History Main / KangarooCourt

[[folder:Religion]]
* ''Literature/TheBible'': Both of Jesus' trials play with it:
** The Sanhedrin (high court of ancient Judea) that tries UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} in Literature/TheFourGospels. Not only do the judges violate every ''single'' Jewish law governing trials, but they put on clearly perjured witnesses to convict him. It got to the point the Sanhedrin was about to aquit Jesus due how farcical things had become until Caiaphas asks him if he's the Messiah, using his assent as proof of blasphemy committed in the court.
** The conduct of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who approves his death sentence (the Romans required it) also plays with it, as even he acknowledges that no Roman (or Jewish) laws were broken by Jesus... But he had also obtained what Roman law counted as a guilty plea: his question of "Are you the King of the Jews?" was him asking if he plead guilty or innocent of the treason he was being accused by the Sanhedrin, and when Jesus sarcastically replied "You have said so" he got the equivalent of no plea at all, which in Roman law is the same as a guilty plea. What followed was Pilate taking this sassy accidental guilty plea and running with it, up to hanging the sign "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaerum" (Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews) on his cross to announce why he was being executed, annoying the Sanhedrin in the process.
*** Roman magistrates had the power to have non-Romans crucified at will, however, making the whole Roman "justice" system essentially this for them. Trials of Roman citizens often went this way, as the magistrate was free to admit or ignore any evidence they pleased. Later on Paul, a Roman citizen, was given a trial, but the outcome isn't in doubt. The only real privilege they had was that citizens couldn't be crucified (and the trial had to be in Rome). Paul was put under house arrest and later beheaded, while they crucified non-citizen Peter (upside down, as he didn't want it to resemble Jesus' death; legend has it Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross instead of a normal one for that reason as well, hence the St. Andrew's Cross with this shape that still is used, e.g. for the Scottish flag, due to St. Andrew being the patron saint for Scotland).
* According to the apocryphal "Acts of Peter" and "Acts of Peter and Paul", Peter and Paul were actually rightly executed for their crime: Simon Magus had been having demons support him as he was flying in public to prove himself a god only for Peter to exorcise the demon and make him fall to his death, something that under Roman law counts as using magic to cause harm and is punished by death, thus giving plenty of witnesses to have Peter executed for a capital crime and Paul as an accomplice. Still counts for this trope, as Nero didn't even bother with a trial, he just ordered Peter executed on the witnesses' report ("Acts of Peter") or ordered them both executed for [[TooDumbToLive making Simon Magus fall in his presence]].
* In the Old Testament, Naboth the Jezreelite was given a sham trial by order of Queen Jezebel who had false witnesses accusing him of cursing both God and the king and then having him executed soon afterward so that her husband King Ahab could legally own Naboth's vineyard.
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** Justice in the world of the grounded videos is usually rendered by very partial judges and a JokerJury who shrug off the defendant's side of the story (consisting in most cases of the troublemaker's family, teachers and friends, who are biased against them anyway) and give them cruel and unusual punishments, even for small fine-earning offenses such as littering. Often though, [[=GoAnimate=]] justice never gets to the courtroom as the patrolman (usually rendered as ill-tempered with fire coming out of his head) will render a life prison sentence for the accused right on the scene. Trillion-dollar fines the size of the national debt of several G8 nations combined are also assessed to parents, and they will be executed if payment is not immediately given.

** Justice in the world of the grounded videos is usually rendered by very partial judges and a JokerJury who shrug off the defendant's side of the story (consisting in most cases of the troublemaker's family, teachers and friends, who are biased against them anyway) and give them cruel and unusual punishments, even for small fine-earning offenses such as littering. Often though, [==GoAnimate=]] justice never gets to the courtroom as the patrolman (usually rendered as ill-tempered with fire coming out of his head) will render a life prison sentence for the accused right on the scene. Trillion-dollar fines the size of the national debt of several G8 nations combined are also assessed to parents, and they will be executed if payment is not immediately given.

