->To see him obviously framed
->Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
->Where justice is a game.
-->-- '''BobDylan''', "Hurricane"

Framing someone means providing fake evidence or false testimony in order to falsely prove someone guilty of a crime. "Frame" here means making someone innocent look guilty by "putting the person in a picture frame of suspicion".

Of course, it results in a need for the Hero to ClearMyName. If the hero has to clear someone else who has been wrongfully accused of a crime, it's ClearTheirName.

FramingTheGuiltyParty is a subtrope where the party framed is actually guilty. It can be a {{Subversion}} or even a DoubleSubversion of the classic Frameup depending on the convolutions of apparent and actual guilt. In a similar vein, in Noir-themed crime dramas the frame can be rehung many times: a white-knuckle version of pass-the-parcel. If the framed party is an animal, ThisBearWasFramed. If the framed party is dead, then it's a DeceasedFallGuyGambit.

See also: TakingTheHeat, where an innocent person attempts to put ''themselves'' in the frame to save someone else. FalseFlagOperation, where it is an entire organization or nation that is being framed by another. Compare and contrast AbominationAccusationAttack, where the accusation just mentions a type of crime, not any specific instance. Certain forms of a MotivationalLie can be related in spirit.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/{{Underdog}}'': The SerialKiller Hiyuchi's first action in the [[DeadlyGame tournament]] is to steal the protagonist Naoto's wallet so that he can plant it on the body of a high school girl Hiyuchi just murdered. He then breaks into Naoto's house to place her student ID on his desk.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* ''{{Batman}}'', or rather Bruce Wayne, had to deal with this in ''BruceWayneMurderer'' and ''BruceWayneFugitive'' after his ex-girlfriend Vesper Fairchild was found dead in Wayne Manor. Lex Luthor had hired the assassin David Cain to frame Bruce Wayne for a murder after Bruce ruined his scheme to acquire Gotham's real estate in the aftermath of ''No Man's Land''. The frameup went even further than that though: since Cain had deduced that Bruce and Batman were one and the same, he also planted fake evidence suggesting that Vesper had discovered Bruce's secret and was about to expose him. This actually made some of Bruce's allies (except Dick and Alfred who remain convinced that Bruce is innocent) briefly suspect that Bruce had snapped and killed Vesper to hide his secret. The story arc went on for as long as it did because Bruce didn't even try to [[ClearMyName clear his name]]; rather, he used this as an opportunity to ditch his identity as Bruce Wayne and become Batman full time.
* ''SinCity'' has two protagonists framed: Marv and John Hartigan. In a rare GangWar example, Dwight framed one crime family for attacking another in order to protect the Old Town girls.
* In ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Noir'', Anne-Marie Rankin framed Captain Logan for the murder of Jean Grey by killing her with WolverineClaws. However, between this and the OrgyOfEvidence she provided, Thomas Halloway had her figured for the killer almost immediately.
* ''Manor de Sade'' starts out with the protagonist bragging to herself about how she managed to advance in her career by backstabbing his boss with a trumped-up accusation of sexual harassment. He had simply been friendly, but she had pretended to feel harassed. This resulted in him getting fired and her getting his job, just as she had planned. Only the audience (and her mirror) gets to know the truth. [[spoiler:Or maybe not.]]
* Done to {{Spider-Man}} on a disturbingly regular basis, and considering his own reputation as a HeroWithBadPublicity, it's not at all a surprise that villains would try and frame him as a bad guy so often.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* FanFic/TheTaintedGrimoire has two separate instances.
** Crockett was framed for [[spoiler: poisoning Micaiah]].
** An innocent man named Hans was framed for poaching.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''TheHandThatRocksTheCradle'', the villain Peyton consider it convenient to get rid of Solomon. So she steals the panties of their employer's five-year-old daughter and plants them in his room. With this "evidence" in place, she starts accusing him of pedophilia.
* In ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler: Rorschach is framed for the murder of Moloch]].
* ''The Hurricane'', 1999 American biographical film starring Denzel Washington as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': As the title indicates, Roger is framed for the murder of Marvin Acme.
* Subverted in ''Framed'', because the title would make you expect it to happen but it doesn't. (At least according to the [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/movie-reviews/framed.php review]] at ''SomethingAwful''.)
* In the 1993 film ''Film/TheFugitive'' a renowned medical doctor is framed for the murder of his wife, escapes during transit to death row, and spends the rest of the film trying to [[ClearMyName clear his name]]. ([[Series/TheFugitive The original TV series]] is not an example of this trope, as it doesn't involve a deliberate frame-up.)
** Technically, this wasn't either. The plan was apparently for them ''both'' to be killed in what would appear to be a botched burglary. Unfortunately, only the wife was killed and resulting evidence--signs of a struggle, misleading 911 call--made Kimble look guilty. The cops may have jumped to conclusions or even overlooked evidence that would have cleared him, but there's no indication that they or anyone else deliberately planted evidence that made him look responsible.
* TheCrush: When Nick refuses her advances, Darien frames him for raping her, which results in his arrest and losing his job.
