Line #53 Main/CriminalProcedural


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[Series/TheSopranos https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sopranos_family.png]]]]
5
6	The equal and opposite of the CopShow and PoliceProcedural, the Criminal Procedural is a type of CrimeAndPunishmentSeries that focuses on people who are on the ''wrong'' side of the law, and especially their present-day transgressions of it.
7
8	Examples often focus on certain types of criminals:
9	'''[[ConMan sophisticated Con Men]] and [[GentlemanThief Gentlemen Thieves]]''' are the most popular, since it's easy to make them sympathetic to the audience by making [[TheCon their victims]] rich and greedy types. They are also usually charismatic and attractive.
10
11	The story typically goes from the criminal mastermind's conception of the heist through to the selection of qualified, reliable team members, to planning the step-by-step execution of the heist, to setting it in motion. These caper shows and films are usually light and stylish in tone, and the gentlemen thieves emphasize guile and deception over violence. There will almost certainly be one episode where they help the police to take down a violent or child-targeting (and therefore a vile criminal (EvenEvilHasStandards). There may be a recurring police detective who tries (and fails) to capture the protagonists, or who coerces them into helping him out with his investigations.
12	* See also: TheCaper, TheCon.
13	* Examples: ''Series/{{Hustle}}'', ''Series/ItTakesAThief1968'', ''Franchise/LupinIII'', ''Film/OceansEleven'', ''Series/{{Leverage}}''
14
15	'''Outsiders and Hangers-on''' are the next rung down on the popularity ladder. Generally petty crooks, fencers, forgers, dealers of soft drugs and other people who are on the wrong side of the law but not sufficiently nasty to put off the viewing audience. Expect the really nasty criminals to pop up more regularly, usually as a plot device if the protagonists owe them money/drugs/something else. The outsiders are usually cowardly or otherwise non-violent. These guys typically star in dark comedies.
16	* See also: TheAggressiveDrugDealer (antithesis)
17	* Examples: ''Series/{{Weeds}}'', ''Series/LockStock'', ''Series/BreakingBad'' (roughly first half), ''Series/{{Ideal}}''.
18
19	'''Hardcore/Organized Criminals''' are the least popular protagonists for Criminal Procedurals, largely because they have to be shown to be despicable people in order to come across as being remotely realistic though occasionally they will have their PetTheDog moments, especially among the more sympathetic gangsters. It's also difficult to play down the crimes that they commit: murder, extortion, dealing in highly dangerous drugs, etc. As a result, such series tend to be very adult in tone and morally complex, and therefore not attractive to advertisers. Where there is humour, it tends to be pitch black. The RiseAndFallGangsterArc is commonly found here.
20	* See also: TheMafia, TheCartel, TheMafiya, {{Yakuza}}, TheTriadsAndTheTongs, GangBangers, TheIrishMob, KosherNostra, TheYardies, LondonGangster, AllBikersAreHellsAngels, BanditClan, ThievesGuild, TheSyndicate, GenericEthnicCrimeGang, TheDon, ProfessionalKiller, MurderInc, TotallyNotACriminalFront, NebulousCriminalConspiracy, NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters, RuthlessForeignGangsters, HumanTraffickers, {{Gayngster}}, LoanShark, FromCamouflageToCriminal, MobWar, ProtectionRacket and {{Gangsterland}}.
21	* Examples: ''Series/TheSopranos'', ''Series/TheWire'', ''Film/TheGodfather'' (Book and Movie), most of Creator/MartinScorsese's crime films (i.e. ''Film/GoodFellas'' and ''Film/{{Casino}}''), ''Scarface'' ([[Film/Scarface1932 1932]] and [[Film/Scarface1983 1983]] versions), ''Breaking Bad'' (roughly second half), ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'', ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica'', ''Film/EasternPromises'' and Creator/GuyRitchie's crime movies (''[[Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels Lock, Stock & Two Barrels]]'', ''Film/{{Snatch}}'' and ''Film/TheGentlemen'').
22
23	'''Convicts and Prisoners''' do not fit comfortably into the popularity ladder. This is because, since they have been taken off the street and are (in theory) paying for their crimes, they don't necessarily have to be shown committing criminal acts. Or, when they do commit such acts, they are usually in flashbacks, as a part of the convict's origin story - or against fellow inmates, which attacks can be seen as justified to some viewers. As a result, series set in {{prison}} can have wildly different tones, from harrowing to comedic.
