What is the Definition for Person of Interest?
Technically, there is no legal definition for the phrase ‘a person of interest’. The person could be a suspect in a crime, but they might just as easily have been a witness. Perhaps the police believe that a person has some supplementary information that could help them solve their case. A person of interest has not been charged with any crime. Law enforcement agencies often use the phrase person of interest to avoid the negative connotations implied by other words such as ‘suspect’ or ‘alleged’. They want to make sure that they are not implying that the person has been charged with any crime. One of the first very public cases where law enforcement officials used the phrase ‘person of interest’ was that of the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta. Richard Jewell was named as a person of interest in that case, resulting in a long ordeal where he was persecuted by the press. Eventually a different suspect in the case was charged with the bombing and Jewell was cleared by the Justice Departme
