only my view. Nobody’s asked me and I have no say in it. Whatever.
    “It does if somebody is innocent — and even if they’re guilty they’re not guilty until they’re convicted — and yet we villify them for the benefit of theater, for the circus. You know they did it in Roman times, too. This is nothing new.”

    The mayor remarks, made when he was asked about the Strauss-Kahn case at a Brooklyn press conference, were strikingly different than what he said a couple of months ago when French public officials questioned why Strauss-Kahn had to walk through a gauntlet of cameras with his hands cuffed leaving a police sation.

    “You know, if you don’t want to do the perp walk, don’t do the crime,” Bloomberg said May 17.

    “I don’t have a lot of sympathy for that. Our judicial system works when the public can see the alleged perpetrators.”
    Perhaps it was a premonition, but the mayor also cautioned:

    “The really sad thing is if somebody is accused, does the perp walk and turns out not to have been guilty. And then society really should look in the mirror and say, ‘You know, we’d better be more careful next time.'”


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    11 Comments
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    CommonSense
    CommonSense
    12 years ago

    Finally…a voice of reason in our insane bloodlust society.

    seagul47
    seagul47
    12 years ago

    Perp walks are similar to “motzi shem ra”–first you spread the news (on page 1, big headlines) and then when the person is found “not guilty” or even worse, the case is dropped–it’s on page 5 in small print.

    All that people remember is that he was accused. In people’s minds, “if you’re accused, you must be guilty.”

    then what. reputations are ruined. even if he has money (or in his case, his wife’s).

    Askupeh
    Askupeh
    12 years ago

    There is no such a thing as being more careful next time. There will always be the guilty and the innocent; but when the same befalls both of them, then we as a society are corrupt. I think that they should pass legislation that until someone is found guilty their picture cannot be published. It’s easy to talk; but let’s see Mr. Mayor, that we do something about it; and not have a Roman circus and gladiators next time.

    12 years ago

    Bloomberg a pathetic looser. He has no true beliefs or core values. He will say and do anything as long as the political wind is blowing in that direction. He pronounced Strauss-Kahn guilty before a trial, now flip flops because it looks like he”ll be released.

    12 years ago

    This is just another glaring example of Edom’s ‘justice’ system, in which appointment to the judiciary is political, judges chose their cases, and are able to do all manner of backroom deals without accountability. Does not the Rambam rule that one is obligated to go live in a country that has a fair justice system? The USA does not meet that criterion.