24	* See also: {{Prison}}, PrisonRape, LuxuryPrisonSuite
25	* Examples: ''Series/{{Oz}}'', ''Series/PrisonBreak'', ''Series/{{Porridge}}'', ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack''
26	----
27	!!Examples:
28	[[index]]
29	[floatboxright:
30	'''Categories:'''
31	* GangsterFiction
32	* HoodFilm
33	]
34	[[foldercontrol]]
35
36	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
37	* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' encompasses just about all four types of "people outside the law" and even introduces characters who seem to fit in a criminal archetype all their own.
38	* ''Manga/CatsEye'' is about a team of sisters trying to steal back their inheritance GentlemanThief style.
39	* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' is an action/comedy franchise about a GentlemanThief and his accomplices.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Comic Books]]
43	* ''ComicBook/HardTime'' is a short-lived but critically acclaimed Creator/DCComics series that combines convicts in prison with more fantastic elements. (It does ''not'' take place in Franchise/TheDCU.)
44	* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' arguably falls into the third type, as this version of [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]] goes to far greater extremes in his holy war against crime, to the point that he more or less comes across as a glorified [[SerialKillerKiller serial killer who happens to go after other killers]].
45	* ''ComicBook/SecretSix'' straddles the line, focusing on a team of villains who are initially bootstrapped together by a mysterious backer, but band together while taking "gray jobs" to make money.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
49	* In ''Film/AssaultOnAQueen'', [[ShownTheirWork a lot of thought]] has been put into the mechanics of using [[SubmarinePirates a small submarine to rob an ocean liner at sea]], and the characters are showing discovering the issues involved and working out ways round them. Even then, they acknowledge that the plan is risky and relies heavily on the fact that ships officers are trained to be cautious and take no unnecessary risks
50	* ''Film/BankShot'', where a gang of thieves plan to [[MonumentalTheft steal a bank]]. Not rob it, but ''steal'' it.
51	* ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'': Robert Re... look, let's just say that Robert Redford really likes the GentlemanThief type and [[TheCaper capers]].
52	* ''Film/{{Circus}}'': An especially convoluted example of TheCon.
53	* ''Film/CatchThatKid''. A movie about a girl and her friends who team up to rob the bank her mother works for to pay for her father's surgery.
54	* ''Film/{{Contraband\|2012}}'': A retired smuggler is forced out of retirement to pay of a drug lord on behalf of his brother-in-law.
55	* ''Film/DenOfThieves'': An extremely organized gang of thieves plan to heist the Federal Reserve while a squad of corrupt deputies try to stop them.
56	* ''Film/ElRoboDelSiglo'': Argentinian movie based on the real life robbery of the Banco Río de Acassuso in 2006.
57	* ''Film/GetShorty'': Organized crime in the movie biz.
58	* ''Film/TheGodfather'' is the TropeCodifier for the Criminal Procedural genre as it is an intergenerational story about the Corleones, an Italian-American crime family.
59	* ''Film/GrandSlam'': After retirement, Professor James Anders presents criminal Mark Milford an elaborate plan to rob a diamond company in Brazil with a crew of professionals.
60	* ''Film/TheGreatStLouisBankRobbery'' details the planning and preparation for the BankRobbery, and how George's involvement with Ann threatens to send the whole thing off the rails.
61	* ''Film/HolyRollers'' follows a young Orthodox Jewish American man who uses the cover of his religion to smuggle drugs.
62	* ''Film/TheHoodlum'': A 1951 FilmNoir with a strong focus on the planning of an ArmedBlag.
63	* ''Film/TheHotRock'': Robert Redford as GentlemanThief Dortmunder. See ''Literature'' below.
64	* ''Film/HowToRobABank'': Caught in the middle of a bank robbery, a slacker and a bank employee become the ones who arbitrate the intense situation.
65	* ''Film/TheItalianJob1969''
66	* ''Film/TheItalianJob2003''
67	* The ''Franchise/JohnWick'' franchise is a mixture of Criminal Procedural and Thriller focusing on a hitman who fights against his former employers. Criminal syndicates such as the Camorra and the Russian Bratva are part of a mysterious organization known as the High Table.