** Justice in the world of the grounded videos is usually rendered by very partial judges and a JokerJury who shrug off the defendant's side of the story (consisting in most cases of the troublemaker's family, teachers and friends, who are biased against them anyway) and give them cruel and unusual punishments, even for small fine-earning offenses such as littering. Often though, GoAnimate justice never gets to the courtroom as the patrolman (usually rendered as ill-tempered with fire coming out of his head) will render a life prison sentence for the accused right on the scene. Trillion-dollar fines the size of the national debt of several G8 nations combined are also assessed to parents, and they will be executed if payment is not immediately given.

* ''Website/GoAnimate'': Subverted [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq4wzY4ga9U&nohtml5=False in this video]], in which [[WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}} Boris]] accuses the court of being this trope, but it actually turns out to be a positive outcome for [[WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}} Caillou]], as SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs big time for Boris and he is declared mentally insane for having a "grounding fetish", all while Boris attempts to paint Caillou as the most obnoxious brat in history, and himself as the only sane person in his family, even going as far as to try and ground the courtroom when the sentencing is handed down.

* The trial at the end of Episode 5 of ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' is this. [[spoiler:Natsuhi is being accused of being the true culprit in the games by Erika and Bernkastel. Lambadelta, the Game Master and judge, happens to be in a relationship with Bernkastel. All of the evidence was rigged entirely in favor of showing Natsuhi as the culprit (without even considering that anyone else could have possibly done it), her defense is a Piece version of Beatrice who is far more limited than the real deal, and Battler isn't allowed to speak until the very end because he left the game early and only came back at the end. The real kicker is that when Battler is given a Red Truth that states that Natsuhi isn't the culprit and tries using it, it's denied outright by Dlanor because he doesn't have any evidence even in spite of the Red Truth being the absolute truth. Even after Natsuhi lost the trial, they were planning on proving that she was the culprit in every game up to now.]]

* ''WessternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has Clopin parodying the whole trope in critique of [[HangingJudge Judge Claude Frollo]] in the song "The Court of Miracles", creating a skit of a speedy trial (with protests being overruled and silenced) and then mockingly claiming that Quasimodo and Phoebus are guilty of being "totally innocent". However, the sham trial itself is taken seriously as Clopin truly believes that Quasimodo and Phoebus are spies for Frollo, only relenting when Esmeralda speaks on behalf for the defendants.

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[[quoteright:242:[[VisualPun https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/KangarooCourt_8592.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:242:[[Music/LadyGaga She's got Justice right in her pocket...]]]]-]

->''"The case against Clevinger was open and shut. The only thing missing was something to charge him with."''
-->-- ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo''

!!Examples:

** It gets even ''worse'' in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]''. In Khura'in, defense attorneys are culturally considered to be evil, lying demons, the decisions are almost entirely based on the word of a 14-year old and her powers to view the victim's last memories, the accused actually contesting the charges is considered blasphemy, and the defense is made to share in any punishment a convicted defendant receives. At least in Labyrinthia, you're still guaranteed counsel and MagicAIsMagicA. It eventually turns out that the whole thing is a political construct- the Queen was a former prosecutor and the RebelLeader was once a defense attorney, [[spoiler:and she didn't want him to ever be able to prove that she had assassinated her own sister to become queen and then pinned the blame on him. The whole 'defense lawyers are evil' was just an excuse to persecute Dhurke and his allies. When she takes over as prosecutor in the final case, she proceeds to turn the trope UpToEleven, doing things like trying to declare a guilty verdict on her own without allowing an argument and rewriting the law on the spot whenever it looks like things might go against her. Apollo ultimately wins the case not by proving her guilty, but by proving that she didn't really have a claim to the throne and so didn't have authority over the court.]]

This one is unfortunately TruthInTelevision, especially in countries ruled by dictators, who are fond of putting people through "show trials" as a prelude to execution; the victims are usually dissidents, people designated by the authorities as enemies, or random people used as scapegoats to prominently declare a high profile crime as solved. The etymology is unknown, though many (mostly wrong) suggestions have been made.

Very rarely, the reaction to these can in fact be KickTheSonOfABitch, if the court's victim is a particularly despicable villain. Seeing them getting their just desserts at the hands of the corrupt system [[HoistByHisOwnPetard they themselves may have set up]] can be incredibly [[CatharsisFactor therapeutic]] both for the protagonists and the audience.

