History Main / ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome

* RichardNixon and the Oval Office recordings.

** To a lesser extent, Facebook tends to cause a lot of embarassing self-incrimination from people who post compromising pictures of themselves where teachers, bosses and significant others can see them.

* In ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', SPECTRE not only kept a photograph that they killed a couple for accidentally taking, but they helpfully annotated the back that they killed the couple for taking it, thus providing a clue for JamesBond as to where to look.

* In ''The Fourth Protocol'' by FrederickForsyth, a jewel thief plans to burn a briefcase from his latest job (and his fence [[LampshadeHanging scolds him for still having it]]). But its such a nice one, he can't bear to.

* Note to the Reigate Squires in the eponymous ''SherlockHolmes'' story: when the international intrigue hero who's been all over the papers is sacked out in your parlor, that's probably your last chance to destroy anything incriminating. Also, if said incriminating paper has a piece torn off, you might want to wonder about that.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to raise your awareness of a tragic disorder affecting everyone from common street thugs to criminal masterminds everywhere, Chronic Evidence Retention Syndrome. Responsible for the downfall of many otherwise competent bad guys, [=CERS=] can be recognized by some of the following symptoms:

Please note that retaining evidence of a crime where the evidence consists of, say, something valuable you wanted to steal, isn't symptomatic. In a genuine case of [=CERS=], the evidence will have absolutely no value to anyone other than proving the holder guilty. So be on alert for these symptoms, and so long as a boss isn't the ShootTheMessenger type, let him know he may be making a critical mistake.

* Played with ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'''s bonus case, "Rise from the Ashes." The culprit keeps a critical piece of evidence hidden away which he's used to blackmail someone into doing his bidding; revealing this evidence when prompted will have dire consequences, but concealing it (temporarily) will force the culprit to tip his hand, and the new context in which the evidence is ultimately presented points the guilty finger at him instead.

* Played with ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'''s bonus case, "Rise from the Ashes." The culprit keeps a critical piece of evidence hidden away which he's used to blackmail someone into doing his bidding; revealing this evidence when prompted will have dire consequences, but concealing it (temporarily) will force the culprit to tip his hand, and the new context in which the evidence is ultimately presented points the guilty finger at him instead.

* In ''Videogame/{{Dishonored}}'', [[spoiler:the Lord Regent has an audio log locked in his personal safe that has him talking about how he not only framed Corvo, but personally released the plague to KillThePoor. You can then [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast it throughout the city]], leading to the guards arresting him.]]

* ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'': Adam keeps a box marked "Cincinnati" in his closet, which is apparently the remnants of a shameful and shocking NoodleIncident. His friends are horrified that he'd not only keep whatever is inside the box, but plainly mark it "Cincinnati." Adam protests that he can't just throw something like ''that'' away, and he had to mark it so he'd know which box it's in.

* Occasionally happens to some ''{{Scooby-Doo}}'' villains, who leave out clues all over the place for meddling kids to find.

* {{Serial Killer}}s keep trophies from their victims.

* RealLife: RichardNixon and the Oval Office recordings.
* More RealLife: A surprising number of Internet criminals (and office workers) either don't know to clear their browser history file and cache, or simply neglect to do so.
* More RealLife: {{Serial Killer}}s keep trophies from their victims.

* In ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', SPECTRE not only kept a photograph that they killed a couple for accidentally taking, but they helpfully annotated the back that they killed the couple for taking it, thus providing a clue for JamesBond as to where to look.

* RealLife: RichardNixon and the Oval Office recordings.

* More RealLife: A surprising number of Internet criminals (and office workers) either don't know to clear their browser history file and cache, or simply neglect to do so.
* A heroic subversion in ''BurnNotice'': [[spoiler: after Michael Westen is framed for murdering his CIA liaison, the first thing he does is get rid of the murder weapon. [[KillItWithFire By destroying it with thermite.]]]]
* An episode of ''Series/ThePersuaders'' involved a crucial piece of evidence that the culprit couldn't work the will to destroy, despite his henchman's urging: A gift by AdolfHitler himself for helping the defeat and surrender of France.

* ''Film/MinorityReport'' [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] and [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this. When John Anderton searches Leo Crow's apartment, he finds the bed is covered in photos implying that Crow kidnapped and molested dozens of children (including Anderton's own son). Then it turns out Crow is innocent, and the photos had been faked and set up solely to give Anderton motivation to kill Crow. Later, Detective Witwer examines the apartment, and immediately (correctly) deduces that Crow had been set up, on the logic that real criminals never leave behind this sort of "orgy of evidence".
* Note to the Reigate Squires in the eponymous ''SherlockHolmes'' story: when the international intrigue hero who's been all over the papers is sacked out in your parlor, that's probably your last chance to destroy anything incriminating. Also, if said incriminating paper has a piece torn off, you might want to wonder about that.
* In ''The Fourth Protocol'' by FrederickForsyth, a jewel thief plans to burn a briefcase from his latest job (and his fence [[LampshadeHanging scolds him for still having it]]). But its such a nice one, he can't bear to.

* Occasionally happens to some ''{{Scooby-Doo}}'' villains.

* An episode of ''ThePersuaders'' involved a crucial piece of evidence that the culprit couldn't work the will to destroy, despite his henchman's urging: A gift by AdolfHitler himself for helping the defeat and surrender of France.

* In an episode of ''HawaiiFiveO'', once the bad guys steal the evidence that Steve [=McGarrett's=] father had been investigating, they keep it for some reason instead of just burning or shredding it, which allows [[spoiler:an employee]] to steal some of it and leak the info back to [=McGarrett=], leading him to the person who ordered his father's death.

* Note to the Reigate Squires in the eponymous ''SherlockHolmes'' story: when the international intrigue hero who's been all over the papers is sacked out in your parlor, that's probably your last chance to destroy anything incriminating. Also, if said incriminating paper has a piece torn off, you might want to wonder about that.

* In both comic and movie versions of ''{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler:Veidt for some reason didn't erase the computer files]] that detailed his plan to [[spoiler: frame Dr. Manhattan for causing cancer and leaving Earth]], and information on his ultimate plan, even though the [[spoiler:Manhattan plan]] had been successful (so far as he knew) and he'd already kicked off the second, so there was no need to keep the files at all.

* Noticeable in ''{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''FalloutNewVegas''. Whenever you get a quest to investigate someone, you usually just need to pick the lock of his vault or hack into his computer to find a note explaining his wrongdoing. It's also not rare to find someone's password written in a fairly conspicuous place.

* In ''YouOnlyLiveTwice'', SPECTRE not only kept a photograph that they killed a couple for accidentally taking, but they helpfully annotated the back that they killed the couple for taking it, thus providing a clue for JamesBond as to where to look.

* Occasionally happens to some {{Scooby-Doo}} villains.