68	* About half of ''Film/KingOfThieves'' details the gang's planning and execution of the heist. The second half deals with the fallout.
69	* ''Film/LeSamourai'' is about a French mobster perfectionist hitman named Jef Costello who follows a strict Bushido-like CodeOfHonor and sets up an alibi to perform a hit so he can get away from the Paris police. Similar to ''John Wick'' and ''The Professional'', ''Le Samourai'' mixes Criminal Procedural with Action Thriller.
70	* Many of Creator/MartinScorsese's crime dramas often focus on American organized crime especially the Italian Mafia with''Film/GoodFellas'', ''Film/{{Casino}}'', ''Film/MeanStreets'' and ''Film/TheIrishman'' as the most notable examples.
71	* ''Film/OceansEleven'' and all its sequels, full of many charming [[ConMan Con Men]] and their [[AssholeVictim Asshole Victims]].
72	* The instalments of the ''Film/OutlawGangsterVIP'' series all concern a {{Yakuza}} enforcer as he tries to survive the business.
73	* ''Film/TheProfessional'' is about an Italian hitman and his young apprentice after her family is killed by [[NaughtyNarcs corrupt DEA agents]] [[DirtyCop and cops]]. It's also a mixture of Criminal Procedural and Thriller.
74	* Creator/QuentinTarantino likes this genre as well. ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' follows a cadre of bank robbers (and one undercover cop) on a heist that goes pretty far awry while 'Film/PulpFiction'' follows two contract killers, their imposing boss, a boxer who's killed a man in the ring by way of ripping the boss off, and two sweetheart stickup artists whose victims include the contract killers, although [[MuggingTheMonster "victim" isn't really the right word]].
75	* Both ''Film/Scarface1932'' and [[Film/Scarface1983 its 1983 remake]] focus on a protagonist who gets himself involved in the dangerous world of organized crime (Italian in the original and Cuban in the remake).
76	* ''Film/{{Sicario}}'': Mostly based on the activities of Mexican organized criminal groups operating in America and Mexico and American/Mexican [=LEO=] responses.
77	** ''Film/SicarioDayOfTheSoldado'', a continuation of Sicario, except that it escalates with black ops to deal with the cartels.
78	* ''Film/SkinTraffik'': A hitman attacks a ring of HumanTraffickers.
79	* ''Film/TheSting'': Robert Redford and Paul Newman team up to scam a racketeer. The inspiration for and referenced by many others on this list.
80	* ''The Sting II''
81	* ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'': Robert Redford as the leader of a team of shady (but ''mostly'' licit) "security experts".
82	* ''Film/ToCatchAThief'' had Cary Grant as a suave jewel thief who supposedly had retired, until thefts in his style started happening again...
83	* ''Film/ViolentSaturday'': The bank robbers side of the story is entirely about the planning and execution of the bank robbery.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Literature]]
87	* ''Literature/Claw2024'': The tale of a married OutlawCouple with children who act as identity brokers.
88	* ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'': The Vlad Taltos series chronicles the adventures of a mobster/assassin in a fantasy world.
89	* The ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' series is about con men in a fantasy world vaguely resembling a GrimDark Renaissance.
90	* ''Literature/GetShorty'': Organized crime in the movie biz.
91	* ''Literature/TheHotRock'' and all of Donald E. Westlake's "Literature/{{Dortmunder}}" books involve cons, capers, criminals, and gentlemen thieves.
92	* Also from Westlake (under his Richard Stark pseudonym), the Literature/{{Parker}} novels. In contrast to the Dortmunder books, the Parker books are dark, violent, and star an utterly amoral VillainProtagonist.
93	* ''Literature/TheSaint'': Simon Templar is a con man whose victims are criminals and other shady characters. He’s always one step ahead of the police, particularly Inspector Claude Eustace Teal. However he does occasionally give them assistance in bringing criminals to justice.
94	* [[LongRunningBookSeries John D. Macdonald's extensive chronicles]] of "salvage consultant" Literature/TravisMcGee include several adventures in which [=McGee=] discovers a con game and plots to take it down with a con of his own. ''Pale Gray for Guilt'' and ''Darker than Amber'' both show, in particularly impressive and plausible detail, both how the innocent victims got taken and how Travis and his best friend and accomplice Meyer work the big con on the con men.
