History Main / ThePunishmentIsTheCrime

* 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 who then became the ''new'' aspect of Dream, except merged with Morpheus at a conceptual level]] and therefore made it AllForNothing. In light of this, she is simply allowed to leave at the end.

* In Paul Robinson's ''Marnie'', the Commandant of the National guard is having a chat with the country's Head of State:

* In ''Fanfic/{{Spider-Ninja}}'', Petra sneaks into the OsCorp HQ by [[BavarianFireDrill walking with a group of teenagers on a field trip and pretending she's supposed to be there]]. While there, she gets [[Franchise/SpiderMan bitten by a mutated spider]], leading to her developing powers. The process of mutating, however, is painful for her, leaving her weak with a high fever for almost a full day. Once she admits to Splinter that she snuck into OsCorp (resulting in the bite), she asks if she's going to be punished. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure He states that, after what she went through while mutating, she's been punished enough]].

* In ''FanFic/QueenOfShadows'', this is how Hiruzen chooses to punish Hishu for his role in [[spoiler:Jade's escape attempt and subsequent near-death]]. Seeing how riddled with guilt he is, Hiruzen decides that that alone is fitting torment.

* Often used in fetish fiction: The punishment for a man trying on women's clothing is... being forced to wear women's clothing.
** For a more specific example, there's an OriginalFlavor ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8445452/1/What-Lurks-in-the-Labyrinth What Lurks in the Labyrinth]]'', where the main villain is unmasked and then forced to wear his costume at a cheesy tourist attraction.
** This is used as an actual punishment for two villains in ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies'' episode "[[Recap/TheNewScoobyDooMoviesS1E13TheHauntedHorsemanOfHagglethornHall The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall]]".

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' pilot "The Cage", the Talosians finally decide that humans are untameable and release their captives. When Captain Pike objects to their lack of remorse for their actions, one of them points out that the failed attempt has [[DespairEventHorizon quashed their final glimmer of hope]] ("Your unsuitability has condemned the Talosian race to [[DyingRace eventual death]]. Is this not sufficient?").

** 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]]".

* In the backstory of ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', it's stated that the ElderGods punished Shang Tsung for [[YourSoulIsMine taking a soul]] with [[ThePunishment a curse which not only forces him to kill his enemies, but to take their souls as well]]. Only in this way would he hold off his grim fate: [[RapidAging to age rapidly]] and die prematurely. Unfortunately, this kinda backfires on them [[spoiler:when Shang Tsung absorbed Great Kung Lao's soul after the latter was defeated by Goro, he also gained knowledge of Shinnok's whereabouts and gave to them Quan Chi in exchange for resurrecting Sindel. ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' gives an AuthorsSavingThrow on the reasoning for this. It turns out this "punishment" [[spoiler:was a gambit on [[BigBad Kronika's]] part to use the souls Shang Tsung absorbs to power her crown, which would give her the extra energy necessary to completely reset the timeline. Kronika's daughter, the Elder God Cetrion, is [[TheMole in on her mother's plan]] and was therefore in a position to influence Shang Tsung's sentence.]]

* ''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.

* In the backstory of ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', it's stated that the ElderGods punished Shang Tsung for [[YourSoulIsMine taking a soul]] with [[ThePunishment a curse which not only forces him to kill his enemies, but to take their souls as well]]. Only in this way would he hold off his grim fate: [[RapidAging to age rapidly]] and die prematurely. Unfortunately, this kinda backfires on them [[spoiler:when Shang Tsung absorbed Great Kung Lao's soul after the latter was defeated by Goro, he also gained knowledge of Shinnok's whereabouts and gave to them Quan Chi in exchange for resurrecting Sindel. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Smooth move there, Elder Gods.]]]]
** ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' gives an AuthorsSavingThrow on the reasoning for this. It turns out this "punishment" [[spoiler:was a gambit on [[BigBad Kronika's]] part to use the souls Shang Tsung absorbs to power her crown, which would give her the extra energy necessary to completely reset the timeline. Kronika's daughter, the Elder God Cetrion, is [[TheMole in on her mother's plan]] and was therefore in a position to influence Shang Tsung's sentence.]]

* ''Wiki/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."

