Perp Walk for Former Bear Stearns Employees  Today many
newspapers ran a front-page photograph of ex–Bear Stearns fund
managers walking in handcuffs. It’s called a “perp
walk.” Instead of arresting people quietly, the police parade
them in handcuffs before the media. The walk refers to when the
whole spectacle is orchestrated in advance (i.e. “Are the TV
cameras out there?  Okay, let’s park the van 3 blocks away and
walk slowly over to the courthouse.”)  Federal Appellate Judge
David Sentelle, who was a former prosecutor himself, had
a terrific article condemning this pernicious practice.  Here’s
an excerpt:  Why does the prosecutor subject the accused to that
walk of shame in handcuffs before the media?  It still appears
to me to be no more nor less than an attempt improperly to sway
the thinking of potential jurors or subject to the punishment of
shame an accused who has not yet been convicted of anything….
The real shame, I think, is that of the prosecution more than
the defendant.   Unfortunately, the ful