People being Convicted by Public Opinion in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- Infinity Train: Blossomverse:
- Throughout the series, several Engineered Public Confessions are arranged by the heroes in order to expose the crimes of those who wronged them, starting with Sara, Yeardley, and most of Chloe's classmates gleefully bragging about the way they singled her out and relentlessly bullied her. This leads to them facing harsh judgment and Laser-Guided Karma for their actions, as the public exposure ensures that they get punished for their actions.
- Over time, the heavy usage of this is gradually deconstructed. For many, the general public being aware of their crimes makes it harder for them to turn their lives around; few are willing to give them any chance to improve or show that they're trying to change for the better.
- This tendency is further picked apart in the spin-off Infinity Train: Crown of Hydrangea, an Alternate Universe where Goh gives the Red Lotus Quatro A Taste of Their Own Medicine by broadcasting a recording of Lexi viciously berating him, presenting One Side of the Story with the intent of shifting public opinion against the group.
- Turnabout Communication
: Even if he hasn't been convicted yet, the majority of Hitohito Tadano's classmate, especially the Komi cult, are convinced that he did assault and almost killed Ren Yamai, much to Najimi and Komi's distress on their friend's behalf. Their teacher tells them that regardless if Tadano is convicted or proven 100% innocent, the higher-ups will expel Tadano for disrupting the peace of the school. - With Pearl and Ruby Glowing:
- This happened to Danny after Darla Dimple invited him to her house, only to beat herself up and accuse him of assaulting her. Not a single person believed that he might be innocent; all of his friends turned against him, he was constantly brutalized in prison, and his own lawyer refused to defend him, forcing him to represent himself. If he hadn't managed to trick Darla into revealing what she'd done on the stand, his case never would've been reexamined.
- Similarly, Lapis Lazuli was blamed for her seemingly mutually violent relationship with Jasper because she had a previous conviction and she left Jasper with bad scarring; for reasons involving racism and femmephobia, the public ignores that the conviction was for property damage and not personal violence, all of Lapis' violence was self-defence, Lapis is sixteen years old, and Jasper is her parole officer.
- Iris Hawthorne: Ace Attorney: After it's revealed that the actress Violet Shade is actually a former Mafia Princess, Viola Cadaverini, the masses are convinced that this proves they actually did murder Will Powers.
- What if Noelle Lost Herself?: While there's no proof that Kris, Susie or Noelle had anything to do with Berdly's mysterious disappearance, rumors still ripple throughout Hometown that they know something about what happened. As a result, Toriel has noticed that many of the residents are no longer as warm and welcoming towards her or Kris as they used to be, regarding them with icy stares... though she can't tell if they're more accusatory or pitying.
- While confiding in Asgore about this, Toriel brings up that she's been considering taking the whole family on a trip once Asriel returns home, in order to get away from all the suspicion. However, Asgore points out that people might misinterpret that as an admission of guilt.
- Some fan works where Sirius Black is acquitted have the Wizarding World believing he's guilty. One, in particular, has Sirius Black unable to gain custody of Harry until he found an old law stating orphans of wizarding parents cannot be raised by muggles for as long as a magical guardian remains available. The Minister was quite unhappy with this development but, having to uphold the law, couldn't prevent it.
- Other fanfics posit that Sirius was sentenced without a trial because the public was already against him and the Ministry was afraid a trial would lead to a riot or similar discontent.
- In a specific example, Growing Up Black: when they discover that Sirius had apparently married a pureblood witch and produced a son (in reality Harry, having been magically disguised as Sirius' son), the remaining Blacks manage to get Sirius released from Azkaban, not by proving his innocence, but through proving he didn't get the preferential treatment at his trial a pureblood is entitled to. Almost everyone still thinks he's guilty, assuming that he bribed his way out, despite this being impossible even through the most shameless corruption of the ministry.
- Raised by a Death Eater? has Sirius manage to get himself acquitted and obtain custody of Harry, raising him instead of the Dursleys. Practically everyone believes that he got Off on a Technicality; Dumbledore is especially upset because he's convinced Sirius is corrupting Harry and turning him against the Order of the Phoenix. This reaches I Reject Your Reality levels after Voldemort returns and Harry remains perfectly safe, happy and decidedly unaligned with the Dark.
- Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past: After learning that Sirius was jailed without ever actually being tried by the courts, Harry aims to invert this by working through the media and reversing the public's opinion in order to create pressure to free him. Ultimately, the results are mixed; while the system doesn't respond, many individuals start doubting his guilt, even among the Aurors.
- In the Bakery "Enemies" AU, Adrien helped take down his villainous father as Chat Noir. But the public only knows him as the son of Hawkmoth. Since he never attended Francoise Dupont in this 'verse, this even applies to Marinette, Nino, and everyone else who would have been his classmates; he's a practical stranger to them, and Marinette strongly suspects he might have the Peacock Pin.
- Karma's a Bitch:
- While there isn't enough evidence for Lila to be conclusively convicted of willingly assisting Hawkmoth, the fact that she publicly confessed coupled with Hawkmoth/Gabriel affirming it is more than enough evidence for the public to deem her guilty.