** It gets even ''worse'' in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]''. In Khura'in, defense attorneys are culturally considered to be evil, lying demons, the decisions are almost entirely based on the word of a 14-year old and her powers to view the victim's last memories, the accused actually contesting the charges is considered blasphemy, and the defense is made to share in any punishment a convicted defendant receives. At least in Labyrinthia, you're still guaranteed counsel and MagicAIsMagicA. Then it gets turned up well past 11 for the final trial, [[spoiler:with the prosecution taken over by the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen country's queen]], who can [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem rewrite the law on the spot]]. That doesn't even get into her actually taking judging duties, such as giving out penalties, or even [[HangingJudge trying to declare a 'guilty' verdict herself without allowing a counter-argument]]. She even uses her law book as a gavel.]]

See also TheScapegoat, GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty, and MiscarriageOfJustice. Not to be confused with DecadentCourt, which is about a corrupt ''royal'' court, although naturally they have been known to overlap.

* The third game of ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'' has Kryska turn herself into the Solar Alliance after helping the titular crew stop them from [[spoiler:destroying Cera with a PlanetKiller weapon following the Liberation Day Massacre]]. Icari protests that it will turn out like this, while Kryska believes they will listen since such an atrocity would never be accepted. Turns out both were true with Icari RightForTheWrongReasons: [[spoiler:Kryska ended up acquitted because the prosecution witness turned face and shifted the blame on the crew onboard the Machiavelli Actual by acting without orders. This contradicts how Grey outright ordered his flagship to launch the Tactical Paradox Warhead, with Kryska being ordered to silence Shields and Ava. The Lieutenant is enraged by how she not only obtained no punishment but her acquittal was out of politics than showing the truth.]]

* The third game of ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'' has Kryska turn herself into the Solar Alliance after helping the titular crew stop them from [[spoiler:destroying Cera with a PlanetKiller weapon following the Liberation Day Massacre]]. Icari protests that it will turn out like this, while Kryska believes they will listen since such an atrocity would never be accepted. Turns out both were true with Icari RightForTheWrongReasons: [[spoiler:Kryska ended up acquitted for her crimes, but his prosecution witness turned face and shifted the blame on the crew onboard the Machiavelli Actual by acting without orders from command. This contradicts how Grey outright stated ordered his flagship to launch the Tactical Paradox Warhead, and Kryska being ordered to silence Shields and Ava. The Lieutenant is enraged by how she not only obtained no punishment but her acquittal was out of politics than showing the truth.]]

''Website/GoAnimate'': Subverted [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq4wzY4ga9U&nohtml5=False in this video]], in which [[WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}} Boris]] accuses the court of being this trope, but it actually turns out to be a positive outcome for [[WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}} Caillou]], as SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs big time for Boris and he is declared mentally insane for having a "grounding fetish", all while Boris attempts to paint Caillou as the most obnoxious brat in history, and himself as the only sane person in his family, even going as far as to try and ground the courtroom when the sentencing is handed down.

''Website/GoAnimate'': Subverted [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq4wzY4ga9U&nohtml5=False in this video]], in which [[WesternAnimation/Caillou Boris]] accuses the court of being this trope, but it actually turns out to be a positive outcome for [[WesternAnimation/Caillou Caillou]], as SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs big time for Boris and he is declared mentally insane for having a "grounding fetish", all while Boris attempts to paint Caillou as the most obnoxious brat in history, and himself as the only sane person in his family, even going as far as to try and ground the courtroom when the sentencing is handed down.

In a corrupt state, none of this happens. What happens instead is that a powerful person--the {{President|Evil}}, the GloriousLeader, a sufficiently powerful CorruptPolitician, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive a person with enough wealth and political connections]], a [[ShadowDictator secret authority operating from the shadows]], or maybe [[FullCircleRevolution the people who just overthrew the previous government and are now sending everyone to jail]]--wants to punish or get rid of someone in particular, has managed to arrest or kidnap that person, and has a corrupt law enforcement system completely ready to lock that person into jail; if the authority wants to, they can send the victim to death row, or have them [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch commit suicide by three gunshots to the back of the neck]]. But doing so would immediately raise suspicions among the population that this person was actually innocent and wrongfully convicted, which would greatly undermine the legitimacy of the powers that be, and potentially end up with an armed revolution if the convicted person was sufficiently popular. Also, if the dictator or the people in charge are sadistic enough, they may not find it enough to just punish someone; they're going to want to taste every single one of the victim's tears, gloat at their misery, and laugh in their face as they are sent to their inevitable doom.

