Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the NYPD's decision to give Dominique Strauss-Kahn the 'perp walk', according to The New York Post.
During a visit to Albany to lobby legislators for a New York state marriage equality law, Bloomberg told reporters, "I think it is humiliating, but if you don't want to do the perp walk, don't do the crime. "
Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, was arrested this weekend. He is accused of attempting to rape a hotel maid in New York City.
Bloomberg also defended a judge's decision to hold Strauss-Kahn -- who is from France and was considered a potential candidate for president in next year's elections -- at Rikers Island without bail. "He would be the kind of person who has a good chance of fleeing and France does not have an extradition treaty with the United States", Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg's statements come as many in France have criticized the 'perp walk' -- the common American practice of allowing journalists to photograph those that are arrested in handcuffs being led out of the police precinct on their way to court. In France, 'perp walk' images are illegal.
The New York Times reports that Former French justice minister, Elisabeth Guigou, called the 'perp walk' photos, “a brutality, a violence, of an incredible cruelty, and I’m happy that we don’t have the same judiciary system,” adding that the American justice system "is an accusatory system,” and that in France, “we have a system that takes perhaps a little more time but which is, despite everything, more protective of individual rights.”
France's judicial system has recently drawn ire from American critics for its recent law banning Muslim women from wearing burquas and for the jailing of British fashion designer John Galliano for saying anti-semitic remarks -- both actions that would be protected by the First Amendment in the United States.
Strauss-Kahn denies that charges against him, but pressure is mounting for Strauss-Kahn to step down as head of the IMF and Reuters reports that he may be on Rikers for up to six months, until given a trial.