your girlfriend? >> why did you do it? >> reporter: but you tend not to look innocent, even when no one shouts a single incriminating question. it's what's called -- >> the perp walk. >> reporter: perp traitor. and some in france are outraged over the treatment of the head of the imf accused of attempted rape. france's former culture minister called it a lynching that provoked horror and aroused disgust. french laws bars the media from showing suspects in handcuffs before convicted. some say the perp walk goes against the presumption of innocence. >> it is done probably some would say to humiliate the suspect and they give off an aura of guilt. >> reporter: sometimes the aura doesn't fit the alleged crime from the smiling accused somali pirate. to the jfk terror plot suspect. . others bend down or cover up to