History Main / TrialRunCrime

** "Love Run Cold" has the detectives discover that a cat whose owner lives near the suspect was poisoned in the same way as the VictimOfTheWeek (using a substance said suspect uses to prepare food she's photographing) and that the cat's owner suspects she did it.
** The perp in "Point of View" poisons a canary as well, but he's preparing for a mass murder.

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* The first murder in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''Literature/ThreeActTragedy'' turns out to be this, with the killer wishing to test if their scheme for switching glasses during a crowded party would work.
* In a meta sense, many of the murder methods used in Creator/AgathaChristie's novels are recycled from her short stories (e.g. [[spoiler:the philandering husband and downtrodden wife who clearly hate each other actually being partners in crime]] in ''[[Literature/MurderInTheMews Triangle at Rhodes]]'' and ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'') as a trial run to see if any readers complained of the plot's implausibility.

* In the ''Series/TheBlacklist'', a SVR assassin named Karakurt runs a test to see if he can kill someone with a virus through touching someone. The FBI is baffled on why a college student was targeted [[spoiler:until they find out that he's suppose to target an anti-Russian politician and even if that doesn't work, one of his contacts uses the virus so that the Alliance/Cabal can use Liz as a stooge.]]

* In ''Roleplay/EmbersInTheDusk'', in the aftermath of Garkill's final invasion, a Defence Cruiser was destroyed during the cleanup bombardments (crit fail). Later, it turned out [[spoiler:Chaos Psykers were working out a way to teleport past ship shields. When you discover them, they're aboard your flagship and have taken control of your fleet commander.]]

* In strip #906 of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', this is the motive [[spoiler:Nale]] gives for murdering [[spoiler: Malack's vampire "children".]]

Compare TrialBalloonQuestion (a related but much more innocuous trope) and SerialKillingsSpecificTarget (another heinous trope involving secondary killings intended to aid a primary murder).

Sure, they criminal could do a simulation...maybe...but for whatever reason, they've chosen a practice crime instead.

* In a meta sense, many of the murder methods used in Creator/AgathaChristie's novels are recycled from her short stories (e.g. [[spoiler:the philandering husband and downtrodden wife who clearly hate each other actually being partners in crime]] in ''Literature/TriangleAtRhodes'' and ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'') as a trial run to see if any readers complained of the plot's implausibility.

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[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* The terrorist group Black September from the film adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel ''Literature/BlackSunday'' recruits deranged Vietnam vet Lander to develop an anti-personnel weapon, to be used against the President while he attends the Super Bowl. Lander builds a large Claymore mine, and field tests its killing power by convincing a farmer that it's a new television camera. The poor fellow stands still, smiling, when the device goes off, riddling the entire side of his barn with holes. It may be presumed the farmer was liquefied where he stood. The terrorists then plan to install these devices on the exterior of the Goodyear blimp, which will likely kill the President and thousands more in attendance.

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* Another Literature/SherlockHolmes example: In "Silver Blaze", Holmes asks a person taking care of sheep if there was anything wrong with them lately. Turns out a few went lame. This confirms Holmes' suspicion [[spoiler: the supposed murder victim was trying to cripple the eponymous horse after betting against it, and the sheep were used for practice. There was no murder; the horse merely caved the man's skull in during the preparation for the real crime.]]

* ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'' has a variation. Raskolnikov kills a moneylender [[AssholeVictim who won't be missed]], mostly to prove to himself that he's an {{Ubermensch}} and smart enough to get away with the crime. But he doesn't have any concrete plans for a larger crime afterwards, just vague ideas about reshaping the world with his will.

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* In Roleplay/EmbersInTheDusk, in the aftermath of Garkill's final invasion, a Defence Cruiser was destroyed during the cleanup bombardments (crit fail). Later, it turned out [[spoiler:Chaos Psykers were working out a way to teleport past ship shields. When you discover them, they're aboard your flagship and have taken control of your fleet commander.]]

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[[AC:RealLife]]

* The terrorist group Black September from ''Film/BlackSunday'' recruit deranged Vietnam vet Lander to develop an anti-personnel weapon, to be used against the President while he attends the Super Bowl. Lander builds a large Claymore mine, and field tests its killing power by convincing a farmer that it's a new television camera. The poor fellow stands still, smiling, when the device goes off, riddling the entire side of his barn with holes. It may be presumed the farmer was liquefied where he stood. The terrorists then plan to install these devices on the exterior of the Goodyear blimp, which will likely kill the President and thousands more in attendance.

* In an episode of ''Series/HawaiiFiveO'', would be terrorists want to introduce a weaponized Ebola-like illness to the population using bees. They lure a random Island dude to their remote location with the phony promise of a job interview, and then lock him in the room and flood it with infected bees to make sure they can effectively spread the disease (and that the disease will have its intended quick-kill effect).

There are some cold-blooded reasons to rob, assault, or kill somebody, but few seem harsher than harming an acquaintance or even an innocent stranger just to ''test the method'' of criminal plans to use on their real desired target.

* The "Love Run Cold" episode of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had the detectives discover that a cat whose owner lives near the suspect was poisoned in the same way as the VictimOfTheWeek (using a substance said suspect uses to prepare food she's photographing) and the cat's owner suspected she did it.

There are some cold-blooded reasons to rob, assault, or kill somebody, but not many more than doing so to an acquaintance or even an innocent stranger just to ''test the method'' the criminal plans to use on their real desired target. When the crime in question is murder, this trope will most likely constitute a MoralEventHorizon crossing.

