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I'm looking for a word that refers to the people (general population) who were not involved in an incident. To be particular let's say the incident is a "crime".

That is, one you take away the perpetrators, the victims, the witnesses, lawyers, judges, cops, etc. you're left with the greater part of the population that has nothing to do with the incident or the surrounding proceedings.

Is there a term for this group?

Something similar to, but not quite "party", as in "party to the crime", as that wouldn't include the people who are part of the proceedings.

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  • "The rest of us."
    – avpaderno
    Commented Jul 11, 2011 at 18:28
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    perhaps "uninvolved parties", "uninvolved" "unrelated" ?
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 11, 2011 at 19:10

4 Answers 4

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nonparticipant

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  • I think non-participant probably comes the closest to what I mean. Given the answers I'll assume there is no more specific, or precise, term.
    – edA-qa mort-ora-y
    Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 6:02
  • "uninvolved parties" from the comments is also a very good choice.
    – edA-qa mort-ora-y
    Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 6:02
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If they were within the general area of the crime but otherwise uninvolved, the correct word is "bystanders".

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  • I'm considering them like witnesses, in-so-far as I want to exclude them as well. But this is the term that initially got me thinking there might be term for the group I mean.
    – edA-qa mort-ora-y
    Commented Jul 11, 2011 at 18:47
  • There was a novel about kids attending Crispus Attucks High School, which they called "Innocent Bystander High".
    – Michael Lorton
    Commented Jul 11, 2011 at 20:52
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If you exclude so much from the applicable group, and when you consider bystanders being witnesses, then you might mean to be the group unaware of the whole event:

"Unawares".

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  • It'd be kind of odd to use this word as a noun though.
    – edA-qa mort-ora-y
    Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 6:01
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Onlookers? Spectators? Nonparticipants?

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  • Spectators to a crime. We've pretty much gotten to that point, haven't we?
    – pyobum
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 0:17

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