History Main / HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' Stone Ocean: Joylene Kujo was framed for murder and betrayed by both her ex-boyfriend and her lawyer, the latter leaving her to an assassin. Once she gets her hands on a Stand Power from a custody gift, the first thing she does is murder her lawyer with it.

* Jack from ''Series/Sprung2022'' was a young weed dealer who considered stealing to be morally wrong before he was sent to prison. During his time inside, however, he befriended many thieves and learned the various tricks of the trade from them. He uses this knowledge to survive once he's released.

* Ruslan Alpysbayuly Kulikbayev went to prison for robbery, then again for firearms offences. While in prison, he got into contact with Salafists, who radicalised him, culminating in his perpetration of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Almaty_police_officers a terrorist attack in 2016]].

* South American serial killer Pedro Lopes started as a petty thief but graduated to murder after [[PrisonRape getting raped in jail]].

May double as a form of NiceJobBreakingItHero when there were good intentions behind sending someone to prison. See also ThenLetMeBeEvil.

May double as a form of NiceJobBreakingItHero when there were good intentions behind sending someone to prison.

* Some gangs actually require members to go to jail before they can join the gang.
* This is a common criticism of the [[DrugsAreBad war on drugs]] in particular, or at least the approaches to it that involve prison sentences for the possession of illegal drugs. It is especially often applied to the US, whose prisons are regarded as especially likely to make hardened criminals and whose approach involves locking people up for so much as possessing soft drugs like marijuana for personal use. Sociologists have been trying to raise awareness of this, asking people to apply the concept of prison to other situations. For example: "If you had a child who was behaving poorly, would it help to take that child out of society, and place them in an environment where they are surrounded, 24/7, by other troublemakers?" This has been a criticism of incarceration as the major punishment since the late 1700s/early 1800s, with critics stating that it's a school for crime as inmates learn from each other and make connections, not to mention just being brutalized by the environment.
* A variation occurred in Ireland; in the wake of [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishQuestion the Easter Rising]], the British army interned large numbers of Irish people who had had little to nothing to do with it alongside the surviving rebels. The combination of unjust treatment and being placed in close proximity to dissidents meant that when internment was ended, the country had the makings of an enormous republican movement, which led to UsefulNotes/TheIrishRevolution. The British learnt nothing from this; fifty or sixty years later they did exactly the same thing all over again in UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.
* Much the same thing in Tsarist Russia, where Lenin, Trotsky, and other Bolshevik revolutionaries used the time they spent in prison camps to organize and plan the revolution.

* A concern that some raise regarding [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure mass punishment]] as is fairly common in the military. Too many folks get in trouble for alcohol-related crimes on the weekend? Let's put tens of thousands of military personnel under curfew, threatening them with punishment if they are caught off base after hours, or even restrict when they can have alcohol in their own homes. Treat someone as if they were the wrongdoer enough times, and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil they may no longer see any incentive in behaving, and thus develop disciplinary problems]].
* In 1972, Stanford psychologist Phillip Zimbardo conducted an experiment to test if placing normal, emotionally healthy people in a prison-like setting increased their capacity for violence. Half the test subjects were assigned the role of guards, the other half were prisoners. The result both plays straight and inverts this trope: by the end of the first week of the study, both groups had become so hostile to each other that the experiment had to be cancelled. The experiment has been questioned, though, because subjects were not screened for whether they already had tendencies toward violence and Zimbardo himself participated (playing the warden)-a huge no-no for experimenters. These results cannot be replicated, as ethical rules today prevent it.
* Schooling has this issue, especially with the addition of technology. Due to the often widespread punishments when things go wrong in the schooling system, more and more privileges are lost for ''everyone''. This, of course, leads to many innocents joining the misbehavior for the reason that they retain their privileges, and [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure they'll still be punished even if they don't misbehave.]]
* Tragically, there ''were'' rare situations where this trope was inverted; sometimes, intelligent but under-educated criminals would be given a second chance in the form of a G.E.D. education while in prison, in hopes that learning a trade and gaining status as an educated member of society would give them the incentive to make money with legitimate skills instead of the other illegitimate ones at crime college. Unfortunately, these systems have slowed to a '''crawl''', and there is a waitlist that is far longer than the average sentence.
** Creator/StacyKeach is an [[InvertedTrope inversion]]. He was caught in the UK possessing cocaine during TheEighties and sentenced to prison. The warden there wound up being such a positive influence on his life that he's been on the straight and narrow since and based the character of Warden Pope in Series/PrisonBreak off that warden.

