History Main / ThePunishmentIsTheCrime

* In the Music/JohnnyCash song "One Piece at a Time", an assembly worker, wanting a Cadillac and unable to afford it, makes up his mind to steal the pieces to build his own. He doesn't get caught, but when he finally starts on the car, he realizes that the pieces he stole belong to different years. His punishment is having to drive around in a monstrosity of a car that draws laughter rather than envy.

[[folder: Music]]

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey Nexus'' features an EasierThanEasy difficulty, Picnic, which makes the game a severe pushover by applying damage and defense modifiers that are stacked heavily in the player's favor. The catch is that [[EasyModeMockery if you ever choose that difficulty, you cannot raise the difficulty back up for the rest of the playthrough]], i.e. if you wish to forfeit one challenge, you will have to forfeit any and all future challenges on your file as well.

A subtrope of CruelMercy. Compare BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, IronicHell, and SelfInflictedHell.

* ''WebOriginal/SCPFoundation'': SCP-250 is an animate ''Allosaurus'' skeleton that, for all intents and purposes, behaves as if it's a living ''Allosaurus''. However, it does enter a "dormant" state every night after a daily activity period (read:despite being just a skeleton, it sleeps). One article notes: "Entering SCP-250's containment area during its daily activity period is its own punishment."

** This is used as an actual punishment for two villains in ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies'' episode "[[Recap/TheNewScoobyDooMoviesTheHauntedHorsemanOfHagglethornHall The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall]]" (TheOneWith [[Music/TheMonkees Davy Jones]]).

May overlap with CruelMercy. Compare BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, IronicHell, and SelfInflictedHell.

In particularly literal cases of the trope, the offense is punished by forcing the perpetrator to continue doing it long past the point where it is pleasurable or desirable, or by [[WhoWantsToLiveForever giving them the "curse" of immortality]] so that not even death can relieve them from their suffering. This is often the end result of a HeelFaceDoorSlam that doesn't kill the villain, being TrappedInVillainy even when they wish to atone for their crimes.[[note]]Note that even managing to avoid being caught can fall into this trope, as successfully avoiding punishment for a crime will almost always require one to lay low and live the rest of one's life (or at least the entirety of the statute of limitations) as a ProperlyParanoid NervousWreck, which is not any rational person's idea of a fulfilling life, or alternatively to RunForTheBorder, which means that YouCantGoHomeAgain (and you're still not entirely safe, since the people you wronged might try to have you extradited). A VillainWithGoodPublicity may be able to invoke their public image to remain BeneathSuspicion, but that just makes things worse, since they will be '''[[HumiliationConga incredibly screwed]]''' if they ''[[AccidentalPublicConfession ever]]'' [[EngineeredPublicConfession slip up]], and will have to go through their entire life ''knowing'' this.[[/note]]

Sometimes overlaps with RadishCure, where [[ForbiddenFruit a person shows desire for something forbidden]], and then has it forced on them. Also compare BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, IronicHell, and SelfInflictedHell.

** This is used as an actual punishment for two villains in ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies'' episode "The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall" (TheOneWith [[Music/TheMonkees Davy Jones]]).

* This is combined with SelfInflictedHell in ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'': Hell, as it turns out, is simply people punishing themselves by their own guilt. While this can take the form of some ironic punishment (such as someone who deeply liked food getting starved or an AmoralAttorney witnessing the murderers she let off murder her family over and over), for a lot of people this consists simply of reliving [[MyGreatestFailure their worst sin]] over and over.

->"''Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.''"

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': The Changes of Heart the Phantom Thieves pull on their targets essentially forces the targets, {{Sociopath}}s to the last, to feel remorse for their crimes: now they will have to live with the crushing guilt of what they did for the rest of their lives.

* Averted in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', where students who break the rules about using magic without due precautions ''will'' be expelled, if enough parts of them can be found to do so.

* This is the fate of [[spoiler:Lyta Hall]] in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'': Her actions during the last two books -- [[spoiler:siccing The Kindly Ones on Morpheus and thus destroying the current aspect of Dream of the Endless]] -- causes immense damage, but they also [[spoiler:caused the 'death' of her son Daniel]] and therefore made it AllForNothing. In light of this, she is simply allowed to leave at the end.

-> So, you like browsing [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife TV Tropes instead of doing your work, huh]]? Oh don't worry, we're not gonna fire you or dock your pay. We'll just change your duties to only ''ever'' browing TV Tropes Wiki for eight hours straight!

* Many customer service businesses do what they can to avoid getting the dreaded bad reviews, as a bad reputation can drive customers away. However some opt for a "if you want to badmouth us on Yelp / Google Maps / etc that's your choice" approach, the idea being that if the customer is being an asshole, writing a "WORST PLACE EVER!!" review isn't going to harm the business, all the customer did was make themselves look like an unreasonable, unpleasable jerk for the public to see. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday It might be a big life event for the customer, but for the staff, it's just how business is sometimes.]] For some business owners, this can be seen as a healthier approach, as "protect our reputation at all costs" may entail punishing (including docking subsequent hours or even firing) employees over a relatively minor mistake that may not even be their fault.

* Many customer service businesses do what they can to avoid getting the dreaded bad reviews, as a bad reputation can drive customers away. However some opt for a "if you want to badmouth us on Yelp / Google Maps / etc that's your choice" approach, the idea being that if the customer is being an asshole, writing a "WORST PLACE EVER!!" review isn't going to harm the business, all the customer did was make themselves look like an unreasonable, unpleasable jerk for the public to see. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday It might be a big life event for the customer, but for the staff, it's just how business is sometimes.]] For some business owners, this can be seen as a healthier approach, as "protect our reputation at all costs" may entail punishing (including docking subsequent hours or even firing) employees over a relatively minor mistake.

* Many customer service businesses do what they can to avoid getting the dreaded bad reviews, as a bad reputation can drive customers away. However some opt for a "if you want to badmouth us on Yelp / Google Maps / etc that's your choice" approach, the idea being that if the customer is being an asshole, writing a "WORST PLACE EVER!!" review isn't going to harm the business, all the customer did was make themselves look like an unreasonable, unpleasable jerk for the public to see. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday It might be a big life event for the customer, but for the staff, it's just how business is sometimes.]]

* Many customer service businesses do what they can to avoid getting the dreaded bad reviews, however some opt for a "if you want to badmouth us on Yelp / Google Maps / etc that's your choice" approach, the idea being that if the customer is being an asshole, writing a "WORST PLACE EVER!!" review isn't going to harm the business, all the customer did was make themselves look like an unreasonable, unpleasable jerk for the public to see.