* A segment in ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' has Rocky playing the Queen of Tarts, whose tarts are inedible. Bulwinkle narrates the poem "The Queen of Tarts" where the Queen has baked some tarts, but the Knave of Tarts (Boris Badenov) steals them. At the end, Bulwinkle recites the rest of the poem, "The Knave of tarts returned the tarts, and vowed he'd steal no more." then says to Boris, "Oh you're not getting away that easy. You stole 'em, you eat 'em" and proceeds to stuff the horrible tasting tarts into Boris' mouth.

* This is combined with SelfInflictedHell in ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'': Hell, as it turns out, is simply people being driven by their own guilt to relive [[MyGreatestFailure their worst sin]] over and over. According to Lucifer, people can leave at any time, but he's ''never'' seen anyone manage it.

* Katejina Loos of ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'' steadily went off the deep end of villainy throughout the latter half of the series and was responsible for the deaths of more than a few reoccurring characters. While most of the other antagonists were killed, Katejina survives the series, albeit now as a blind homeless woman with amnesia and brain damage. And it's later implied that she ''does'' remember some of her crimes. The writers felt the only punishment fitting for Katejina's actions would be for her to live with the guilt of her atrocities, because apparently death would be too lenient.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', two of the Lannister hostages try to escape from King's Landing by hiring on as oarsman. Tyrion Lannister suggests keeping them on the oars for a few years as punishment, but eventually decides against it as they can't afford to lose the hostages.
* In Creator/TheodoreSturgeon's short story "Vengeance Is", two men rape an academic's wife and he begs her to give in to them. He does so because he knows that she's the [[TyphoidMary carrier]] for a venereal disease that will soon cause them a painful death.

* In the Creator/CarlHiaasen novel ''Literature/{{Striptease}}'', Shad wants to sue a dairy company by pretending he found a cockroach in his yogurt. His lawyer, Mordecai, keeps the evidence in his refrigerator, only to find after he's come back from meeting with the company and getting a settlement offer that his temporary secretary, Rachel, has eaten the yogurt. She worriedly asks if Mordecai is going to fire her, but Mordecai has something far worse in mind -- "I'm going to tell you exactly [[IAteWhat what you ate]]."
* ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'': In "The Sad Story of Henry", Henry stalls in a tunnel (thus temporarily stranding his passengers) because he doesn't want to risk rain water spoiling his paint. He is punished for this by being bricked up and ''made'' to stay in the tunnel. For [[LaserGuidedKarma bonus points]], his stay actually causes his paint to be ruined far beyond what the rain would have done, thanks to soot and dirt from the tunnel roof.
* ''Literature/RedDwarf:'' The man who committed the first murder of a GELF was given no sentence, the judge figuring that living with the stigma of being a man cuckolded by his own chair was punishment enough.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Greystripe has a relationship with Silverstream, a cat from another clan. When Silverstream dies in childbirth, Thunderclan finds out about his secret relationship. Bluestar, the clan leader, decides that losing Silverstream is punishment enough, and doesn't give one of her own for breaking clan law.

->“How are you doing, how is your family?”\\
“Are you seriously interested, ma'am, or is it just idle chit-chat?”\\
“I'd really like to hear it.”\\
“Well, there is my son. He's only about 15, so he's chomping at the bit to get his learner's permit. So it came in the mail, and he forgot he's not allowed to drive without a licensed driver in the car, and took a couple of his friends out for some food. He just gets back and pulls into the driveway when I caught him, red handed. So I got on my phone, called the provost marshall since it's on-base housing, and had them send a car over without lights or siren. I walk over, tell him to hand me his keys, then the two [=MPs=] order him out of the car and handcuff him. Then they take him down to the brig and stick him in there for a couple of hours. I then have him summoned to my office for a little chat. I explained to him how what he just experienced is what he could expect in the future if he had been caught off-base, it would mean he'd be charged with operating a vehicle without a licensed driver, operating without insurance as he was not authorized to drive on our policy, plus grand theft auto which is a felony conviction rendering him ineligible to serve or to get a security clearance. Or he could face administrative punishment. Since he wants to drive so badly, he can drive the honey wagon that cleans out the latrines and portable toilets for the next six weeks, under the direction of a private.”

* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'': One Goblin Contract summons TheWildHunt to the user's location -- in a game where TheFairFolk are every Changeling's most dreaded enemy. Goblin Contracts usually demand some terrible cost of the user to function; in this case, the Contract's effect ''is'' the cost. On a CriticalFailure, the Hunt knows precisely who called them.
-->''"This dread Contract is its own price."''