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* The first murder in the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''Three Act Tragedy'' turns out to be this, with the killer wishing to test if their scheme for switching glasses during a crowded party would work.

There are some cold-blooded reasons to rob, assault, or kill somebody, but not many more than doing so to an acquaintance or even an innocent stranger just to ''test the method'' the criminal plans to use on their real desired target.

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]
* In the ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' episode "[[Recap/SherlockS03E02TheSignOfThree The Sign of Three]]", the first victim is a Buckingham Palace guard found near death from a stab wound with no weapon in sight, in a locked-room mystery. Turns out that the killer had attempted to kill him for no other reason than to test a method intended to be used on another victim. The "test" victim lived (because Watson was there to give him medical treatment). It was a plot point, since [[spoiler:it made it clear that Watson would be able to save the second victim (his old friend and wedding guest)]].

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]", Davros tests his 'reality bomb' on a group of unlucky civilians abducted from earth before magnifying it with the intention of using it to [[OmnicidalManiac rip apart the entire multiverse]].

* In the ''Series/TheBlacklist'', a SVR assassin named Karakurt runs a test to see if he can kill someone with a virus through touching someone. The FBI is baffled on why a college student was targeted [[spoiler:until they find out that he's suppose to target an anti-Russian politician and even if that doesn't work, one of his contacts uses the virus so that the Alliance/Cabal can use Liz as a stooge.]]
* In an episode of ''Series/HawaiiFiveO'', would be terrorists want to introduce a weaponized ebola-like illness to the population using bees. They lure a random Island dude to their remote location with the phony promise of a job interview, and then lock him in the room and flood it with infected bees to make sure they can effectively spread the disease (and that the disease will have its intended quick-kill effect).

* An episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' had the BAU hunting down an apparent serial poisoner that had killed various people around town. After some investigation, they discovered that the poisoner had placed his poison in the glue of some stamps (which he then placed on the local post office), and he had done this to test the way through which [[GoingPostal he was going to kill all of his co-workers (that were pissing him off) in a corporate team-building meeting]].
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', during a job recovering a stolen painting, the team encounters a group of thieves who get the painting before them. They discover that the thieves were put together by an old grifter associate of Sophie's, Starke. Starke's M.O. is basically to form a one-shot team and have them do one job as a practice run, presumably to make sure they can work together, before going after his real target. The stolen painting was the practice run, so the Leverage team have to figure out what Starke is after first and get it before him in order to get the stolen painting back.

** He next uses the Death Note on a man harassing a woman outside a convenience store. He's also able to test the "cause of death" clause by specifying the man die in an "accident" - he gets hit by a truck.

** When L gets the Death Note, he wants to have a death-row convict test the 13 day rule. [[spoiler: L dies before he can put this plan into action.]]

* ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'' #1 opens with TerroristsWithoutACause the Jihad staging an attack on an airport to assassinate the US President, and causing massive civilian causalities in the process. It turns out the airport is a mockup and all of the murdered people actors, with this being a test by the Quraci of whether the team was ready to be sent into the field.

* The terrorist group Black September from ''Film/BlackSunday'' recruit deranged Vietnam vet Lander to develop an anti-personnel weapon, to be used against the President while he attends the Super Bowl. Lander builds a large Claymore mine, and field tests its killing power by convincing a farmer that it's a new television camera. The poor fellow stands still, smiling, when the device goes off, riddling the entire side of his barn with holes. It may be presumed the farmer was liquified where he stood. The terrorists then plan to install these devices on the exterior of the Goodyear blimp, which will likely kill the President and thousands more in attendance.

* In the ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' episode "[[Recap/SherlockS03E02TheSignOfThree The Sign of Three]]", the first victim is a Buckingham Palace guard found near death from a stab wound with no weapon in sight, in a locked-room mystery. Turns out that the killer had attempted to kill him for no other reason than to test a method intended to be used on another victim. The "test" victim lived (because Watson was there to give him medical treatment). It was a plot point, since [[spoiler: It made it clear that Watson would be able to save the second victim (his old friend and wedding guest)]].

* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''The Worthing Saga'', inhabitants of the CityPlanet Capitol ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin capitol]] of TheEmpire), play an elaborate ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}''-style massively-multiplayer historical civilization-building game as a sort of spectator sport. One player, a genius named Herman Nuber, creates a HegemonicEmpire so powerful yet so beneficent and internally stable that he looks certain to TakeOverTheWorld of the game and end it in a permanent Pax Nubera. Before he can do so, [[SatanicArchetype Abner Doon]] (who [[LukeIAmYourFather turns out to be Nuber's grandson]]) buys out Nuber's place and undermines his empire so completely that not only does it fail to conquer the world, it is ''eradicated completely'' by universal simultaneous rebellion. Doon reveals that he considers this a trial run; he intends to do the same thing to TheEmpire in real life. Interestingly, while destroying Nuber's in-game empire is not technically a crime (just a supreme dick move), Doon expresses much more remorse for that than for destroying the ''actual'' Empire, saying that he did not realize what a toll it would take on his grandfather's mental health to see his life's work destroyed.

* ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'' has a variation. Raskolnikov kills a moneylender [[AssholeVictime who won't be missed]], mostly to prove to himself that he's an {{Ubermensch}} and smart enough to get away with the crime. But he doesn't have any concrete plans for a larger crime afterwards, just vague ideas about reshaping the world with his will.