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* ''Radio/BleakExpectations'' has one in the final episode of Series 1, where Pip is accused of stealing the bin design from American Harlan J. Trashcan. Judge Hardthrasher blames Pip for killing his four brothers and sister, he personally hangs Pip's lawyer because his name is too long and he freezes Pip's financial assets so he can't hire another lawyer. Trashcan is obviously Benevolent in disguise, showing the evidence of a newspaper with the ink still wet, and Hardthrasher even calls him Mr. Benevolent. When he finds Pip guilty after saying this verdict is in no way caused by his sibling's death, he says 'Yes! Got him!' He sentences him to death deciding the verdict himself under the accordance 'Innocent until proven dead.'

* A hallmark of Inquisitor courts of the Imperium in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Assuming the accused managed to avoid being killed already by over-eager Inquisitors seeking out any hint of [[TheHeretic heresy]] (which in and of itself is already a miracle 99% of the time), actually being brought to a trial means facing down a bunch of Imperial zealots who in most cases have probably already made up their mind about the guilt (real or imagined) of the defendant in question. Some, like Lord Inquisitor Fyodor Karamazov, take this to the extreme to the point [[EvenEvilHasStandards even other Inquisitors balk in shock]], such as killing an innocent priest who managed to take back his planet for the Imperium...under the impression that there was even a ''hint'' of Chaos corruption about him and not allowing any members of the Ecclesiarchy to actually come and test him until after he was long since dead. His quote says it best.
-->''"There is no such thing as a plea of innocence in my court, a plea of innocence is guilty of wasting my time. Guilty."''
** Depending on the Commissar, a Commissarial tribunal can be just as bad, albeit on a more limited scope than what an Inquisitor is capable of.

* The Mayfair ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' RPG had a sample adventure where Joker puts Batman on trial for supposedly killing a man during one of their fights. It's clearly one of these (complete with a "jury of his peers" -- twelve mannequins in Batman costumes), but unless the players can prove Batman's innocence, he'll willingly turn himself over to the police.
* In ''TabletopGame/StarsWithoutNumber'', the supplements ''Skyward Steel'' and ''Starvation Cheap'' discuss military justice. In general, ''don't'' ask for a court-martial. It's not supposed to be fair, because any effective military justice system prioritizes maintaining order and the chain of command over the rights of individual soldiers. Just take your summary administrative punishment with good grace.

* In the fifth episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales|2017}}'' podcast ''Podcast/ThisDuckburgLife'', "The Framing of Flintheart Glomgold", [[Characters/DuckTales2017FlintheartGlomgold Glomgold]] is quickly found guilty because everyone in Duckburg automatically assumed--knowing him--that he was responsible for dropping leopard sharks on Scrooge's new water park. No one, not even his own lawyer, would try to defend him. When he calls it a kangaroo court, the judge tells him it's a duck court and the kangaroo one is two doors away.

Compare JokerJury (which a Kangaroo Court may well have), JuryOfTheDamned, TrialOfTheMysticalJury, and DecoyTrial. If it's the litigants who are making a mockery of the court system rather than those running the proceedings, it's a CourtroomAntic. Not descriptive of UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}'s legal system, though [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant many confuse it with]] SentencedToDownUnder. If the Kangaroo Court occurs in the military, it's called a '''Drumhead Court-Martial'''. The name comes from the hasty and haphazard nature of this type of justice; instead of a proper table and/or notes, a makeshift board or writing medium, such as a drumhead, can be used, especially on the battlefield. The inevitable outcome is the defendant getting ShotAtDawn.

