As Strauss-Kahn Case Unravels, Mayor Bloomberg Reverses on Perp Walks - Metropolis - WSJ

As Strauss-Kahn Case Unravels, Mayor Bloomberg Reverses on Perp Walks - Metropolis - WSJ

"When New York police officers led then-International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on a controversial perp walk after his May arrest on sexual assault charges, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had tough words.

“If you don’t want to do the perp walk, don’t do the crime,” he said then.

Now, following news that the state’s case against Strauss-Kahn has all but collapsed, the mayor has reversed his position on perp walks, which are staged to allow media outlets to photograph handcuffed criminal defendants. The so-called perp walk enraged many in France, who considered the treatment of Strauss-Kahn to be barbaric.

“We have done perp walks for the benefit of newspapers and television for a long time — I’ve always thought that the perp walks were outrageous,” Bloomberg said on Tuesday when asked about the images of Strauss-Kahn, looking angry and rumpled following his arrest on sexual assault charges in May.

“But that’s only my view,” the mayor said. “Nobody’s asked me. And I have no say in it. Whatever.”

Since Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, New York City prosecutors’ case has weakened considerably, and may lead to the dismissal of charges against the man once seen as a likely future president of France.

A defendant is presumed innocent until proven otherwise, said Bloomberg, “and yet we vilify them for the benefit of theater, for the circus. They did it in Roman times. There’s nothing new.”

The mayor’s remarks about perp walks seem to differ significantly from what he said in May when reporters first questioned him about Strauss-Kahn’s infamous walk. At the time, the mayor said, “I don’t have a lot of sympathy for that,” calling the walk “humiliating.”

At the time, though, the mayor did express sympathy for defendants who are proven not to be guilty.
“The real sad thing is if somebody is accused, does the perp-walk, and turns out not to be- have been guilty,” he said then. “And then society really does — should look in the mirror and say, you know, ‘We’d better be more careful the next time.’”