Sentenced Without Trial

"Sentence first, verdict afterwards! OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

— Queen of Hearts, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

For someone accused of committing a crime, the right to a fair trial is considered a basic right under law by most countries (although, between different countries, the definition of what constitutes a fair trial can be different). Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him." In the United States, the Sixth Amendment guarantees everyone accused of a crime the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, as well as the right to a lawyer, the right to a fair jury, the right to know who your accusers are, and the right to know what you are being accused of; and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.

At least, that's how things are supposed to go.

Sometimes a defendant doesn't even get the mercy of a Kangaroo Court, as they're hurled into jail or sentenced to hard labor or worse before they can say "I want my lawyer." And once they're behind bars, nobody will listen to their protests. This is usually for one of three reasons:

1. The legal system is corrupt. The defendant is technically entitled to a trial, but the overseeing judge is unscrupulous and has pulled some strings to sentence them without one.
2. Their crime was so unbelievably heinous and undeniable that everyone wants them punished immediately, including the judge.
3. A combination of the previous two: the defendant is falsely accused of something heinous, everyone is baying for their blood, and the judge won't even give them a trial before declaring them guilty.

For this trope to occur, it must be made clear that the right to a trial is the standard procedure in whatever legal system is judging the defendant, and them not getting one is a sign that something is wrong, either with them or with the legal system.

Subtrope of Hollywood Law. Related tropes include:

• Broken-System Dogmatist: A proponent for this type of judicial system may be unwilling to change to any other.
• Falling into Jail: A gag in cartoons where the hero drops the villain straight into jail after catching or defeating them.
• Hanging Judge: A ruthless judge who uses any means to mete out his/her idea of justice, including sentencing without trial.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Someone has the authority to punish lawbreakers on the spot.
• Kangaroo Court: The defendant does get a trial, but it's rigged against them and they're often allowed no defense.
• Miscarriage of Justice: If the person was truly innocent of the crime they've been accused of, well...
• Moral Event Horizon: Some (not all) will argue that people who cross this line are so obviously guilty that putting them through a trial would be a waste of time.

See also Convicted by Public Opinion, where the general public decides whether the offender is guilty or innocent, the legal system's verdict be damned, and can result in riots and backlash (if they feel a found-guilty person is innocent) or Vigilante Justice / Injustice (if they feel a found-innocent person is guilty). Contrast No Adequate Punishment where a trial (even if one is held) produces no sentence because no one had the foresight to come up with one given the circumstances.

No Real Life Examples, Please! Corrupt legal and judicial systems are controversial enough on their own, and listing every person in recorded history who was ever sentenced without a trial would probably fill a small encyclopedia.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• All for One in My Hero Academia gets sent straight to Tartarus with no trial after the battle with All Might. It's highly unlikely he'd have been found not guilty, given he's a mass-murdering psychopath, but it still counts.
• Psycho-Pass: Because of the implementation of the Sibyl System, the Public Security Bureau members are authorized to judge latent criminals on the spot using their Dominators which can paralyze them and send to therapy or neutralize them, depending on how high their crime coefficient is.

Comic Books

• Judge Dredd: In order to combat the overwhelming amount of crime, Judges were granted the authority to pronounce on-the-spot sentencing of criminals.
• In the Civil War arc by Marvel, people accused of violating the Super Human Registration Act were stuck in prison in the Negative Zone with no trial.
• In the Transformers comics by IDW Publishing:
  • Flashbacks from Transformers: More than Meets the Eye show that part of the reason Megatron has a fear of mnemnosurgery (i.e. an operation where the mnemnosurgeon can enter the subject's mind to read it) is that at one point he was almost subjected to it without the proper checks and balances. The mnemnosurgeon Froid was dispatched by the corrupt Council to "correct" his rabble-rousing, and it was only the unwitting interruption by fellow mnemnosurgeon Rung (who'd arrived to inform Froid of a new regulation requiring two signatures instead of one) that saved him.
  • In the backstory, Shockwave was a Senator and Token Good Teammate who tried his best to reign in the excesses of the Senate. However, after it was discovered that he'd been doing so behind the Senate's back, the Senate spitefully had him subjected to the punishment Empurata (which involved replacing his head with the Cyber Cyclops visage he's most known for and replacing his hands with claws), and further subjected him to mnemnosurgery that removed all emotion. All this without even being formally charged.
  • Invoked in the aftermath of Transformers: Dark Cybertron, where Optimus Prime takes pains to avoid being seen doing this in regards to Megatron. Unable to contact High Justice Tyrest, he becomes the judge overseeing the trial personally and follows every regulation to the letter. He is so scrupulous that when a squad of Decepticons attack the trial to rescue Megatron, Optimus declines to join in the fight until Ultra Magnus (being a Rules Lawyer) formally requests his involvement to restore order to the court. This pays off, as the Autobots' reputation among the returning Neutral Transformers begins improving as they see that Optimus is genuinely intent on returning to proper rule of law.

