So, a question occurred to me this morning as I was watching the news: when did the media stop calling people who are suspected of a crime “suspects” and start calling them “persons of interest”? Is it some kind of political correctness thing? Or maybe it’s the result of some nervous nelly in the legal department who’s afraid they might get sued if somebody feels insulted by being called a suspect? But isn’t that what a person of interest is? Why else would they be “of interest” if they weren’t suspected of being involved?
I know I obsess too much about this sort of thing, but it seems to me that our language has undergone a major evolution over the past 20 years, and I don’t think it’s for the better in a lot of cases. Perfectly good words have been replaced by euphemism and spin, and as a result, English is less precise and less colorful, governed more by a perceived need for caution than to accurately describe things. Yeah, we’re trying to avoid hurting people’s feelings, which is laudable, but maybe our energies would be better spent in strengthening our resistance to being hurt, if that makes sense. To put it another way, I wish people would stop being so damn touchy about everything.
I’m reminded of an old Star Trek episode, actually. The Enterprise has encountered what appears to be Abraham Lincoln. Captain Kirk is willing to accept him as such, anyhow, and offers him a tour of the ship with full honors. During the tour, this 19th Century man spies Lt. Uhura and says, “What a lovely Negress.” She gives him an odd look, and he stumbles all over himself to apologize for what he believes has been an anachronistic insult. To which she says something along the lines of, “in our century, we no longer fear words.”
How would it be?
Interesting.. on a missing teen story on CNN they say that someone is considered a “person of interest” and not a suspect. I wonder if the term suspect is tried, found guilty and hung to some people.. person of interest is less vague? It’s interesting… or matter of suspicion…
Hey Jas, let me kind of clarify that for you a little bit. You know me, little miss “Criminal Justice”. A “Person of Interest” is a phrase used by law enforcement when announcing the name of someone involved in a criminal investigation who has not yet been arrested or formally accused of a crime. (Basicall the police don’t have enough evidence to really charge the person with the crime.) If the investigation escalates and law enforcement then finds enough evidence to actually charge this person with the crime, they will then become an actual “Suspect”. Hope this helps you out.
Oh, and if you’re referring to the Kelsey Smith story, they found her remains about 2 hours ago. I’m really bugged about this. I get myself too damn involved in these stories and then it’s all I can think about. It’s just sad. Didn’t know if that was the story you meant, but I kind of think it is….
Interesting.. on a missing teen story on CNN they say that someone is considered a “person of interest” and not a suspect. I wonder if the term suspect is tried, found guilty and hung to some people.. person of interest is less vague? It’s interesting… or matter of suspicion…
Steph, the Kelsey case is indeed the one I was talking about. I hadn’t heard they’d found her body. Sad. Pretty girl, too.
I understand what you’re saying as far as the definitions go, but it still seems to me that the two terms really are interchangeable in the average person’s mind. And it does seem like the “person of interest” usage has only come along recently. Although it may be that I just haven’t paid attention.
That’s actually very true. And if I’m not mistaken, there were reasons for this if I’m not mistaken where there was a case where “Person of interest” was actually being called “suspect” and eventually not charged. I believe there was a big hoo-ha over the whole thing having to do with the “suspect” feeling as though he were being tried and hung in the media, and so we now have “Person of interest”. In my opinion however, most of the time the person of interest very quickly or at least eventually does indeed become the suspect. Very stupid, but of course I guess law enforcement believes in being more “P.C.” nowadays??? Who knows. I agree with you, just call it what it is and to hell with the rest.