Markup View

Author: kjnoren

Aug 25th 2013 at 2:46:14 PM

Proposed new laconic (which hopefully can be shortened):

Someone takes action against a criminal such that the criminal seek the protection of the law.

Proposed new description:

CopsAreTheLesserEvil happens whenever one or more criminals are caught, and the people catching them are sufficiently scary, threatening, or violent that the criminals seek the protection of the law, ie to be handed over to the cops, prosecutors, judges, and prisons. Usually, this means that the criminal make a confession more or less on the spot, though this can be omitted in a work.

While superficially a great help to the justice system, this can cause all sorts of later difficulties. Eg, most legal systems place greater emphasis on statements under oath in the courtroom than on unrecorded statements in a confusing environment -- especially if it can be argued that the one doing the confession is threatened, coerced, or has been tortured.

May be caused by PityTheKidnapper, UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime, and MuggingTheMonster. Contrast PerpSweating (though some of the techniques used may be the same).

Indexes: ThreateningTropes, CrimeAndPunishmentTropes, PerpSweating