Fan Works

• In #8024, this more or less what happened to Marrinette. Downplayed in that there was a trial, it's just that when an akuma flew into the courtroom and chose to land near Marrinette without akumatizing anyone — almost like it were guarding her — everyone took that as an instant sign of guilt, and sentenced her without letting her give any testimony.
• Dungeon Keeper Ami: In "Noble Conversations", when Ami is talking to an enemy noble about how she was forced on the defensive when an emergency forced her to move onto lands occupied by someone else and they immediately militarily retaliated, despite being asked to negotiate:
  Ami: By your own laws, I should have been listened to when I asked to negotiate. It is my right as an empress.
• Many Harry Potter Fix Fics address the fact that this trope happened to Sirius Black, with the main characters of said fics often working to prove his innocence or get him an actual trial (which, nine times out of ten, will still prove his innocence). Said fics also usually point out that it's a bit odd that no one sought to investigate the case or bother with a trial (which would have revealed all of the logic holes of the prosecution and proven Sirius innocent).
• Memento Mori MLP: Twilight witnesses a Bad Future where she became the disciple of the Dark God Tirac, sacrificed the townsponies of Neighvarro to magically empower herself, tried to slay her teacher Princess Celestia, and killed her wife Rainbow Dash as part of a Blood Magic ritual. When the Royal Guard finally comes to arrest her, they state that Celestia has ordered for her to receive no trial and be treated as "the worst of slime to infest the earth."
• The Negotiations-verse: After Fluttershy defects from Equestria to aid humanity in the Conversion War, the Equestrian Secret Service is given free rein to round up and arrest ponies accused of hampering Equestria's efforts in the Conversion War. Anypony accused of being disloyal to Equestria's mission to "spread harmony and friendship to the humans", being too sympathetic to humanity, or not contributing enough to the war effort is arrested and sentenced indefinitely to hard labor in one of the work camps.

Films — Live-Action

• Back to the Future Part II: In 2015, Marty learns his future son Marty Jr. gets sentenced to 15 years in the state penitentiary for his involvement in a robbery within two hours of his arrest, with Doc saying "The justice system works swiftly now that they've abolished all the lawyers."
• Captain America: Civil War: Expanded Materials established that amongst the other terms of the Sokovia Accords that any enhanced individuals who use their abilities to break the law or "are otherwise deemed to be a threat to the safety of the general public" may be detained indefinitely without trial. Likewise, any enhanced individuals who break the terms of the accords or interfere with their enforcement will be arrested and imprisoned indefinitely without trial.
• Much of The Death of Stalin concerns the Evil Power Vacuum left at the top of the Soviet Union in the wake of Josef Stalin's death. For most of the film, Lavrentiy Beria, the psychopathic Serial Rapist who was the head of Stalin's Secret Police, and Nikita Khrushchev, a clever but seemingly powerless politician, wrestle for control. When Khrushchev manages to enlist the Army in his cause, he has Beria arrested and prepares to drag him off to a Kangaroo Court. When Georgy Malenkov, who was Stalin's hapless Number Two, protests that Beria deserves a proper trial, Khrushchev shoots back that it's kill or be killed with Beria, and if Beria manages to survive a real trial, he will murder everyone else within the Soviet Union's inner circle (and likely their entire families) as revenge. Beria also tries to insist on his right to a trial, but Khrushchev ignores and overrides him, instead having Beria's trial basically consist of Khrushchev saying "Here are the charges, we find you guilty, and sentence you to death." The "trial" and execution take about two minutes from start to finish.
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (or rather, the Big Bad impersonating him) attempts to dispose of Newt and Tina by giving them a death sentence for a trumped-up charge in a private meeting, handing them straight to the executioners, and informing the President after the fact.
• Holmes & Watson: Dr. Watson is arrested and then sentenced to hang without any trial occurring in between.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit: This seems to be Judge Doom's modus operandi, immediately sending any Toons caught breaking human law outside of Toontown straight to the Dip. Indeed, when he briefly captures Roger at Dolores' bar, he immediately tries to have him Dipped without trial despite earlier telling Eddie that he'd "try him, convict him, and execute him."

