History Main / RageAgainstTheLegalSystem

This is TruthInTelevision. While this ''might'' be justifiable [[DirtyCop if the authorities are corrupt or outright evil]], or serve a tyrannical, oppressive regime doing this in many places is considered a MoralEventHorizon in the eyes of the law and society. Any crimes against officials of the legal system are punished harshly and penalties can go UpToEleven if they were motivated by revenge.

This is TruthInTelevision. While this ''might'' be justifiable [[DirtyCop if the authorities are corrupt or outright evil]], doing this in many places is considered a MoralEventHorizon in the eyes of the law and society. Any crimes against officials of the legal system are punished harshly and penalties can go UpToEleven if they were motivated by revenge.

* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is a classic example. Edmond Dantès is framed by his colleagues Danglars (who is jealous of his rapid rise to captain), Fernand (his fiancé's cousin and a rival for her affections), and the corrupt prosecutor Villefort. After six years of being unjustly imprisoned in [[HellholePrison the Château d'If]], befriends the Abbé Faria ("The Mad Priest"), who gives him hope again, and over the course of eight more years, teaches the younger man an extensive education in language, culture, and science, along with the reasons why the three conspirators had reason to hate him. Before he dies of old age, Faria gives Dantès a map to a hidden horde of treasure; Dantès is able to escape by taking the place of his body, finds the treasure, makes a new life for himself as the Count of Monte Cristo, and spends the second half of the book plotting revenge against the three conspirators, ultimately succeeding. (He exposes horrific crimes committed by Fernand and Villefort, driving the former to suicide and the latter mad and committed to an asylum; Danglars is bankrupted and his reputation is ruined by Dantès' manipulation of the markets, and tries to embezzle from a hospital; but when he finally repents to Dantès and returns the money, he's forgiven, but left with only 50,000 francs.

** ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', season 11, episode 3, 'Solitary': A guy (played by [[Film/TheCryingGame Stephen Rea]]) wants revenge on Stabler for spending years in solitary, especially because all of the time spent there had [[GoneMadFromTheIsolation driven him borderline insane]] (and when the judge's sentence is to be sent back to solitary, [[AnythingButThat he begs for death instead]]). A rare episode where Stabler develops sympathy for the crook, especially after taking some time in solitary as well.

* The original 1962 ''Film/CapeFear'' had this as Max Cady's motive for tormenting the protagonist, Sam Bowden (the latter was a witness to the former's rape). The 1991 remake changes this, by making Boden Cady's lawyer (who the latter thought didn't do a good enough job of defending him... and actually ''didn't'' did a good job, because he felt Cady so monstrous a man (by seeing what he had done to the woman he had raped) that he decided to risk his career and held back a piece of evidence (the woman's sexual history) which would have given Cady a lighter sentence, if not made him walk).

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/ThePunisher http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3166846_punpeople2013002.png]]]]

[[AC:{{Advertising}}]]
* A [=DirecTV=] advertisement claims that having cable TV will eventually lead to your house blowing up (in their bizarre [[RubeGoldbergMachine Rube Goldberg-esque]] logic: you're a lawyer, not having good reception will cause you to go to work irritated, you'll lose your case, the guy that goes to prison will dwell on getting even with you when he gets out...).

