Prime suspect
Encyclopedia
A prime suspect is the person who is considered by the law enforcement agency
investigating a crime to be the most likely suspect
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There are various reasons a person may be considered a prime suspect. These include:
Law enforcement agency
In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...
investigating a crime to be the most likely suspect
Suspect
In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word suspect when referring to the...
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There are various reasons a person may be considered a prime suspect. These include:
- Being positively identified as the only person seen at or near the scene of the crime around the time the crime occurred
- Being linked by some form of forensic evidence, such as DNA
- Being named by witnessWitnessA witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
(es) - Having the most likely motiveMotive (law)A motive, in law, especially criminal law, is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action. Motive, in itself, is not an element of any given crime; however, the legal system typically allows motive to be proven in order to make plausible the accused's reasons for committing a crime, at...
to commit the crime - Having knowledge that one who committed such a crime would require
- Having a history of committing crimes with some resemblance
- Having confessed to the act. Confession does not necessarily equal guilt, since confessions may be made falsely or may be coercedCoercionCoercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
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