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Created By: Fallingwater on May 13, 2011 Last Edited By: HiddenFacedMatt on March 24, 2012

Weak punishment

Punishment that is weak compared to the crime committed.

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Smithers, for attempting to kill me, I'm giving you a 5% pay cut.
- Mr. Burns, from an Alternate Ending to Who Shot Mr. Burns

EDIT: This YKTTW was declared Up for Grabs by Madrugada, and I've decided to grab it. The former description (which for now I'll keep) seems to be more like a forum-post-esque description of an example than an actual trope description, so a counterpart for the latter is as follows.

An inverse of Disproportionate Retribution, this is when the punishment or retaliation is considerably milder than what one is being punished for.

Of course, whenever the punishment is different from the crime, whether it is disproportinate, a slap on the wrist, or almost equal is a matter of opinion, but stories stating in-universe, or even canonically, whether or not something is milder, are more than enough for this to be objective.

Former description is as follows.

While editing Altered Carbon, it came to mind that the most severe type of punishment in the books - that is, being frozen unconscious for decades - does not seem like too bad a punishment. Sure, you tend to lose most of the people who are dear to you, but once you're unfrozen - with no time for your mind to change - you can just go on rebuilding your life, maybe going immediately back to your evil ways if you so desire. Compared to actual prison, where you're actually conscious and alive for decades, it seems very weak.

I want to add this to the trope page (for that and other works that have similar situations), but I can't seem to find a proper trope for it. Suggestions? Do we really not have it?
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Community Feedback Replies: 30
  • May 13, 2011
    Fanra
    Suggestion, rename this "Slap On The Wrist", for the Stock Phrase.

    Note: We already have Death Is A Slap On The Wrist and Slap On The Wrist Nuke.

    As for the punishment in Altered Carbon, it is a light punishment...as long as there is no one else in the world you care about. Because they will be dead when you come back.
  • May 15, 2011
    Fallingwater
    I would, but I'd like to have a few more examples to add when/if I launch it. Any help? I can only think of Altered Carbon so far, but I imagine this happens fairly regularly in other works. If not, it's not deserving of a trope page...
  • May 15, 2011
    LeeM
    Harry Graham's Ruthless Rhymes (1900 and 1930) are fond of this, eg "Impetuous Samuel":
    Sam had spirits naught could check,
    And to-day, at breakfast, he
    Broke his baby sister's neck,
    So he shan't have jam for tea!
  • May 15, 2011
    peccantis
    Parody of Canadians in Lucky Luke. If memory serves, all the Daltons got for their robbery spree was a gentle scolding.
  • May 15, 2011
    hevendor717
    Inversion of Disproportionate Retribution.
  • May 16, 2011
    ginsengaddict
    Related to Karma Houdini

    ^ I'd have said subversion, but you're probably closer.

    And since we have a trope for the inversion of this, making them Sister Tropes, a Snow Clone would be appropriate: Insufficient Retribution? Inadequate Retribution?
  • May 16, 2011
    BlackDragon
    Somewhat of a plot-point in DMFA, and the cause of much conflict between Beings (ordinary Petting Zoo People) and Creatures (monsters both humanoid and not, who believe that Might Makes Right), since any crime must be judged 'by a jury of their peers'. Resultingly, whenever a Creature commits some sort of unspeakable crime against Beings (such as EATING them, as they are wont to do, or destroying entire cities just to show off), their peers lets them off with a minor fine, and a nudge and a wink. This, meanwhile, is what gives rise to the burgeoning Adventurer-business - since Beings can't rely on justice, they instead rely on Badass Normal mercenaries or heroes to seek vengeance and stop rampaging Creatures.
  • May 16, 2011
    Damr1990
    also agree with the "Slap on the Wrist" title

