perpetrator
n. countablen. someone who does something wrong or illegal. You usually hear this word in news stories about crimes.
n. a person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act. Often used in legal or journalistic contexts to identify the actor without naming them.
The police are still searching for the perpetrator.
Witnesses were asked to provide a description of the perpetrator to help the investigators identify a suspect.
Criminologists often study the background of the perpetrator to understand the systemic factors that might have contributed to the commission of the offense.
From Latin perpetrātor. By surface analysis, perpetrate + -or.
Commonly abbreviated to 'perp' in informal police jargon; typically takes the preposition 'of' when linked to a specific crime.