* ''MinorityReport'' starts as Anderton thinks he was set up when the Precogs see a vision of him commiting a murder 2 days laters. [[spoiler:When he arrives, the victim himself has been framed up, with lots of pictures of Anderton's disappeared son to rope Anderton into killing him. He tries arresting the victim instead, but since the guy's family would be handsomely paid if he died, he commits SuicideByCop. Danny Witwer names the trope OrgyOfEvidence in response to the crime scene, but a little later, Anderton is framed for Witwer's murder when the BigBad shoots him with Anderton's gun.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington At All Costs]]'', the Republic of Haven is framed for several assassinations, this is [[spoiler:so successful that it prevents the peace talks from happening, which leads to the biggest battle in the entire series of books, with the Manticore system itself under attack]].
* Creator/DashiellHammett's detective Literature/TheContinentalOp treats all investigations as a Frameup: he gathers evidence, discovers likely victims and then attempts to get one into the frame. If they are guilty, well that's nice but incidental to getting paid.
* In ''Speaking with the Dead'' by Elaine Cunningham ([[ForgottenRealms Realms of Mystery]]) Elaith Craulnober ([[MagnificentBastard of all people]]) was accused of a murder but swore that he didn't do it. And Danilo Thann ([[VitriolicBestBuds of all people]]) had to defend him...
--> '''Danilo''': Consider my dilemma. Even under the best of circumstances, "innocent" is not the first word that comes to mind when your name is mentioned.
* In the ''TransformersTransTech'' story "Gone Too Far", Jackpot & Hubcap are framed by the actual killer for the murder of a popular revolutionary, putting them in danger from the victim's gangster friends. To make matters even more fun for the duo, the police know they're innocent but play along with pretending they're guilty anyway, because they hope the duo will come across the real killer while trying to escape/[[ClearMyName clear their name]].
* In ''Literature/TheMachineGunners'', Chas [=McGill=] tries to place his school rival and fellow war souvenir collector, Boddser Brown, at the top of the police's list of suspects for having stolen a downed bomber's rear-turret gun by specifically mentioning Brown and the things Chas ''knows'' Brown got from the same downed bomber in an essay.
* In ''[[VorkosiganSaga Memory]]'' the criminal needs to frame someone, and initially tries the [[spoiler:recently cashiered Lieutenant Vorkosigan]]. This backfires when the investigator who discovers the faked evidence is non other than the intended target.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': [[DaChief Garibaldi]] is framed for sabotaging one of the station's hangar bays, and has to find who is responsible before he gets cornered by the Security staff... [[ScyllaAndCharybdis or]] the numerous enemies he's made amongst the criminal world of the station. [[spoiler: The bad guys turn out to be members of a xenophobic "Pro Earth" organization, including the second in command of the security detail sent to capture him.]]
* Every episode ever of ''PerryMason'' and ''{{Matlock}}'' (since they're defense attorneys and [[GoodLawyersGoodClients all "good" defense attorneys have innocent clients]]...[[SarcasmMode right]]?).
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_%28TV_series%29 Renegade]]'' is about a cop framed for murdering his lover, and is constantly trying to confront the bad cops who framed him.
* In two episodes of ''LawAndOrderSVU'', Stabler gets falsely accused of being sexually abusive.
** In the episode "Doubt", the accusation is made by a emotionally disturbed woman who is either traumatized by a real case of abuse or simply an attention-whore who realized just how much attention a false accusation can give her. In either case, she recants her accusation against Stabler [[spoiler:and the audience never gets to know if the guy she accused of rape got convicted or not - the episode ends as the jury is about to read the verdict.]]
** In the episode "Delinquent", a young sex-offender makes up a nonsense accusation against Stabler, and then try to get his own charges dropped in return for dropping his own charges against stabler.
* A major plot point in ''DongYi'' - the innocent secret society Geom Gye are framed for murders they didn't commit, and are exterminated.
* ''{{CSI}}'' Warrick Brown in For Gedda. He [[ClearMyName cleared his name]] only to get shot just afterward by the real killer.
* ''{{CSINY}}'': Sheldon Hawkes in "Raising Shane". Serial killer Shane Casey paid a guy to dress like Hawkes and rob a bar, then the money was planted in Hawkes' own hoodie.
** Probably also applies to Mac, when Clay Dobson jumped of a building and framed Mac for pushing him
* ''ForeverKnight'' in one of the early season 2 eps, Nick is framed for murder by [=LaCroix=], whom Nick still thought was dead. Things got worse when the DNA Natalie substituted for Nick's vampire blood turned out to belong to the real killer.
* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' "Queen of Hearts": Morgana frames Gwen for using magic on Arthur
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': In the late first season, Regina frames Mary Margaret for killing Kathryn. The case is about to go to trial, and looks hopeless, when Kathryn is found alive.