* In ''ComicBook/MagicPower'', Timebomb, the dwarvish bomber, was innocent when he was first sent to prison - he was wrongfully arrested because it was assumed that he and his fellow demolitionists made a bomb that struck Thesz. After escaping, he was unable to find legitimate work and thus became a bomb-maker for the dwarvish mob.

* After being captured in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', Grif claims this has happened to him and suggests he and Church rob a liquor store on their way home after they're let out... even though he's only been in jail for ''five hours.''

* ''Series/TidelandsNetflix'': {{Downplayed}}. After being in prison for 10 years for arson and manslaughter, Cal takes part in the Orphelin Bay drug trade.

* In ''Film/{{Ariel}}'', Kasurinen committed a few petty crimes before going to prison. After he breaks out, he has graduated to bank robbery and murder.

** A similar, albeit downplayed case happened with Warren White in ''comicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell.'' He was a genuinely guilty but entirely sane white-collar criminal who decided to try an InsanityDefense, being unfamiliar with Arkham. It didn't take long for him to get horribly disfigured, driven half-mad, and turned into the supercriminal Great White Shark.

* In TheForemen's song about the failure of the California educational system, "[[http://www.royzimmerman.com/lyrics/best_cali.html California Couldn't Pay Our Education]]", in the end, California ''did'' pay their education, when it sent them to prison for petty theft, and they learned how to avoid getting caught again.
* It's not made clear why Gilby Clarke's character is being sent to jail in [[Music/PawnshopGuitars "Tijuana Jail."]] He sticks a switchblade from his boot in a guard's throat to make his escape.
* This a common theme in Music/SteveEarle songs.

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', Crono is falsely accused of kidnapping, thrown in jail, and sentenced to death on spurious grounds. Depending on the player's actions, the worst thing he's done before going to jail is stealing and eating an old man's lunch. Escaping execution for a bum rap has him murdering guards left and right. Although, if you go back to the castle after this has happened as soon as possible, you will find a group of guards discussing the behavior of the prison guards. They describe the guards as strange people brought in by [[spoiler:The Chancellor, foreshadowing him being the descendant of Yakra from 600 A.D.]]
* This is the backstory of [[MauveShirt Glitch]] from the ''VideoGame/{{Battletech}}'' video game: As a teen she was falsely assigned as a criminal due to a system glitch (hence her callsign) and spent her formative years in a [=FedSun=] prison, where she had to learn how to act like a hardened criminal just to survive. By the time she was released, becoming [[HiredGuns a mercenary]] was about the only thing she was qualified to do.

* After being captured in Machinima/RedVsBlue, Grif claims this has happened to him and suggests he and Church rob a liquor store on their way home after they're let out... even though he's only been in jail for ''five hours.''

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', this is how The Kingpin came to be — originally sent to prison for larceny after one of his dad's scams went south and his bulk prevented him from following his father up a fire escape. Once he comes out, he's got 'connections' and uses what he's learned to begin building his criminal empire.

* Wasp, from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', gets falsely arrested as a Decepticon spy in the backstory (shown in a flashback episode). By the time he escapes over half a century later (Cybertronians are long-lived), he's almost [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Gollum-like]] in his insanity and later becomes ''an actual Decepticon''.
* Played with in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock''. When D.J. Rock, a corrupt music producer who caters to rappers, is arrested for plagiarizing Rubberband Man's music, he sees an upside to it, saying that some time in jail might improve his "rep" and thus be good for business when he gets out. However, Static has a different opinion, telling him that this case might cause other victims to come forward, meaning that by the time he ''does'' get out, his music will be good for nothing but the discount bins.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' plays with this. Recurring antagonist Sideshow Bob was already a criminal but didn't start off trying to kill anybody, only framing Krusty for armed robbery so he can take over his show and make it better since he was abused by Krusty on live air. But after Bart exposes him and gets him incarcerated, all Bob can think about is plotting horrible revenge against Bart, and has ever since.

* ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland'' has [[spoiler:Senji, AKA Crow]]. Inside prison: a BloodKnight who's at best a SociopathicHero. Outside prison: [[spoiler:[[TheLastDj The last honest cop on the force.]]]]

* ComicBook/{{Bane}} was born and raised in an island prison with a less-than-sympathetic warden. Guess how he turned out...
* A short story in one DC comic had a man wrongfully convicted of a crime and sent to Arkham Asylum. By the time the error was discovered and the order to release him was given, the asylum and its unique blend of inhabitants had crushed his sanity.
* A similar, albeit downplayed case happened with Warren White in ''Arkham Asylum: Living Hell.'' He was a genuinely guilty but entirely sane white-collar criminal who decided to try an InsanityDefense, being unfamiliar with Arkham. It didn't take long for him to get horribly disfigured, driven half-mad, and turned into the supercriminal Great White Shark.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Andy, from ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', is the TropeNamer. Falsely convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, he goes from being an honest banker to using his banking skills to help launder money for the warden. This doesn't really make him any less sympathetic, as all the crimes he commits in jail [[JustifiedCriminal were forced upon him]], [[spoiler:and actually a means to get his abusive jailers arrested]].
* The main character of ''Film/{{Blow}}'' (based on reality) said this about himself, as he was busted for dealing marijuana, and then came out with connections to the cocaine trade.

* Likewise in the Indonesian movie ''Film/TheRaid2Berandal'', where undercover cop Rama spends three years in prison establishing himself as a thug named Yuda and befriending Uco, the son of the local crime boss. The word "berandal" basically means "thug".
* In ''Film/MurderInTheFirst'', a lawyer defends a convict accused of murdering a fellow convict, using the trope to try to get the charge reduced to involuntary manslaughter. [[spoiler: They succeed.]]
* In ''Film/{{Sleepers}}'', four boys are sent to a juvenile detention facility where horrific sexual abuse at the hands of the guards changes their lives forever. Two of them become hardened gangsters while the other two are able to reintegrate into mainstream society, but all of them are either guilty of or complicit in illegal activities in pursuit of revenge.

* In ''Film/{{Caged}}'', a young woman is sent to prison after having been an unknowing accessory to her husband's crime. By the end, she becomes a hardened convict and is on the road to becoming a professional criminal.
%%* The whole point of ''Film/AProphet''.
* {{Implied|Trope}} to be the case in ''Film/TheWarWithin''. Hassan, a Pakistani engineering student in Paris, is kidnapped by the CIA on suspicion of terrorism, then sent back to Pakistan. In prison, he is brutally tortured, though released when his interrogators learn nothing. When we see him next, he's sneaked into the US and plotting to blow up Grand Central Station.
* In ''Film/{{Ariel}}'', Kasurinen committed a few petty crimes before going to prison. After he breaks out, he has graduated to bank robbery and murder.

* ''Film/ShotCaller'': Jacob Harlon was originally convicted for two years after pleading guilty to a DUI manslaughter charge. He joins a skinhead gang in prison to survive and is forced to get his hands dirty more than once, starting by smuggling drugs and later by murdering snitches and rival gang members. During one of these attacks in the middle of a prison riot, the act is caught on camera, and Jacob is given an additional nine years (85% mandatory) on top of his original sentence and sent to the most secure section of the prison. Even after he leaves prison, he continues his activities for the gang on the outside, and [[spoiler:orchestrates events so that he becomes the leader of the entire gang after killing his predecessor for threatening his family.]]
* In ''Tough Guys'', Creator/BurtLancaster and Creator/KirkDouglas play gangsters who have served 30-year sentences for hijacking a train, and as soon as they're released from prison, Harry is committed to a retirement community where he's denied decent food and subject to rough treatment, not allowed to talk to his friend Archie for 3 years while Archie takes a job at an ice cream parlor and a restaurant. Neither of them, who entered prison in the '50s, can cope with the '80s culture shock of newfangled technologies, disrespectful youths, assertive women, and their old bar is now a gay mens' club. Harry and Archie decide to pull off another heist on the Gold Coast Flyer after failing to rob a bank and an armored car, and the members of their old gang are either senile, physically unfit, or dead. Leon, an older hitman, has received a $25,000 bounty to do away with Harry and Archie. They take the train and run it past the end of the line, crash-landing in Mexico. When the border patrol comes to arrest them, Archie defiantly kicks the lead officer in the groin.

