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In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a person, known or unknown, suspected of committing a crime. Some systems of police procedure or legal terminology refer to the suspect as the actor, or as the perpetrator of the offense (perp for short).
Under the judicial systems of the U.S., once the identity of a suspect is known, and a decision is approved to arrest him or bind him over for trial, either by a prosecutor issuing an information, a grand jury issuing a true bill or indictment, or a judge issuing an arrest warrant, the suspect can then be properly called a defendant.
Much of the tension in murder mysteries results from there being a number of equally-likely suspects. A device often used in these mysteries is the culprit not being on the original list of suspects.