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''
** In one early appearance, SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker kills a police chief who had arrested him once in the past.
** In a 1960s story, Batman's enemy the Mad Hatter commits crimes based on the occupations of the jurors who convicted him as a rather oblique form of revenge. The story was adapted into an episode of the live-action television series as well.
* In the final arc of ''Comicbook/TopTen'', Joe Pi [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this trope to subtly manipulate the Superman-analogue Atoman into [[spoiler:committing suicide]] by telling him that when he's arrested, depowered, and jailed, he'll be at the mercy of the various supervillains he defeated.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', a number of jailed criminals try to avenge themselves on the recently-imprisoned Rorschach. [[UnderestimatingBadassery It doesn't go well.]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* The original 1962 ''Film/CapeFear'' had this as Max Cady's motive for tormenting the protagonist, Sam Bowden (the latter was a witness to the former's rape). The 1991 remake changes this, by making Boden Cady's lawyer (who the latter thought didn't do a good enough job of defending him... and actually ''didn't'' did a good job, because he felt Cady so monstrous a man (by seeing what he had done to the woman he had raped) that he decided to risk his career and held back a piece of evidence (the woman's sexual history) which would have given Cady a lighter sentence, if not made him walk).
* ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen'': After a plea deal sets one of his wife's killers free, a man targets the killers, their lawyers, and the judge and D.A. who approved the deal.
* This is pretty much a stock {{Plot}} on {{Western}} movies (for example, ''Film/HighNoon''): TheSheriff puts bad guy in jail, bad guy escapes or finishes his sentence, comes to town with a bunch of {{Mooks}} to kill sheriff (or [[MisplacedRetribution whoever]] [[RevengeByProxy replaced]] [[DisproportionateRetribution said]] Sheriff).
* Jimmy Conway's homicidal rampage against the police and inhabitants of the town of Film/RedHill for putting him in jail because he murdered his wife. [[spoiler:Turns out that it was a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against {{Dirty Cop}}s -- who murdered his wife.]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is a classic example. Edmond Dantès is framed by his colleagues Danglars (who is jealous of his rapid rise to captain), Fernand (his fiancé's cousin and a rival for her affections), and the corrupt prosecutor Villefort. After six years of being unjustly imprisoned in [[HellholePrison the Château d'If]], befriends the Abbé Faria ("The Mad Priest"), who gives him hope again, and over the course of eight more years, teaches the younger man an extensive education in language, culture, and science, along with the reasons why the three conspirators had reason to hate him. Before he dies of old age, Faria gives Dantès a map to a hidden horde of treasure; Dantès is able to escape by taking the place of his body, finds the treasure, makes a new life for himself as the Count of Monte Cristo, and spends the second half of the book plotting revenge against the three conspirators, ultimately succeeding. (He exposes horrific crimes committed by Fernand and Villefort, driving the former to suicide and the latter mad and committed to an asylum; Danglars is bankrupted and his reputation is ruined by Dantès' manipulation of the markets, and tries to embezzle from a hospital; but when he finally repents to Dantès and returns the money, he's forgiven, but left with only 50,000 francs.
* In ''[[Literature/TheGreatBrain Me and My Little Brain]]'', a gang of outlaws whom John Fitzgerald's father helped put away tries to take revenge on the Fitzgeralds and the judge.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/TheFamousJettJackson'' episode "Something to Prove" has a bully named Robert tormenting Jett. Jett's father, the local sheriff, reveals that he had personally arrested Robert for assault and sent him to juvenile prison. This bully holds a grudge against both father and son for what happened to him, but [[RevengeByProxy targets Jett rather than the sheriff]].
* Averted with ''Series/JudgeJudy''. That's surprising for someone who makes a career of publicly humiliating wrongdoers on national television. Judge Judy even verified in interviews that not once has she ever been threatened on TV with retaliation for her decisions (and the [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech vicious words]] that go along with them).
* On ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', the "meat puzzle" cases Ducky works on turn out to be someone's revenge upon the prosecutor, judge, and jury foreman who'd jointly put a sicko away. As Ducky was the M.E. whose evidence clinched the conviction, he suspects (correctly) that he's the last target on the vengeful killer's list.
* In the ''Series/BlueBloods'' episode "Re-Do", a {{serial rapist}} whom Erin put away but then had his conviction thrown out on a technicality targets her in revenge. [[spoiler:In hindsight, targeting a woman who isn't just an A.D.A. but has four current or former NYPD officers in her immediate family [[TooDumbToLive wasn't exactly bright of him]].]]
* ''Series/TheCloser'': In the episode "Off the Hook", a woman kills a member of the California Parole board after she lets out a criminal who then robs and kills her son.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheXFiles'', a convict is executed, then returns as a spirit (or something) to take revenge on the witnesses/lawyers/judge/prison staff/executioner.
* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' Season 8 Episode 8 "Crossroads". A [[HangingJudge judge]] is killed in a drive-by shooting and evidence first points towards a [[TheMafiya Russian mob]] hit, only to finally lead to a pair of young men which had been put in a [[HellholePrison hellhole juvenile detention center]] by the judge, [[DirtyCop who had an arrangement with the warden to be paid for every kid sentenced to serve time there]]. The murderer had been sent there [[DisproportionateRetribution because he stole a pack of gum]].
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the episode of ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' "Dennis Looks Like a Registered Sex Offender", where Mac's father, after having been released from prison, goes to "take care of" several people that took part in sending him to prison in the first place. Mac and Charlie then freak out, thinking he's going to kill them too, until [[spoiler:it turns out that he was just trying to make up with these people for causing trouble in the past.]]

[[AC: {{Music}}]]
* Implied in the "R.I.P." Remix by Young Jeezy (feat. YG, Kendrick Lamar & Chris Brown). Precisely YG's verse:
-->''R.I.P I wanna kill the judge''
-->''Tryna lock the homie up, they don't feel the thug''

[[AC:{{Radio}}]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/LaBalladeDesDalton'': Henry Dalton wants his nephews to kill the judge and the jury who convicted him.

* The original 1962 ''Film/CapeFear'' had this as Max Cady's motive for tormenting the protagonist, Sam Bowden (the latter was a witness to the former's rape). The 1991 remake changes this, by making Boden Cady's lawyer (who the latter thought didn't do a good enough job of defending him).

** ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', season 11, episode 3, 'Solitary': A guy (played [[HeyItsThatGuy by]] [[Film/TheCryingGame Stephen Rea]]) wants revenge on Stabler for spending years in solitary, especially because all of the time spent there had [[GoneMadFromTheIsolation driven him borderline insane]] (and when the judge's sentence is to be sent back to solitary, [[AnythingButThat he begs for death instead]]). A rare episode where Stabler develops sympathy for the crook, especially after taking some time in solitary as well.

* The original 1962 ''Film/CapeFear'' had this as Max Cady's motive for tormenting the protagonist, Sam Bowden (the latter was a witness to the former's rape). The 1991 remake inverts it, by making Boden Cady's lawyer (who the latter thought didn't do a good enough job of defending him).

* ''WesternAnimation/LaBalladeDesDalton'': Henry Dalton wants his nephews to kill the judge and the jury who convicted him.

Usually, the criminal [[NeverMyFault doesn't see whatever they did as being wrong]]; they see the police, the prosecution, the judge and so on as being responsible for their predicament. The revenge usually includes (but is not limited to) the police who arrested them, the prosecutor who prosecuted them, the witnesses who testified against them, the jurors who convicted them, the prison guards who incarcerated them, and the judge who sentenced them. What's worse is that they may also [[RevengeByProxy go after the families of the above]].

A frequent variation is when a criminal is acquitted or released from prison early to kill again and a relative or lover of the victim goes on a rampage against the judges, lawyers, [[CopKiller police officers]], etc as well as the criminal.

This is TruthInTelevision. While this MIGHT be justifiable if the authorities are corrupt or outright evil, doing this in many places is considered a MoralEventHorizon in the eyes of the law and society. Any crimes against officials of the legal system are punished harshly and penalties can go UpToEleven if they were motivated by revenge.

** In a 1960s story, Batman's enemy the Mad Hatter commits crimes based on the occupations of the jurors who convicted him as a rather oblique form of revenge. the story was adapted into an episode of the live-action television series as well.
* In the final arc of ''Comicbook/TopTen'', Joe Pi [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this trope to subtly manipulate the Superman-analogue Atoman into [[spoiler: committing suicide]] by telling him that when he's arrested, depowered, and jailed, he'll be at the mercy of the various supervillains he defeated.

* The original 1962 ''Film/CapeFear'' had this as Max Cady's motive for tormenting the protagonist, Sam Bowden (the later was a witness to the former's rape). The 1991 remake inverts it, by making Boden Cady's lawyer (who the later thought didn't do a good enough job of defending him).

* Jimmy Conway's homicidal rampage against the police and inhabitants of the town of Film/RedHill for putting him in jail because he murdered his wife. [[spoiler: Turns out that it was a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against {{Dirty Cop}}s-who murdered his wife.]]

* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is a classic example. Edmond Dantès is framed by his colleges Danglars (who is jealous of his rapid rise to captain), Fernand (his fiancé's cousin and a rival for her affections), and the corrupt prosecutor Villefort. After six years of being unjustly imprisoned in [[HellholePrison the Château d'If]], befriends the Abbé Faria ("The Mad Priest"), who gives him hope again, and over the course of eight more years, teaches the younger man an extensive education in language, culture, and science, along with the reasons why the three conspirators had reason to hate him. Before he dies of old age, Faria gives Dantès a map to a hidden horde of treasure; Dantès is able to escape by taking the place of his body, finds the treasure, makes a new life for himself as the Count of Monte Cristo, and spends the second half of the book plotting revenge against the three conspirators, ultimately succeeding. (He exposes horrific crimes committed by Fernand and Villefort, driving the former to suicide and the latter mad and committed to an asylum; Danglars is bankrupted and his reputation is ruined by Dantès manipulation of the markets, and tries to embezzle from a hospital; but when he finally repents to Dantès and returns the money, he's forgiven, but left with only 50,000 francs.
* In ''[[Literature/TheGreatBrain Me and My Little Brain]]'' a gang of outlaws whom John Fitzgerald's father helped put away tries to take revenge on the Fitzgeralds and the judge.

* In the ''Series/BlueBloods'' episode "Re-Do" a serial rapist whom Erin put away but then had his conviction thrown out on a technicality targets her in revenge. [[spoiler:In hindsight, targeting a woman who isn't just an A.D.A. but has four current or former NYPD officers in her immediate family wasn't exactly bright of him.]]