95	* ''Literature/VoidMoon'': A ClassyCatBurglar steals a BriefcaseFullOfMoney which she thinks is a Vegas high roller's $500,000, only to find out that it's really $2.5M in Mafia money, and the Mafia wants it back very badly.
96	* The ''Literature/{{Wyatt}}'' books are about the Australian version of Literature/{{Parker}}. The books devote a lot of time and description to the planning and execution of Wyatt's extremely professional heists (and even more time to the fallout from them).
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
100	* ''Series/TheAmericans'' examines what it takes to be an illegal spy (sleeper KBG agent) in UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan's United States. It involves murder and deception on a regular basis.
101	* ''Series/TheBlackDonnellys'' is about in Irish-American gang
102	* ''Series/BigMouth2022'' is about a HellholePrison full of violence, deaths, gangs, and the protagonist's goal of clearing his name from a crime he didn't commit.
103	* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'' explores the organized crime ventures and opportunities opened in the wake of [[TheRoaringTwenties the Volstead Act]] in New Jersey, New York and Chicago.
104	* ''Series/BreakingBad'' is about a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher turned meth cook turned drug kingpin. Features an excellent ProtagonistJourneyToVillain.
105	* ''Series/{{Brotherhood}}'' is about the worlds of two brothers, one a politician and the other a mob boss, wind up intersecting.
106	* ''Series/TheCompanyYouKeep'' is about a family of con artists. One of them, Charlie Nicolletti, unknowingly falls for a CIA agent, Emma Hill.
107	* ''Series/DarkJustice'' follows Judge Nicholas Marshall, who after his wife and daughter are [[MurderByMistake killed by a car bomb meant for him]] before the series starts, turns vigilante and forms a team of minor repentant criminals to run sting operations by night to catch the criminals that get OffOnATechnicality in his courtroom by day.
108	* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' follows Dexter Morgan, a forensic specialist by day and SerialKiller who [[SerialKillerKiller goes after other killers]] by night. Interestingly, also a PoliceProcedural.
109	* ''Series/{{Extracurricular}}'' is a {{Korean drama}} about high school teens who get into an illegal prostitution business for various reasons and school police and a juvenile crime detective who suspects them.
110	* ''Series/{{Gangland Undercover}}'', is an American factual drama miniseries about Charles Falco, a former ATF confidential informant who infiltrated an outlaw motorcycle gang.
111	* ''Series/GetShorty'': Organized crime gets into the movie biz.
112	* ''Series/GodfatherOfHarlem'' is a fact-based crime drama about the gangster Bumpy Johnson and his attempt to wrestle Harlem back from the Genovese crime family in the 1960s, as well as his association with Civil Rights leaders such as Malcom X.
113	* ''Series/HapAndLeonard'' is a drama series based on the characters Hap and Leonard, created by novelist Joe R. Lansdale and adapted from his series of novels of the same name.
114	* ''Series/{{Hustle}}'' is a British TV series about a group of con artists, heavily inspired by the remake of the movie ''Film/OceansEleven''.
115	* ''Series/{{Ideal}}'' is a sitcom about a small-time drug dealer.
116	* ''Series/{{Intelligence 2006}}'' is partly about an organized crime group engaged in the marijuana trade.
117	* ''Series/ItTakesAThief1968'' with Robert Wagner was probably the first television program to do this.
118	* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': A formulaic but truly fun show where a band of TrueCompanions conmen/thieves/hitters/hackers/etc. take down the rich and greedy.
119	** ''Series/LeverageRedemption'', a sequel with most of the same characters.
120	* ''Series/LockStock'', a spin-off from the movie ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'', featured a gang of Outsiders who invariably ended up on the wrong side of much nastier London gangsters.
121	* ''Series/{{Motive}}'' which focuses at least as much on how and why the murder was committed as on how it is solved.
122	* ''Series/MurphysLaw'' is about undercover cop Tommy Murphy and the various criminal organizations (and in some cases, prisons) he enters.
123	* ''Series/{{Narcos}}'' chronicles the drug empire built by Pablo Escobar and the efforts to capture him.
124	* ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' is BasedOnATrueStory about a woman who was sent to prison for helping her girlfriend transport illegal drugs.
125	* ''Series/{{Oz}}'' is an infamously violent show set in a US prison with a multitude of rapes, castrations, murders and more rapes.