- Adrien also avoids this — while his father is publicly exposed as Hawkmoth, the surrounding circumstances leave the public convinced that Adrien was completely unaware of Gabriel's criminal activities and was totally innocent. Namely because Gabriel unmasked after Adrien was exposed as Chat Noir, subjecting him to The Final Temptation in front of witnesses only for Adrien to completely reject his father.
- Adrien Agreste falls victim to this in The Karma of Lies. After his father is unmasked as Hawkmoth, Adrien is naturally regarded with suspicion, which is only made worse by Lila Rossi painting herself as an Unwitting Pawn played by both of them. While Adrien knew her true nature, he doesn't bother revealing it until after she betrays him, making it appear as though he's trying to set her up as The Scapegoat. His Lack of Empathy for others doesn't help him much, either.
- This also happens to him as Chat Noir, after he fails to show up to the Final Battle, but crashes a live interview with Ladybug and the other Miraculous heroes who did participate in the fight. His efforts to downplay the severity of Hawkmoth's crimes and argue for leniency leave many suspecting that he deliberately chose not to show up.
- The oneshot Kill count is set in a world where a device called the Karma Balancer reveals how many lives somebody has taken. This includes temporary deaths, and several of Hawkmoth's former victims find themselves discriminated against for what they did while akumatized. This hits poor Adrien especially hard when a routine scan at school reveals they have a massive kill count due to the Chat Blanc incident.
- This drives the plot of Lenore Raven's Mayura Marinette. After Lila steals the credit for saving Master Fu's life, she becomes Ladybug instead of Marinette, and swiftly decides to ruin Marinette's reputation with a series of false accusations and other Malicious Slander. Gabriel opts to exploit this by offering her a job, only to immediately blackmail her into working with him as his sidekick.
- Miraculous Ladybug Salt-Shots: A Price to Pay has the titular price for Hawkmoth's Wish be paid in the new reality created by said Wish — the life needed to revive Emilie is claimed in a car accident that Gabriel causes. Though he bribes his way to a 'victory' in court, the evidence of his guilt is still presented to all and sundry, making it blatantly obvious that he only won by rigging the trial. As far as the public is concerned, he's still responsible for Tom Dupain-Cheng's death, and the fact he avoided any legal consequences just makes them despise him even more. And Emilie is especially disgusted, to the point that she divorced him over the whole debacle.
- Adrien also deals with a Downplayed version of this. Not just for being Gabriel's son, but due to defending his father's actions, insisting that Gabriel hadn't done anything wrong despite all evidence to the contrary. This led to Emilie disowning Adrien, making clear that she no longer considers either of them to be her family.
- Papa Bear: Marinette fears that Gabriel will use his wealth and connections to avoid being charged with child abuse. Tom declares that if Gabriel tries weaseling out of the consequences, he'll give the bakery's security footage of the Control Freak threatening Marinette to Nadja Chamack — even if they don't get a victory in court, that would utterly destroy Gabriel's public image.
- Truth and Consequences plays this for Dramatic Irony.
- After discovering that Hawkmoth's Secret Identity is none other than Gabriel Agreste, Ladybug fears that his son will suffer if the truth comes out. So she makes a Deal with the Devil in hopes of sparing Adrien from that kind of backlash. As part of her efforts to protect him, she ends up convincing Paris that Chat Noir has betrayed her, turning him into a Hero with Bad Publicity. Naturally, she's blissfully unaware that Chat Noir is Adrien.
- When he learns that Ladybug is trying to protect Hawkmoth's son, Chat Noir angrily swears to her that he'll ensure the boy's reputation is ruined in his fashion in order to pay her back for the lies she spread about him. Again, he does this while unaware that he's referring to himself.
- Two Letters:
- This was the fate of Bob Roth. He assumed - correctly - that the new Ladybug wouldn't stop fighting akumas even if he stopped paying her to do so. After dealing with one of his disgruntled employees who'd gotten akumatized, however, Ladybug made a passing comment in an interview about how he "didn't support her". Public opinion turned so severely against him that his whole record label fell apart within three days, and Mayor Bourgois claims that Roth was forced to use most of his remaining fortune creating new identities for himself and his son so that they could rebuild their lives from scratch.
- This also happened to Alya. While investigating the new Ladybug, Alya impulsively decided to disguise herself as Chat Noir, hoping to trick Ladybug into exposing herself. Instead, the new Ladybug shielded her from an akuma, getting grievously wounded in the process — or at least acting like she was. Afterwards, she pleaded with the public to remember that her Secret Identity was a matter of national security, and not to get involved with akuma battles "just to get clips for social media". Paris assumed that the Ladyblogger was trying to unmask their new heroine for the sake of a story, and labeled her "Hawkmoth's sidekick", raking her over the coals and driving her into seclusion.
- What Goes Around Comes Around:
- After Gabriel's Secret Identity is exposed, Adrien's aunt Amelie warns him that some people will naturally assume that he was working with his father. Ultimately, she proves correct - even revealing himself as Chat Noir doesn't prevent the backlash against him, as many Parisians remain convinced that he must have been working with his parents. Admittedly, it doesn't help that Adrien unwittingly trusted his mother with his Miraculous...