Literature

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: At the climactic scene of Alice's trial, after the King of Hearts calls for the verdict, the Queen of Hearts says, "Sentence first—verdict afterwards." This could almost have been the trope namer...
• In Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World, Zem is an ex-priest who turned down a girl who had a crush on him. She then accused him of molesting her. The townsfolk held him in jail overnight and ran him out of town the following morning.
• Harry Potter: During the First Wizarding War, Barty Crouch Sr. sentenced many people to Azkaban without trial, including Sirius Black, as part of the extremes he went to in order to take down Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Because of this, Sirius was blamed for betraying the Potters to Voldemort and imprisoned in Azkaban for 12 years. The truth is only discovered by Harry years later: that Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters' location to Voldemort, then framed Sirius by blowing up a street full of Muggles and faking his own death by cutting off his finger and using his ability as an Animagus to shapeshift into a rat and hide.
• In a Good Cause— has Altmayer's third imprisonment as this: no trial, no sentence, and, in fact, hardly any imprisonment — he got a Luxury Prison Suite with only a few officials having the right to communicate.
• Nineteen Eighty-Four: Although Oceania has (show) trials as part of its regular purges, some Party members are just "vaporized" by the Thought Police.

Live-Action TV

• The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.:
  • In the pilot episode, Brisco and Lord Bowler find themselves in jail when the latter picked a fight with him in a cafe. The Judge tries to convict them to two months of community service, only for Brisco to invoke his law degree and demand his constitutional right to a trial by a jury of his peers. Not accustomed to such rights being invoked (and already having a workload too big to do so), the Judge throws his case out and lets Brisco go free while Lord Bowler is saddled with community service.
  • In "Brisco for the Defense", Brisco's old Harvard friend Dr. Matt Carter is framed for a murder, and the entire town is convinced that he did the dirty deed and are intent on seeing him hanged as quickly as possible. The fact that the Sheriff tries to be as obstructive and unhelpful as possible certainly doesn't help.
• Around the World in 80 Days (2021): In Episode 5, "Hong Kong," Fogg is wrongly accused of stealing a valuable necklace and sentenced to a dozen lashes. When he protests that he's an Englishman and entitled to a trial, Donaldson contemptuously tells him, "This isn't England. This is Hong Kong!"
• Babylon 5: Londo's plot in "Knives" revolves around an old friend of his, Urza, being declared guilty of treason by the Centauri legislature via bill of attainder. Londo goes to his co-conspirator Refa to stop it, but Urza balks and challenges Londo to a Duel to the Death because the bill was Refa's idea to begin with. It's a Thanatos Gambit by Urza, who throws the fight, under the terms of which Londo is forced to adopt his family, protecting them from Refa.
• Ohsama Sentai Kingohger: The Fury of the Gods was such a devastating global event that the previous King of Gokkan chose to actively break her nation's vow of supreme legal neutrality so she could personally find and contain the suspect herself; her husband aiding her in Faking the Dead by posing as her killer for more than a decade to do so.
• Red Dwarf: In "Emohawk - Polymorph II", the Dwarfers aboard Starbug are confronted by an automated law enforcement craft, after them for looting spaceships. Kryten makes it clear that the penalty is execution, and the craft will not hesitate to carry out the sentence. The crew are, of course, completely guilty.
• The Rifleman, "The Deserter": An army deserter, Ben Haskell, ends up on Lucas McCain's ranch, wounded and exhausted. Unfortunately, the soldier's command Major, Damler, was not only overly-strict and emotionally abusive to his regiment, but also very uncaring about the troops under his command, as he not only did not have the regiment doctor tend to Haskell's wound (causing it to get infected), but Damler also arrests, judges, and sentences Haskell to a firing squad without reasonable charge. Haskell's only "crime"? He stole some water out of desperation, of which he was denied in the arid climate of New Mexico, and was shot for it, while escaping.

Theatre

• In every version of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is banished from Verona without a trial after killing Tybalt. This was mercy on the part of Prince Escalus, because the other alternative was to put him to death for continuing the violence of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets by killing Tybalt, and the main reason that Romeo wasn't executed was because he was seeking revenge for Mercutio's death at Tybalt's hands, not for anyone on his family's side.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Judge Turpin is the living embodiment of this trope. He sentences Benjamin Barker to exile on false charges in order to have his way with his wife and adopt his daughter, triggering the barber's Start of Darkness and him returning fifteen years later under the name Sweeney Todd. Turpin later sentences a child to death, and after the execution, asks Beadle Bamford what the boy was on trial for in the first place.