* Discussed in ''Film/ConAir'' where Larkin and Malloy come to a head over their conflicting viewpoints, with Larkin believing the system is responsible for criminals while Malloy sees them as just animals. They inevitably do become FireForgedFriends in the end, effectively agreeing that some cons like Poe ''are'' victims of the system and others like Cyrus really are heartless cruel bastards. Their very first interaction says it all:
-->'''Vince Larkin:''' Cyrus is a poster child for the criminally insane. He's a true product of the system.
-->'''Duncan Malloy:''' What's that supposed to mean? What are you, one of these sociology majors who thinks we're responsible for breeding these animals?
-->'''Vince Larkin:''' No, but I can point a few fingers if it would make you feel comfortable.

* Literature/SherlockHolmes [[LampshadeHanging mentions]] this phenomenon in "The Blue Carbuncle", when he decides to release the man who stole the title gem: "This fellow will not go wrong again; [[ScareEmStraight he is too terribly frightened]]. Send him to jail now, and you make him a jail-bird for life."

* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' tries to deliberately {{invoke|dTrope}} this trope, [[GetIntoJailFree getting himself sent to prison]] to learn the tricks of the trade from real criminal minds. Of course, he quickly realizes [[DidntThinkThisThrough his mistake]]: [[spoiler:He won't find any criminal masterminds in prison, because they don't get caught.]]
* Discussed in the ''Literature/{{Spenser}}'' short story "Surrogate", regarding a man who was paid to rape a woman by her ex-husband, who met him while teaching a convict education program. Somewhat more ambivalent than many of the other examples.
-->'''Spenser:''' Lot of guys like him in the joint. Sometimes, I suppose, it’s the joint makes them like that. Sometimes being like that gets them into the joint in the first place.
* Happens to Jean Valjean at the beginning of ''Literature/LesMiserables''. After being released from a ''very'' long prison term for stealing a loaf of bread (which was "only" five years until he got it quadrupled for repeated escape attempts), he is unable to find work (because nobody is willing to hire a thief -- at least not at a wage he can live on) and is forced to resort to stealing more valuable goods to survive. An [[ItWasAGift unexpected act of mercy]] from the first person he robs after starting down this path leads to him undergoing a HeelFaceTurn.
* Discussed in one of the many {{Author Tract}}s in ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. When explaining why the future setting of the book uses corporal punishment rather than jail for punishment, a character explains that jails were a place for so-called "juvenile delinquents" to be surrounded by other criminals and learn how to commit far worse crimes than they'd been imprisoned for.
* In the ''Literature/DredChronicles'', Dred notes that even if people were sent to the chaotic PrisonShip Perdition on false convictions, they soon picked up the same way of doing things as the real criminals (or else they just died).

* ''Literature/HelpIAmBeingHeldPrisoner'': Max first was sent to prison as a student radical, became criminalized inside and was rearrested for burglary after he got out. Harry (a prankster who accidentally made some politicians get into an accident and has them seek revenge) tries to avert this by keeping from taking part in the crimes of the group, but eventually gets dragged in.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Tyrion is falsely accused in Season 4 of killing his nephew, the King, and is sentenced to death by his own father, who fully knows he's innocent but wants to get rid of him, anyway. When freed by Jaime on the night before his execution, he pays one final visit to his father and commits a double homicide that will almost certainly taint his reputation for the rest of his life.
** Cersei was always a high-horse backstabbing bitch, but being chained, shaved, and in a position of despair left her [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark fractured but whole]] when she crawled back to her throne. This is an extremely bad situation to be in when one of the previous rulers installed self-destruct explosives on every district, with the kill switch in the hands of the current queen.
* Tobias Beecher in ''Series/{{Oz}}''. Imprisoned for vehicular homicide, [[spoiler:he is a murderer several times over by the end of the series]].
* On ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'', Junior Bunk Mahoney was a none-too-bright enforcer for his heroin-slinging family, and couldn't stop weeping when the squad brought him in. Fast forward a couple of years, and he's a gleeful sociopath who [[spoiler:shoots up the squad room, injuring several main characters]].
* ''Series/{{Life|2007}}'': When we meet Arthur Tins in season 1, he's a low-rate con artist who Crews sends to prison. When we see him again in season 2 after he's escaped, he's a hardened criminal who murders one man, robs an armored car and takes a family hostage.