  • May 16, 2011
    Bisected8
    Another vote for Slap On The Wrist. This would be a subtrope of Karma Houdini.
  • May 16, 2011
    Stratadrake
    Slap On The Wrist is a pre-existing term ... for precisely this.
  • May 18, 2011
    Riddlewizard
    Slap On The Wrist sounds good to me. Slap On The Wrist Punishment might make it more clear though. YMMV.
  • May 19, 2011
    Specialist290
    Slap On The Wrist is fine as-is, considering that it's a preexisting phrase and the connotations are obvious (i.e. "Despite how serious his crimes were, all he's getting is a...").
  • May 19, 2011
    Octagon8
    ^+1
  • May 21, 2011
    ArtisticPlatypus
    Aaand here I come to ruin the consensus party. The Disproportionate Retribution trope doesn't quite match it's name; The phrase means 'A punishment that is not in proportion to the crime being punished'. That is, it should apply to both disproportionately severe and disproportionately weak punishments, but the trope only covers the first type. I suggest expanding Disproportionate Retribution to cover both things, instead of making a new trope for the weak kind.
  • May 21, 2011
    peccantis
    ^ unless we're deciding to split it in two entirely. Trope Repair Shop discussion ahoy! This shouldn't be launched before the fate of DR is decided.
  • May 21, 2011
    Tambov333
    Opposite of Disproportionate Retribution
  • May 21, 2011
    Riddlewizard
    Demolition Man has the worst criminals (and one cop) frozen until their eventual release.
  • May 24, 2011
    randomsurfer
    In one episode of The Brady Bunch Pete breaks a vase, but he's going on a camping trip and needs to escape punishment; so all the other kids take the blame instead. Mike & Carol realize what's going on, so in an Ironic Punishment Gambit they make Pete dole out the punishments - since he's the only one who didn't confess, he must not've done it, right? But the kids double-down on the parents by making up their own punishments, which turn out to be pretty lame, like Greg has to take Cindy to the zoo. Parents reject those punishments though so Peter has to make real punishments.
  • May 26, 2011
    Tifforo
    Seems to related to Karma Houdini.

    In the Ace Attorney series, Adrian Andrews is shown to have tampered with the scene of a murder and committed perjury during a murder trial, but seven months later you find that she has had a job for at least twenty days... as a security manager.
  • May 26, 2011
    sgamer82
    • The main character of Saw III, Jeff Reinhart, was pulled into Jigsaw's games because he couldn't let go of the death of his son. A large part of the reason Jeff couln't let go because the drunk driver that killed the boy only got a few months of jail time.
  • May 28, 2011
    Hadashi
    • 'Parodied' in real life. In England you can get community service for torturing someone. If they are disabled, anyway.

    http://www.theautismnews.com/2010/10/12/thugs-who-tortured-an-autistic-boy-escape-jail/

  • May 29, 2011
    Paragrin
    This is Cool And Unusual Punishment.
  • May 29, 2011
    Damr1990
    No,, CAUP is basically about non conventional sentences one must do as a supposed punishment, wich may or not be pleasant for the "Punished" this one is about something that can barely count as punishments or that are not strong enough in relation to the commited crimes
  • May 30, 2011
    Stratadrake
    Additionally, Cool And Unusual Punishment is entertaining for the audience (hence the "cool" part of the title).
  • October 30, 2011
    Ekuran
    Bump.
  • January 11, 2012
    HiddenFacedMatt
    I'm taking over this YKTTW, as licensed by Madrugada in Disproportionate Retribution's TRS thread.
  • January 11, 2012
    ThreeferFAQMinorityChick
    Real Life
    • Adolf Hitler was convicted of high treason for attempting to overthrow the Bavarian government. However, he was given the minimum sentence of five years in prison, only one of which he served, and in a Luxury Prison Suite, too.
  • January 11, 2012
    Stratadrake
    I'm going to play the No Real Life Examples card now.
  • March 24, 2012
    SeptimusHeap
    Bumping. Can we run this to end.
  • March 24, 2012
    Bisected8
    This is probably also related to Restrained Revenge as well.

    This looks ready to launch, as long as the launcher tidies up the examples.
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