* Happens in the ''Series/{{Star Trek|The ORiginal Series}}'' episode "Court Martial" - Ben Finney fakes his death and frames Captain Kirk for his murder. However, Finney did not count on a) Spock discovering the computer that held the damning evidence had been tampered with and b) Finney's daughter turning over the letters he had written blaming Kirk for denying him his own command.
** Played with in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "A Matter Of Perspective" - Riker is accused of murdering a scientist working for the Federation in a fit of jealousy. It turns out the ''scientist'' was trying to murder Riker (via transporter accident) because he feared his plan to sell his research to another galactic power would be exposed, but the energy beam he used reflected off Riker's transporter beam and destroyed the station's power core. Attemped murder of the innocent party turned into a frame job of the same one!
* Played distressingly straight in DancingOnTheEdge when [[spoiler: Louie]], who was initially excluded as a suspect since he was across town when it happened, becomes the prime suspect in [[spoiler: Jessie's murder.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* In {{mothy}}'s {{vocaloid}} song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QykKSkt_KZ0 The Escape of Salmhofer, the Witch]], Meta Salmhofer is framed for the murder of Eve Moonlit's children.
* The BobDylan song "Hurricane" about the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.
-->Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
-->The man the authorities came to blame
-->For somethin' that he never done.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' specifically encourages this. Depending on play style, this can fall anywhere from "Traitor!" ''*ZAP ZAP ZAP*'' to planting and doctoring evidence in advance.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''AceAttorney'' has a case or two where someone is framed.
** Case or two? You'd have more trouble trying to find cases where someone wasn't framed.
* ''Videogame/GhostTrick'': [[spoiler: Lynne is framed for the murder of Yomiel by Yomiel. He controls her to shoot his immortal shell, makes sure it's caught on tape, then leaves his body to be found by the police. Since few people see the corpse before Cabanela steals it, no one else notices that it's a person who supposedly died ten years earlier.]]
* Happens to the player ''twice'' in ''VideoGame/GoldenEyeWii'' [[spoiler:-- first for the death of Valentin Zhukovsky, then later for Russian Defense Minister Mishkin.]]
* ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': Subverted. Sunry is accused of murdering a Sith woman and he says that the case is a complete Frame Up. [[spoiler: Evidence reveals that he did do it, and when you confront him with this, he will explain himself. It's up to you if you want to get him free or send him to his death]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Torg from ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' accidentally [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20100211 does this to a garbage robot]].
* ''ShadowsOfEnchantment'' practically ''starts'' with Serris being framed for conspiracy to assassinate TheCaptain of the Aldrian Royal Guard. [[spoiler:The real goal was to get [[PhantomThief Tyrus]] to come rescue her so that Aldria could find him to make a deal with him.]]
* In ''{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3243 Slick tries to claim this when in Hell.]]
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Ellen, shortly after being created, [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-08-02 tries to get Elliot in trouble by pretending to be him]] but CantGetInTroubleForNuthin.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The classic Simpsons episode "Krusty Gets Busted".
* On the ''Franchise/WallaceAndGromit'' short ''WesternAnimation/ACloseShave'' Preston frames Gromit for sheep rustling. It even involves a literal frame-up, tricking Gromit into sticking his head through a picture of a butcher and taking an incriminating photo with one of the sheep.
* John Stewart is framed for destroying an entire planet in season one of ''JusticeLeague'' - and framed so thoroughly that even he thinks he's guilty. While the few other Green Lanterns who show up for his trial treat him with scorn (except Kilowogg), the Leaguers aren't in a hurry to give up on him.
-->'''Superman''': It was all [[spoiler: an illusion]] - a frameup, as they say on my planet.
* The events of ''WesternAnimation/SkysurferStrikeForce'' start out when the BigBad blows up an artificial intelligence lab and pins the blame on the main character's father.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' where Dr. Doofenshmirtz's plans an action series titled [[ShowWithinAShow "Doof 'N' Puss",]] where the opening explains that Perry is framed for a crime he didn't commit, The 1865 assassination of AbrahamLincoln! It even shows a historical drawing of Lincoln at the Ford Theater with a cutout of Perry crudely taped to it.
* This was how WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom became a HeroWithBadPublicity thanks to an old enemy of his creating a thorough version of one of these.
** Ghostwriter also did it to Danny in the ChristmasEpisode. Fortunately, thanks to his continuous good deeds, everyone got over them except for Jack and Maddie who didn't think there was such a thing as good ghosts. At least until the GrandFinale.

[[/folder]]


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