* The short-lived 1974 TV series ''Sword of Justice'' has rich playboy Jack Cole framed for massive fraud and embezzlement and sent to jail for five years. Realizing he's not the first to get screwed over like this, Cole spends the time talking to his fellow inmates to learn all the tricks of theft ("They say this place is a college for criminals. Well, I want to go to school.") When he finally gets out, he uses those skills to take down other white-collar crooks.
* When Earl went to prison in ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', he meets a prisoner who's on his list for accidentally being sent to Juvey by him. When he gets out of prison, the public takes one look at his shaved head, his prison tattoos and the tough guy persona he adopted inside to stay alive and decide he's a crook. So he lives up to their expectations by becoming one.
** Defied by Earl himself. He went to jail to save his ex-wife, who had two prior offenses and would get a harsher sentence. At the beginning of the episode, in lieu of the usual OpeningNarration, Earl explains how he ended up in prison, ending with "My name is inmate #28301-016." At the end of the episode, however, Earl vows to not forget the progress he has made since his days as a petty crook.
--> '''Earl''': The next two years were going to be hard, but now I knew I couldn't survive them by doing the same thing Glenn had; let prison turn me into someone I didn't recognize. I realized no matter how scared I get, if I'm going to survive in prison, I have to do it as myself. Cause my name isn't inmate number 28301-016. My Name is Earl.
* Parodied by [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] with regards to Guantanamo Bay. He points out that, if someone is falsely accused of terrorism and sent to prison, he'd come out wanting to kill the people who locked him up. Hence, even an innocent person locked up for terrorism is at risk of becoming a terrorist. Thus, they should stay in detention.

* Parodied in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' when Tobias Funkë went to prison and accidentally killed the craziest guy in there. Tobias' psychoanalysis of the man broke his spirit and caused his suicide. Tobias gets a lot of street cred on the inside and his derogatory nickname "Dorothy" becomes a name to be feared.
* An important theme in ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack''. Sweet, wide-eyed characters like Piper, Brook, and even [[spoiler:Red]] commit relatively minor crimes, are stuck in an environment where they are dehumanized and broken down, and quickly morph into angry cynics unafraid to hurt others.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** In the episode "The Apprenticeship" they mention that prison is called "Crime U," because it gives criminals connections to make them better criminals. In this particular case, one man taught another his MO and presumably how he got away with his crimes or what he learned about hiding them by getting caught.
** The ruined reputation version happens in "Carbon Copy." The killer [[spoiler: but NOT the Replicator]] was wrongly arrested for the original case being copied. After his identity was leaked to the press, he was unable to clear his name. When he was caught, he declared that these deaths were the fault of the B.A.U., not him.

* In the ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' episode [[Recap/ArrowS5E7Vigilante "Vigilante"]], bank robber Eric Dunn's first time in prison was as an innocent man, having been convicted for a crime he didn't commit, either due to [[BadCopIncompetentCop police negligence or corruption.]]
--> '''Dunn''': When I went to prison, I was innocent. When I came out, I wasn't so innocent no more.

* Sid Carter in ''Series/FatherBrown'' always had a penchant for mischief and petty theft, but was changed from a LovableRogue to a hardened vengeance-seeker after spending a year in jail [[spoiler:for a crime he didn't commit]].
* Annie of "Darkest timeline" in ''Series/{{Community}}'': She originally went crazy because she could not live with the guilt of Pierce's death and ended up being sent to an asylum. When Jeff manages to get her out, she has become completely insane and evil.