- Truth & Journalism explores the continued impact of this, as people continue to debate whether or not he was secretly supporting his father all along. Ironically, Jalil attempts to twist this into 'proof' that Ladybug was Evil All Along while claiming that Hawkmoth was the real superhero. His father tries pointing out that it makes no sense to cite Chat Noir secretly working with Hawkmoth as evidence of his evilness when he's also trying to claim that Hawkmoth was secretly heroic, to no avail.
- The Wolves in the Woods uses this as Laser-Guided Karma for Adrien. During the trial investigating Ms. Bustier's unprofessional conduct, Adrien lies on the stand, attempting to paint Marinette as the problem. This gets him in trouble for criminal defamation of her character; while his father steps in and tries shielding him from the consequences, Alya leaks information about the trial to the public in a ill thought-out play for sympathy that completely backfires. The public is largely unimpressed by Adrien's actions and inaction, with his reputation taking a serious hit.
- Ennea Series: In For Our Sakes, evidence of Endeavor's abuse is leaked online, with their reputation for being aggressive and hot-blooded working against them. Many react by declaring they "had a feeling" that they'd do something of that nature.
- Origin of a Non-Hero: Despite their best efforts to make things work, Izuku finds that he simply can't balance being the Symbol of Peace with having a family, repeatedly leaving Ochaco to raise their son Shikinori by herself. When the two of them get divorced, the public blames Ochaco for the separation, condemning her as the "bitch who broke Deku's heart".
- Think Before You Speak: After Principal Nedzu forbids him from expelling any of his students that year, Aizawa attempts to work around this through Malicious Slander. He convinces Tensei that Izuku was responsible for his little brother Tenya being hurt during a training exercise, expecting Tensei to spread the story to the media and turn public opinion against the innocent Midoriya, ruining his reputation until U.A. has to do something to protect its own image. Thankfully, the scheme backfires, as Tensei and Aizawa himself are the ones hit by the backlash.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Two Moons, post-Duel Trixie is treated as ponysona non grata all over Equestria despite being officially pardoned by Celestia. Celestia actually has to save her from an angry mob right in the middle of Canterlot, and notes with extreme displeasure that the royal guards were just standing around and letting it happen.
- Played With in First Try Series, where Sakura's mother, Barako, tries to get Tetsuo, Kakashi and Naruto run out of Konoha for daring to stand up to her and taking her daughter on a months-long training trip. Danzo, Tetsuo's grandfather, takes offense and turns it around so that all of Konoha thinks that Barako's a terrible parent.
- Kitsune no Ken: Fist of the Fox:
- The citizens of Whirl City blame Naruto for the damage that was done to Uzushio High School while he was fighting off Sumaru's gang, ignoring how Sumaru was the one who started the fight in the first place.
- On a wider scale, the public blames the Kyuushingai group for the carnage throughout the 365 days... despite how most of the damage and body count was due to already-established criminals exploiting the chaos and confusion.
- The central premise of Its Just A Light Rain But The Storms Still Comin is that Akira didn't enter the Metaverse on April 11th and isn't involved with the Phantom Thieves. This results in him being completely socially isolated, as everyone at Shujin is convinced that he's an unrepentant criminal who helped spur Shiho to attempt suicide. Including the Phantom Thieves, with Ann particularly hellbent upon ensuring he doesn't get away with his supposed crimes.
- A Tale of Two Tricksters has this happen to Ren. Not only did Kamoshida arrange for his criminal record to be leaked to the whole school before he arrived, he was witnessed threatening Mishima for the part he'd played in releasing it and talking to Shiho shortly before her suicide attempt. Even after Shiho and Mishima attempt to set the record straight, the majority of those attending Shujin refuse to reevaluate anything in light of this new information as they tried to set it straight too late in the year, especially with Yaldabaoth's More than Mind Control still being intact by that time.
- In Pokémon Sepia, Team Temporal is made up mostly of teenagers who find themselves shunted around time attempting to repair a Temporal Paradox. Rocket Logistics turns them into Heroes with Bad Publicity by making it seem as though they're always responsible for the chaos that seems to erupt around them.
- Inverted in A Rabbit Among Wolves. Faced with a Kangaroo Court, Jaune calls in a bevy of Character Witnesses who attest to how he saved their lives. While this doesn't benefit his legal defense, it paints the whole system as corrupt, turning public opinion further against the Council.
- Service with a Smile: Team RWBY and other fans of Jaune's diner turn public opinion against Café Prime by revealing their efforts to shut the place down.
- Through the Looking Glass: A Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Gwen Crossover: Initially, everyone believes that Spider-Woman murdered the Peter Parker from Earth-65, leaving her desperate to clear her name. Later, this hatred gets transferred over to Earth-65's Peter after the public learns that he was still alive and that he was the Lizard who attacked Midtown High.
- Represented in Redaction of the Golden Witch by the Conspiracy Theorist Karl. He's convinced that the Sole Survivor of the Rokkenjima Incident must be responsible, and all of his theories twist facts and speculation around to support that singular conclusion. He's far from the only Witch Hunter who feels that way.