* ''Radio/BleakExpectations'' has one in the final episode of Series 1, where Pip is accused of stealing the bin design from American Harlan J. Trashcan. Judge Hardthrasher blames Pip for killing his four brothers and sister, he personally hangs Pip's lawyer because his name is too long and he freezes Pip's financial assets so he can't hire another lawyer. Trashcan is obviously Benevolent in disguise, showing the evidence of a newspaper with the ink still wet, and Hardthrasher even calls him Mr Benevolent. When he finds Pip guilty after saying this verdict is in no way caused by his sibling's death, he says 'Yes! Got him!' He sentences him to death deciding the verdict himself under the accordance 'Innocent until proven dead.'

* ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'': the Locust Court, during the first two editions, which existed mainly to a) permit Lord Entropy to arbitrarily punish anyone he wanted, and b) see who could afford the biggest bribe for Meon. 3e dialled it back a bit, making the Court as just as any other court that tries people for breaking laws one guy made up.

* Both of Jesus' trials play wih it:

*** Roman magistrates have the power to have non-Romans crucified at will, however, making the whole Roman "justice" system essentially this for them. Trials of Roman citizens often go this way, as the magistrate is free to admit or ignore any evidence they please. Later on Paul, a Roman citizen, is given a trial, but the outcome isn't in doubt. The only real privilege they have is that citizens can't be crucified (and the trial needs to be in Rome). Paul is put under house arrest and later beheaded, while they crucify non-citizen Peter (upside down, as he doesn't want it to resemble Jesus' death).
* According to the apocryphal "Acts of Peter" and "Acts of Peter and Paul", Peter and Paul are actually rightly executed for their crime: Simon Magus had been having demons support him as he was flying in public to prove himself a god only for Peter to exorcise the demon and make him fall to his death, something that under Roman law counts as using magic to cause harm and is punished by death, thus giving plenty of witnesses to have Peter executed for a capital crime and Paul as an accomplice. Still counts for this trope, as Nero didn't even bother with a trial, he just ordered Peter executed on the witnesses' report ("Acts of Peter") or ordered them both executed for [[TooDumbToLive making Simon Magus fall in his presence]].

* The Sanhedrin (high court of ancient Judea) that tries UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} in Literature/TheFourGospels. Not only do the judges violate every ''single'' Jewish law governing trials, but they put on clearly perjured witnesses to convict him. The conduct of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who approves his death sentence (the Romans required it) also counts, as even he acknowledges that no Roman (or Jewish) laws were broken by Jesus. Roman magistrates have the power to have non-Romans crucified at will, however, making the whole Roman "justice" system essentially this for them. Trials of Roman citizens often go this way, as the magistrate is free to admit or ignore any evidence they please. Later on Paul, a Roman citizen, is given a trial, but the outcome isn't in doubt. The only real privilege they have is that citizens can't be crucified (and the trial needs to be in Rome). Paul is put under house arrest and later beheaded, while they crucify non-citizen Peter (upside down, as he doesn't want it to resemble Jesus' death).
** Jesus' trial in front of Pilate is a subtle DoubleSubversion: his question of "Are you the King of the Jews?" was actually him asking Jesus how did he plea, so that when Jesus answered "no" he'd be able to throw the entire proceedings out for lack of evidence, but when he instead got a sarcastic "You have said so." he got the equivalent of no plea at all, which in Roman law is the same as a guilty plea.
** According to the apocryphal "Acts of Peter" and "Acts of Peter and Paul", Peter and Paul are actually rightly executed for their crime: Simon Magus had been having demons support him as he was flying in public to prove himself a god only for Peter to exorcise the demon and make him fall to his death, something that under Roman law counts as using magic to cause harm and is punished by death, thus giving plenty of witnesses to have Peter executed for a capital crime and Paul as an accomplice. Still counts for this trope, as Nero didn't even bother with a trial, he just ordered Peter executed on the witnesses' report ("Acts of Peter") or ordered them both executed for [[TooDumbToLive making Simon Magus fall in his presence]].

A Kangaroo Court is a sham legal proceeding or trial that denies due process and fairness in the name of expediency and authoritarian rule, undertaken usually by orders from the PowersThatBe, with the specific purpose of punishing a particular individual regardless of whether he or she actually broke the law, in a specific way as to make it more difficult to prove that it was a gratuitous act of authoritarianism and to give the sadistic authorities a chance to gloat at the defendant's misery.