126	* ''Series/{{Ozark}}'' is about a white collar family man who must start up a new money laundering business in the Lake of the Ozarks to pay back a cartel he stole from.
127	* ''Series/PeakyBlinders'' based on RealLife [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaky_Blinders street gangs]] in early 20th century [[UsefulNotes/TheMidlands Birmingham]] ([[LondonEnglandSyndrome the English one]]), and their attempts to gain prominence in the underworld against more powerful and influential gangsters. Also features some very [[CorruptCop bent coppers]] as well as appearances from the [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles IRA]], communists, anarchists and a pre-Prime Minister UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill.
128	* ''Series/{{Player}}'' is about a team of con-artists who target truly reprehensible criminals.
129	* ''Series/{{Porridge}}'' is a BritCom set in a small prison.
130	* ''{{Series/Power}}'': Ghost, a powerful drug dealer, attempts to go legit by opening a night club. However, many of his associates are against this, including his wife. And many of his enemies sees this an act of weakness and an opportunity to take over his empire.
131	* ''Series/ProdigalSon'': The son of an incarcerated serial killer works as a profiler for the NYPD.
132	* ''Series/TheRiches'': A family of UsefulNotes/IrishTravellers impersonates a rich couple they accidentally ran off the road.
133	* ''Series/RedWidow'': The daughter of a {{Mafiya}} boss who has to continue the criminal work of her husband after he is killed.
134	* ''Series/TheSaint'' was a GentlemanThief with Myth/RobinHood tendencies, although the TV version downplayed this, portraying him more as an AmateurSleuth whom a police detective had [[InspectorJavert an inexplicable grudge against]].
135	* ''Series/{{Serimoney}}''. The series also focuses on other prisoners and uses {{flashback}}s to detail their crimes.
136	* ''Series/SneakyPete'' is about a con man infiltrating his old cellmate's family by masquerading as him in an effort to rob them and pay back a mobster.
137	* ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' is about an outlaw motorcycle club operating a variety of criminal activities ranging from petty to extreme. Shades of grey abound, but even some of the most murderous characters are oddly lovable.
138	* ''Series/TheSopranos'' is probably the best known example: a high-profile, critically acclaimed show following the exploits of Tony Soprano, mafia boss, and the various members of his two families.
139	* ''Series/{{Spotless}}''
140	* ''Series/TheStraits'' is about the deadly smuggling trade between northern UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} and UsefulNotes/PapuaNewGuinea. It focuses on infighting in the Montebello crime family, but also how a drug trade between a developed nation (Australia) and a developing nation (PNG) impacts the people on all sides who get caught up in it.
141	* ''Series/TopBoy'' is about people involved in drug dealing on a fictional housing estate in London.
142	* ''Series/{{Weeds}}'' is a comedy/drama about a bereaved housewife who starts selling marijuana to pay the bills.
143	* ''Series/TheWire'' tends to be evenly split between the lives of the criminals and the lives of the cops that are stalking them. Later seasons broadened this to politicians, journalists, and children who are getting into a life of crime.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Radio]]
147	* ''Radio/TheLivesOfHarryLime'' was about the exploits of con man Harry Lime, played by Creator/OrsonWelles.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Video Games]]
151	* The first three ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' games more or less fell under this genre but since the fourth installment it's increasingly drifted away from it.
152	* ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'' and it's [[VideoGame/MafiaII subsequent]] [[VideoGame/MafiaIII sequels]] given the subject matter.
153	* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'' is about a British working-class crime syndicate in London led by the Frye twins of the Assassin Brotherhood in the late 1860s.
154	* Beneath the karaoke songs, the crazy sidequests, the cool ink, and the [[AmbiguouslyGay ambiguous homosexuality]], ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' is at its core a franchise about government conspiracies, societal instability, gang wars, and tests of faith between families of choice.
155	[[/folder]]
156
157	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
158	* ''VisualNovel/{{Psycholonials}}'' profiles the struggles of an influencer to grow her social media brand while evading capture for various crimes, which include [[spoiler: a massive bitcoin fraud and the murder of multiple police officers.]]
159	[[/folder]]
160
161	[[folder:Web Comics]]
162	[[index]]
163	* ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'' centers around a RealityShow featuring several prisoners and convicts, all trying to earn their way out.
164	[[/index]]
165	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CriminalProcedural