* In an episode of ''Series/TheXFiles'' a convict is executed, then returns as a spirit (or something) to take revenge on the witnesses/lawyers/judge/prison staff/executioner.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the episode of ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' "Dennis Looks Like a Registered Sex Offender", where Mac's father, after having been released from Prison, goes to "take care of" several people that took part in sending him to prison in the first place. Mac and Charlie then freak out, thinking he's going to kill them too, until [[spoiler: it turns out that he was just trying to make up with these people for causing trouble in the past.]]
* The first episode of ''Series/{{Zen}}'' had a man who was hunting down the judge, the attorney and the police officer who got him convicted for a crime he did not commit. He agrees when Zen points that he has killed lots of people and got away with it but is angry they were not playing "the game" and they wouldn't have got him otherwise.

** This happened in another episode with Olivia. In this case it was a slightly-more-justified version where the episode's villain was a man who was wrongfully convicted because Olivia railroaded the case and did the show's usual side-stepping of constitutional rights.
* On ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' Oleg Stark was a Siegbarste (Ogre) who was sent to prison for murder after evidence that could have exonerated him was "misplaced" in police custody. After he escapes prison he kills the prosecutor, judge and jury forman who helped convict him. It turns out that Hank was the one who destroyed the evidence but only because Oleg really did commit the murders and then fabricated the exonerating evidence.

* In one of the ''[[Franchise/TheGreenHornet Green Hornet]]'' radio episodes, the crook du jour was targeting Britt Reid because he blamed Reid for his conviction

** In "One If By Clam, Two If By Sea", when Peter and friends end up in prison for a frameup, one of the inmates Joe arrested intends to kill all four of them.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E5And6OnlyADream Only a Dream]]", it's implied that Dr. Destiny wants revenge on the Leaguers for locking him up. (The thing is, not only was he guilty of the crime, the one he probably should have blamed was LexLuthor for convincing him to do it.)

* Averted with ''JudgeJudy''. That's surprising for someone who makes a career of publicly humiliating wrongdoers on national television. Judge Judy even verified in interviews that not once has she ever been threatened on TV with retaliation for her decisions (and the [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech vicious words]] that go along with them).

Can overlap with RevengeByProxy and RevengeBeforeReason.

* Averted with ''JudgeJudy''. That's surprising for someone who makes a career of publicly humiliating wrongdoers on national television. Judge Judy even verified in interviews that not once has she ever been threatened on TV with retaliation for her decisions (and the vicious words that goes along with them).

* The first episode of ''Series/{{Zen}}'' had a man who was hunting down the judge, the attorney and the police officer who got him convicted for a crime he did not commit. He agrees when Zen points that he has killed lots of people and got away with it but is angry they were not playing "the game" and they wouldn't have got him otherwise.
* LawandOrderSpecialVictimsUnit, season 11, episode 3, 'Solitary': A guy (played [[HeyItsThatGuy by]] [[Film/TheCryingGame Stephen Rea]]) wants revenge on Stabler for spending years in solitary, especially because all of the time spent there had [[GoneMadFromTheIsolation driven him borderline insane]] (and when the judge's sentence is to be sent back to solitary, [[AnythingButThat he begs for death instead]]). A rare episode where Stabler develops sympathy for the crook, especially after taking some time in solitary as well.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E5And6OnlyADream Only a Dream]]", it's implied that Dr. Destiny wants revenge on the Leaguers for locking him up.

* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is a classic example. Edmond Dantès is framed by his colleges Danglars (who is jealous of his rapid rise to captain), Fernand (his fiancé's cousin and a rival for her affections), and his cowardly and selfish neighbor Caderousse. After six years of being unjustly imprisoned in [[HellholePrison the Château d'If]], befriends the Abbé Faria ("The Mad Priest"), who gives him hope again, and over the course of eight more years, teaches the younger man an extensive education in language, culture, and science, along with the reasons why the three conspirators had reason to hate him. Before he dies of old age, Faria gives Dantès a map to a hidden horde of treasure; Dantès is able to escape by taking the place of his body, finds the treasure, makes a new life for himself as the Count of Monte Cristo, and spends the second half of the book plotting revenge against the three conspirators, ultimately succeeding.

NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "[[Recap/{{JusticeLeagueS2E5-6OnlyADream}} Only a Dream]]", it's implied that Dr. Destiny wants revenge on the Leaguers for locking him up.

[[AC:{{Western Animation}}]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'' episode "It's Not My Fault" has an angry soldier named Raigo who looks to get back at a local chieftain for incarcerating him. Said soldier was punished for dereliction of duty, which happens to tie into the episode's moral about [[AnAesop accepting responsibility for one's actions]].

* Jimmy Conway's homicidal rampage against the police and inhabitants of the town of Film/RedHill for putting him in jail because he murdered his wife. [[spoiler: Turns out that it was a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against CompleteMonster [[DirtyCop Dirty Cops]]-who murdered his wife.]]