Basic Trope: Someone has a good reason for committing crimes.
- Straight: Bob is shown to steal frequently, and this is because he is poor and has no other way to get by.
- Exaggerated: Bob is an Omnicidal Maniac, and somehow there is a good reason for why he is.
- Downplayed: Bob once jaywalked, but only because the crosswalk was full and he was in a hurry to get where he needed to go.
- Justified: Bob can't get a legal job for whatever reason and has to choose between his morals and his belly.
- Inverted:
- Bob commits crimes For the Evulz.
- Bob has no reason to do good things.
- Bob has a good reason for being a hero.
- Subverted:
- Bob only uses "because I'm poor" as an excuse - we later find that he lives in an extravagant mansion.
- Bob is poor, but Officer Charlie points out that he had plenty of legal avenues to get out of his hole and he only chose crime because he's trying to take a shortcut to the easy life.
- Double Subverted:
- But only temporarily; the mansion belongs to his friend Alice, who let him live with her for a while.
- Bob tried all of the legal methods to escape poverty, but kept getting unlucky breaks and being knocked down until it was steal or starve.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: Criminals are not given any good reason for committing crimes.
- Enforced: "Bob is our Anti-Villain and/or Jerkass Woobie, right? Maybe we should give him a good reason for why he resorted to a life of crime."
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob realizes that his job is going to cause him to lose money, and not wanting to turn to a life of crime, decides to get himself a better job.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Bob is a genuinely good person, and every crime he commits out of desperation leaves him with moral injury.
- Every crime Bob commits desensitizes him to the point where it becomes habitual, regardless of how justified it is.
- Hiro catches Bob, and asks why he's robbing a bank. Bob says that he's doing it because he's poor and has no other way to get money. Hiro tells Bob that Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse.
- Bob is caught stealing and convicted. Due to his criminal record, finding legitimate employment is all but impossible, and he ends up Trapped in Villainy, unable to escape the Vicious Cycle of crime he's been caught in unaided. Society is unsympathetic to his plight and leaves him to rot on his downward spiral.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob becomes desensitized to his life of crime, but nonetheless keeps a firm moral standing to ensure it never gets out of hand, and that he stops immediately once he's no longer in a state of desperation.
- Still, even though he doesn't appreciate Bob trying to use his lack of money as an excuse, Hiro still sympathizes with Bob and offers him some money and the chance to turn his life around.
- In incarcerating him, Hiro is giving Bob exactly what he's been seeking: food and shelter.
- Played for Drama: Bob being forced into a life of crime is pointed out to be a sign that the system is completely and utterly broken.
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