Video Games

• In Crusader Kings III, rulers can punish their vassals without any trial but will get tyranny points.
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Your character somehow starts the game in a cart of condemned prisoners. Your name isn't even on the list of prisoners, but the Imperial Legion Captain sentences you to death anyway; you're saved by a timely dragon attack.
• In Fallen London, failing a heist on the Brass Embassy will send you straight to New Newgate without a trial. This is actually a good thing for the player compared to the usual method of getting thrown in jail and is the preferred method of getting sent there on purpose because the lack of trial means it doesn't affect your criminal record, which is hard to clear and prevents Ablution Absolution from working if you let it get too high.
• Mass Effect: Ashley Williams explains to Shepard that after the First Contact War, her grandfather General Williams was stripped of his rank without a trial because he surrendered to the Turians when it became clear that the garrison at Shanxi was going to fall.
• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous: Hulrun Shappok runs the inquisition hunting demons and their cultists in Kenabres at the start of the game, and acts as Judge, Jury, and Executioner in the city's martial law system. He's prone to unilaterally sentencing people to burn at the stake on the mere suspicion of demon-worship, including party member Ember and her Disappeared Dad, who were completely innocent and had just arrived in town. Ember was rescued from her pyre by an unnamed knight who had a Heel Realization; her father burned to death.
• Phantasy Star Online 2: Due to Luthor’s manipulations, at the climax of Episode 2, the Council of Six calls for a Code: ABYSS on the protagonist. They do this without giving the protagonist any sort of trial, and on information that Luthor carefully manipulated to make it look like the protagonist was conspiring against the Oracle Fleet. Fortunately, the protagonist is able to clear their name when its discovered that Luthor had intended for them to fall as a distraction while he would try and fail to merge with Xion, to grant him the power of omniscience, with Luthor dying at the hands of Regius.

Visual Novels

• Ace Attorney series:
  • Inverted in the majority of the cases. Whenever the player is in control of a defense attorney, the police will almost always arrest the first person to be suspected of whatever crime has occurred with minimal investigation if any. The job of solving the mystery thus falls to the defense attorney, who has to piece together evidence during the trial.
  • Sometimes, the prosecution will attempt to invoke this trope either by offering a plea bargain or by trying to coerce the judge into passing a verdict as quickly as possible.
  • Subverted with witnesses who are exposed as culprits during other people's trials. As shown with Luke Atmey in Case 2 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations, despite having their guilt proven in another person's trial, witnesses still get tried as defendants in their own separate trials.

Webcomics

• Muted: Athalie is sentenced to death by the LaCour without a trial. Justified, as she would have had more opportunities to more kill people if she had a trial, and the Matriarchs had witnessed her crimes first hand.
• Inkwell Penny Hell: After the fall of the Devil's Casino, all the employees are arrested and sentenced to be regressed into children and re-raised by suitable guardians. When Mr. Wheezy is caught by one of Rumor Honeybottom's bee officers, he's told what's going to happen to him. When he asks about due process, the officer tells him Rumor isn't wasting time with trials for the casino employees because the contracts they signed selling their souls to the Devil are enough proof of guilt.
• The Order of the Stick:
  • Lord Shojo gives the Order's Token Evil Teammate Belkar an off-the-books summary judgement and unorthodox Restraining Bolt sentence for manslaughter in order to recruit him as a secret agent.
  • Shojo's successor Hinjo exploits this when he recruits Belkar, observing that because Shojo didn't follow the legal system, Hinjo is under no obligation to have Belkar's curse removed when his sentence is complete.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time: Following Lemongrab taking over the Candy Kingdom in "Too Young", he starts arbitrarily sentencing and imprisoning people within the dungeons (for anything between a few hours and a million years). Flat-out lampshaded towards the end when he imprisons everyone, with him ending the sentence by declaring "no trials!"
• The Simpsons:
  • At the end of "Day of the Jackanapes", Chief Wiggum is preparing to execute Sideshow Bob by guillotine for brainwashing Bart to kill Krusty, leading to this exchange:
    Wiggum: Okay, where do you want to do this thing?
    Bob: Isn't it customary to have a trial?
    Wiggum: Oh, a wise guy, eh?
  • In the episode "Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot", the family goes to a harvest fest and witnesses a cornucopia contest. Marge accidentally exposes that one contestant has stuffed his with styrofoam and is dragged away. Marge states she can testify at the trial then a farmer pops up and tells her there won't be one.
    Marge: I can testify at the trial.
    Farmer: There ain't gonna be a trial.
• The New Adventures of Superman episode "Return of Warlock". At the end of the episode, Superman captures the Warlock, delivers him to the local prison without a trial and tells him "You will stay here for a long, long time".

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