* Parodied by [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] with regards to Guantanamo Bay. He points out that, if someone falsely accused him of terrorism and sent him to prison, he'd come out wanting to kill the people who locked him up. Hence, even an innocent person locked up for terrorism is at risk of becoming a terrorist. Thus, they should stay in detention.

* Subverted in the short-lived series ''Sword Of Justice''. The main character was falsely imprisoned and uses his time there to pick up skills from other criminals. However, upon release, he uses those skills to secretly catch criminals who are normally above the law like the ones who framed him.
* This is the message of the ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' episode "Making A Rapist". A man wrongly convicted of rape is released after serving sixteen years in prison. After making friends with the woman formerly believed to be his victim, he's accused of her daughter's rape and murder. [[spoiler: It turns out he did do it, after years of rape and beatings by fellow prisoners. He became attracted to her daughter, then when she laughed him off, he (while drunk) flew into a rage.]] This episode is based on the case of Steven Avery, a man who was wrongly convicted of rape and attempted murder charges in 1985. After being exonerated in 2003, he was then arrested for murder in another case and convicted. Though he maintains he's innocent, the documentary on his case is named ''Making A Murderer'', implying the producers feel the same way (assuming he really did it).

* Annie of "Darkest timeline" in ''Series/{{Community}}'': She originally went crazy because she could not live with the guilt of Pierce's death and ended up being sent to an asylum, when Jeff manages to get her out, she has become completely insane and evil.

* This is a common criticism of the [[DrugsAreBad war on drugs]] in particular, or at least the approaches to it that involve prison sentences for the possession of illegal drugs. It is especially often applied to the US, whose prisons are regarded as especially likely to make hardened criminals and whose approach involves locking people up for so much as possessing soft drugs like marijuana for personal use. Sociologists have been trying to raise awareness of this, asking people to apply the concept of prison to other situations. For example: "If you had a child who was behaving poorly, would it help to take that child out of society, and place them in an environment where they are surrounded, 24/7, by other troublemakers?"

* ''Series/{{Life}}'': When we meet Arthur Tins in season 1, he's a low-rate con artist who Crews sends to prison. When we see him again in season 2 after he's escaped, he's a hardened criminal who murders one man, robs an armored car and takes a family hostage.

* In 1972, Stanford psychologist Phillip Zimbardo conducted an experiment to test if placing normal, emotionally healthy people in a prison-like setting increased their capacity for violence. Half the test subjects were assigned the role of guards, the other half were prisoners. The result both plays straight and inverts this trope: by the end of the first week of the study, both groups had become so hostile to each other that the experiment had to be cancelled. The experiment has been questioned, though, because subjects were not screened for whether they already had tendencies toward violence and Zimbardo himself participated (playing the warden)-a huge no-no for experimenters. These results cannot be replicated, as [[SocietyMarchesOn ethical rules today prevent it]].

* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' tries to deliberately {{invoke|dTrope}} this trope, [[GetIntoJailFree getting himself sent to prison]] to learn the tricks of the trade from real criminal minds. Of course, he quickly realizes his mistake: [[spoiler:He won't find any criminal masterminds in prison, because they don't get caught.]]

* The military suffers this as well, as collective punishments such as removing privileges or perks of the job (being allowed to drink during an exercise or deployment, or getting to knock off early on a Friday, being common targets) from the entire group when so much as one troop breaks the rules or abuses it. The idea used to be effective when Pecking Rule was in effect and fear of other troops retaliating was enough to make people fear breaking the rules (the scene from ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' where Gomer Pyle gets beaten by soap after the donut incident being an infamous pop culture example), but these days those kinds of group "punishments" are strictly and fiercely frowned upon. [[TheArtifact The collective punishment still remains]], however, even though all it really does is offer an incentive to not bother trying to behave: what real incentive is there to follow the rules when it takes only one person screwing up to ruin it for everyone, and one person screwing up is so likely it's a ForegoneConclusion?

* Annie of Darkest timeline in ''Series/{{Community}}'': originally went crazy because she could not live with the guilt of Pierce's death and ended up being sent to an asylum, when Jeff manages to get her out, she has become completely insane and evil.