* In the stage play version of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[spoiler:Junko]] anticipates extreme prejudice for all the stunts pulled as mastermind of the killing game, and even offers to self-execute. Naegi stops [[spoiler:Junko]] before it can happen, deciding a more despairing punishment would be to keep her alive with the knowlege that her plan failed and the death she wanted is not going to happen on his and the other survivors' watch.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', after finding Jacob's father in his loyalty mission and learning that he's ran a colony of spacecraft wreck survivors as his own personal fiefdom that's now falling apart, you have the Paragon option of radioing in an Alliance vessel to arrest him and bring him to face justice or the Renegade option of LeaveBehindAPistol. [[TakeAThirdOption A third option]] is to simply leave him where he is and [[DoWithHimAsYouWill let him deal with the mess he created]].
* Invoked in the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series with the Armageddon spell. Players are warned that this [[SchmuckBait would destroy almost all living creatures]], but stops just short of telling players it [[UnwinnableByDesign makes the game unwinnable.]] [[spoiler:Subverted in ''VideoGame/UltimaIX'', where Armageddon is used to destroy the Guardian.]]

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': The Changes of Heart the Phantom Thieves pull on their targets essentially brainwashes the targets, most of whom are {{Sociopath}}s, by curing them of their LackOfEmpathy 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. This usually leads to self-inflicted punishment anyways, as the targets will either [[TheAtoner spend every moment trying to be better people]] or lock ''themselves'' behind bars with public confessions.

* The ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' episode "Larry-Boy and the Fib From Outer Space!" has a mild version. Junior's lies cause the Fib to grow giant. It grabs him and begins terrorizing the town. In the end, his parents decide the entire incident is punishment enough for lying.
* After ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' and Shego are released from Dr. Drakken's [[MindControlDevice mind control chips]] at the end of the episode "The Twin Factor", Kim decides not to bother capturing Drakken -- he'll be punished "ten times worse" when Shego gets her hands on him.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBuzzOnMaggie'', Maggie went to see a PG-13 movie her parents forbade her from seeing and it ended up scaring her so much she was left traumatised. After Maggie confessed to her parents they decided her trauma was more than enough punishment.

The villain may [[InvokedTrope raise this issue himself]], arguing that he's being punished enough already and should be spared anything further. Depending on [[SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness the character]] and the circumstances, this may come off as genuine regret [[GoAndSinNoMore deserving of mercy]], a [[BlatantLies cynical ploy]] to [[KarmaHoudini evade justice]], or somewhere in between.

* In one episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', Rimmer is put on trial for causing the deaths of the original crew. Kryten, as his defence lawyer, sums up his argument as "He's only guilty of being Arnold J. Rimmer. That is his crime, it is also his punishment." ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8otwr7ArmA YouTube link]])

* As the title suggests, this is one of the major themes of ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment''. Though Raskolnikov [[spoiler: ''is'' eventually shipped off to Siberia in payment for the murders he commits]], the book makes it clear that the worse punishment is the overwhelming mixture of paranoia and guilt he suffers as a result of his crimes.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' pilot "The Cage", the Talosians finally decide that humans are untameable and release their captives. When Captain Pike objects to their lack of remorse for their actions, one of them points out that the failed attempt has quashed their final glimmer of hope ("Your unsuitability has condemned the Talosian race to [[DyingRace eventual death]]. Is this not sufficient?").

* In ''Series/That70sShow'', Eric is preparing to go to Africa to become a teacher; at the same time, his parents finally find out about the regular marijuana use that he and his friends engage in. This leads to this comment from Red, "Well, this is the worst thing that you have ever done! Eric, I am gonna make you... I am going to... well, I can't think of anything worse than sending you to Africa. You're going to Africa!"
* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' After [[spoiler:Artie]] kills [[spoiler:Leena]] under the influence of the astrolabe, this is what the Regents decide, although it's only really [[spoiler:Artie]] who wants to be punished; the others understand that it wasn't really his fault.

* In ''Film/{{Striptease}}'', Shad wants to sue a dairy company by pretending he found a cockroach in his yogurt. His lawyer, Mordecai, keeps the evidence in his refrigerator, only to find after he's come back from meeting with the company and getting a settlement offer that his temporary secretary, Rachel, has eaten the yogurt. She worriedly asks if Mordecai is going to fire her, but Mordecai has something far worse in mind -- "I'm going to tell you exactly [[IAteWhat what you ate]]."

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