History Main / FelonyMisdemeanor

* A Woolite detergent [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj87E-bc3xE commercial]] directed by Music/RobZombie portrays some of the less favorable outcomes of a wash cycle (stretching, shrinking and fading) in the style of cold-blooded torture.

* ComicBook/JohnnyTurbo fights tooth and nail against the evil Feka corporation for trying to make a profit with a competing product.

-->''I wish I'd given Oak to my son when he was a child, haha, just kidding, [[IHaveNoSon I don't have a son]], well technically I do, but [[ThisIsUnforgivable he's in real estate...]]''

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* In a story arc across several Marvel titles in the late 1970s/early 1980s the Punisher suffered a psychotic break and began dispensing his brand of lethal justice for such heinous crimes as littering and jaywalking.

* Literature/HarryPotter worries this will happen to him when he blows up (as in inflates until she floats away) his aunt in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]''. As Fudge puts it, "We don't throw people in Azkaban for blowing up their aunts." While it's definitely not portrayed as a good thing, the fact that he didn't do it on purpose means they cut him some slack, and they were more worried about protecting him from Sirius Black at that point than anything minor.
** On the other hand, [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets in the previous book]], Harry was nearly expelled for [[ItMakesSenseInContext a house elf dropping a cake on a dinner guest's head]], and his aunt and uncle freak out if he even uses the word "magic" or references anything remotely fantasy-related, like flying motorcycles.

* Going with DeliberateValuesDissonance in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' where the problem of Black crime is solved by making all drug or violent crime offenses punishable by hanging if the perpetrator is Black, requiring the trial and sentence to wrap up within a week with no appeal (or on the spot, for failing a drug test) and banning Black families from cities. Since the book is an explicit TakeThat against all forms of liberalism, this works great and is accepted by all as a reasonable solution, particularly the [[LesCollaborateurs Council Of Responsible Negroes]].

* Type 3 happens in several episodes of ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', including an instance of Mr. Humphries was once detained for having a "suspicious-looking bulge" from an orange in his pocket.

* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' did the fourth kind quite a few times, satirizing the way British culture used to encourage the first kind. The page quote comes from their restaurant sketch, combining this with MyGreatestFailure.
* Played straight and averted in the same scene in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' between Belle and Rumplestiltskin. While Rumple is explaining her duties as his servant, Belle drops and chips a small cup. Clearly terrified that he's going to be furious, she stammers an apology but he just shrugs it off, saying "it's just a cup."
** Of course, that chipped cup later becomes one of his most precious possessions and even touching it means you'll be lucky if he just breaks all your bones...
* In the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "The Package", Jerry is interrogated by Newman for mail fraud… and let's just say Newman relishes in the thought of getting Jerry for something (even if the punishment is just a small fine).
* In an early episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the crew visits a pleasantly peaceful colony called Edo. While playing ball with the local kids, Wesley accidentally breaks a cheap gardening implement and discovers why the colony is so peaceful: every day a new area is randomly and secretly selected as a "punishment zone" and within it, all crime is punishable by death. The idea being that no one commits crime anywhere, just in case they're unknowingly in the punishment zone. [[ContrivedCoincidence Of course, that's exactly where Wesley is when he has his accident]]. And since his accident is treated as vandalism, the crew then has to negotiate their way out of having Wesley be put to death for tripping.
* In one of the most famous sketches from ''Series/NotTheNineOClockNews '', Constable Savage is reprimanded for making arrests for "Looking At Me In A Funny Way", "Walking On The Cracks In The Pavement", "Smelling Of Foreign Food" and "Possession Of An Offensive Wife", among many, many other charges he has brought... against the same man. Said man is, at the time of the reprimand, being held on a charge of "Possession Of Curly Black Hair And Thick Lips".
* In the ''Series/QuantumLeap'' episode "Memphis Melody," Sam's actions accidentally cause Elvis not to get discovered. Al checks the changes to history and says that "Heartbreak Hotel" gets recorded by Music/TheMonkees and "Blue Suede Shoes" by Tony Orlando and Dawn, to which he responds by miming throwing up.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** Captain Sisko hunts down a traitor from his own chain of command. Traitor as in joining the Maquis, a group that attempts to harm only war-mongering Cardassians as policy. Said traitor believes that Sisko is blowing everything out of proportion, and references ''Literature/LesMiserables'' a lot. It's left up to the viewers to decide whether Sisko is truly upholding Federation values as he states, or is just secretly pissed that someone would dare "leave paradise" (TheFederation), as the traitor claims.
** This is played for laughs in all of its ValuesDissonance glory in the episode "Bar Association": [[BeleagueredAssistant Rom]] is tired of his brother [[BadBoss Quark's]] cutting the pay of his employees using a recurring slump in business as an excuse and forms a union. Several of the [[PlanetOfHats Ferengi]] employees are so disturbed at the mere thought that they feel faint and Rom can barely bring himself to say the word.
** Quark was even exiled from Ferengi society for a time for the unforgivable sin of... breaking a contract to sell his remains when he thought he was dying (this was going to be "enforced" with him being ''killed'', no less). This was played as the responsible enforcer acting out a grudge, and against Ferengi norms.
** Then there's Quark's mother, who liked to ''wear clothing!'' Ferengi who saw her in clothing invariably reacted the same way a human would who accidentally walked in on someone who was undressing. Even worse than wearing clothing was her most heinous crime: deliberately ''earning money''. This later attitude starts to slowly change, though, when someone points out that women earning money means they can now buy things (i.e. more profit for merchants).
* In an episode of the {{Narm}}tastic show ''Series/SeventhHeaven'', a TotallyRadical [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy wigger]] calls Lucy a bitch. For the rest of the episode, using the B-word is likened to raping someone. But, since this is ''Series/SeventhHeaven'' we're talking about, it turns out that [[spoiler: the bully was just hiding behind a "jerk act", pretending to be mean to fit in with the cool kids. Cue the {{Anvilicious}} {{Aesop}} about [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil not giving in to peer pressure]]]].
* An interesting subversion in an episode of ''Series/ColdCase'': The victim was in prison for seven years for stealing a pair of shoes. He only got six months for the actual theft. The rest were added on for his repeated escape attempts. It may have been a ShoutOut to the ''Literature/LesMiserables'' example above.
* Marvin in ''Series/{{Weeds}}'' claims to have once brought back the wrong order from 7-11 for U-turn. He now has an artificial patella.
* The opening sequence of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' is a borderline case, as the montage shows us the protagonist accomplishing mundane acts of his morning routine (shaving, cooking eggs and bacon, lacing his shoes) in a way suggesting his psychopathic nature. In one of the DVD commentaries, it is explicitly stated that the title sequence is set up to show the violence in everyday life.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** Ted flashbacks to a date he had with a girl who had "the Crazy Eyes". As she and Ted are about to cross the street, a car screeches to a halt in front of them. The driver is apologetic, and Ted gestures that it's okay, but his date grabs a post and starts beating the car with it shouting [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "WATCH! WHERE! YOU'RE! GOING!"]]
** When Barney discovered that Ted has an ex who was once a porn star.
--->'''Barney:''' You dumped a PORN STAR?! Friendship over. FRIENDSHIP! OVER!
** Barney hates Gary Blauman because one time at [=McLaren=]'s, he took four of Barney's french fries, one of which was a curly fry that was accidentally added to the batch. Ted and Marshall agree with him.
--->'''Marshall:''' You take another man's ''wife'' before you take his accidental curly!
* On ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'', Kenneth becomes addicted to caffeine and starts acting... out of the ordinary.
-->'''Tracy:''' So you had a little bender!\\
'''Kenneth:''' It's not just the coffee. I also went to a PG-13 movie. I bought a pair of sunglasses. I tried a Jewish doughnut! I'd always been told that New York was the 21st-century city of Sodom, and looks what's happened... I've become one of them! [[AccidentalInnuendo I've been sodomized!]]
* A non-comedic example occurs in an episode of ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' which features a girl whose angelic voice moved God Himself... but her life is marred by a tragic addiction to ''chewing gum.'' Even earthly human society seemed to consider this a terrible moral failing. Perhaps [[Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory Roald Dahl]] could have written for that show! It's supposed to be an "anything can be bad if taken to extremes" moral, [[BrokenAesop but it falls on its face pretty badly]]. And once you consider that Monica [[DoubleStandard has a caffeine addiction]] that's always played for laughs, it's quite hypocritical of the writers to play an addiction to chewing gum for drama.
* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':
** When Demming, Beckett's new love interest, is suspected by the others of being a dirty cop planted into their recent investigation to sabotage it from within, they voice their suspicions of him from a distance. However, whereas the cops comment on things such as his suspicious reasons for requesting to be part of the case and his too-good-to-be-true dedication to the case, Castle's reasons for suspecting him -- based largely on his insecurity over suddenly having a competitor for Beckett's attention -- stem from his suspicion that "he probably goes to yoga classes just to pick up women" and "he probably subscribes to ''The New Yorker'' without even reading it".
** There's also the episode "Hedgefund Homeboys" where Castle tells his daughter Alexis to tell him if she's ever in trouble or does anything wrong after he works on a case involving a bunch of teenagers and a shooting. She later comes to him in tears and reveals that she once jumped a turnstile at the train station late one night, inciting this trope with complete honesty. Castle responds with relief and amusement but Alexis grounds herself for her heinous actions.
** Another time Castle and Beckett find out that Ryan's fiancée slept with another man while she was already dating Ryan. They fear that this information will destroy the relationship and angst over whether to tell him. When they finally tell him, he reveals that he already knew and didn't think that it was a problem, since they were only dating for a month at the time and were not yet exclusive. In fact, the scene where they finally decide to carefully approach the subject with Ryan, they mention the guy's diary of all the women he slept with, only for Ryan to eagerly ask if his fiancée is in there too.

* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
-->'''Angel:''' I'm not perfect, Faith. Even with a soul, I've done things I wished a thousand times I could take back.\\
'''Angelus:''' Yeah, like those Manilow concerts, you ''son of a bitch!''

* In ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''[='s=] parody of ''Series/CountdownWithKeithOlbermann'', Olbermann's "special comment" was on a co-op board refusing to make an exception to its "no pets" policy for his cat, Miss Precious Perfect:
-->'''Olbermann''': And there it was. All perfectly legal. Like the 1942 internment of more than 100,000 Japanese-American citizens or the forced relocation of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears or the monstrous injustice of our nation's Jim Crow laws. It was all perfectly legal and EVERY BIT AS WRONG if not, indeed, MORE SO!! Mr. Lieberstein, you speak of considerations of the rights of others! How DARE you, sir?! How DARE you?! Where, sir, in any of this, were the rights of Miss Precious Perfect considered? DAMN YOU, Mr. Lieberstein!! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!

* Both contestants and fans of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' are guilty of this. It's understandable for a team to overreact when they're Yielded or U-Turned (though calling a team "Dirty Pirate Hookers" was probably going too far), but there are those who are willing to vilify a team simply for copying another team's flight arrangements or, even worse, having a "bad attitude".
* In an episode of ''Series/TheNanny,'' a man that mugs Fran agrees to do community service and walks. Angered, Fran shouts out, "Meanwhile, I eat a couple of Bing cherries at the A&P, and I'm wrestled to the ground like Squeaky Fromme!"
* ''Series/ICarly'':
** The most notable example is the "iMeet WebVideo/{{Fred}}" episode, where Freddie says that he doesn't think Fred's videos are all that funny, and Fred announces he's not going to make videos anymore. Freddie then suffers a HumiliationConga courtesy of everyone at school and his aunt. And later, Sam beats him with a tennis racket. And then throws him out of a treehouse and jumps on him.
** Another notable example is in "iEnrage Gibby", when Freddie trips on Gibby's girlfriend Tasha, causing Gibby to think he tried to kiss her. Gibby then becomes a borderline FauxAffablyEvil to Freddie and Tasha.
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'':
** Rachel and Finn were caught using the Cheerios' photocopier without Sue Sylvester's permission. Her response is to [[DisproportionateRetribution haul them to the principal's office and have them hobbled]]. He makes them pay the dollar or so for the paper and ink.
--->'''Sue''': Lady Justice wept today.
** Sue seems to think ''everything'' the Glee Club does is heinous. When they performed "Push It" at the school assembly (admittedly, with school-inappropriate choreography), Sue's "first reaction was that all the children [[DisproportionateRetribution should be put into foster care]]."
** Jesse's reaction to Rachel's [[spoiler:triplecasting him]] in "Bad Reputation."
** "Bad Reputation" also brings us Kurt's master plan to become badass -- have the Glee Club perform [[Music/MCHammer Can't Touch This]]. In the library. Needless to say, it backfired when the elderly librarian told them it was "cute" and asking them to perform it at her church.
* Parodied in an episode of Series/TheITCrowd with an anti-piracy PSA which compared pirating films to stealing a handbag, stealing a baby, and shooting a policeman, stealing his helmet, pooping in it, sending it to his grieving wife, and stealing it again.

* In one ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode, Lister confesses his darkest secret to Kryten: once, many years ago, ''he went into a wine bar''.
* On a couple of episodes of ''Series/SportsNight'', Bobbi Bernstein substitutes for Casey as anchor, which Dan has a problem with, since she claims he slept with her in Spain, and then never called. He swears not only has he never slept with her, he never even knew her back then, he's never been to Spain, and he wouldn't treat a woman like that. Whoever he tells this story to has the same response; "Oh, Dan. You never called?"
* ''Series/TheSlammer'' uses Type 3. When Sammy Sparkle admits that he is not really an entertainer, but is actually just a wannabe, Grimble is so horrified that he faints.
* ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'': Pop [[IHaveNoSon disowns his son]] Richie because he allowed a couple of kids to rob his newsstand. Of nine Maverick bars.
* ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'': Stevie incites an insurrection in order to overturn the Council's "one wizard per family" rule. Irresponsible rabble-rousing, or much-needed social reform? You be the judge.
* In ''Series/{{Psych}}'', there is [[NoodleIncident mention of]] a program meant to replace cops with {{robot}}s. Apparently, it didn't work out, as a robot ended up [[AIIsACrapshoot strangling]] [[LawfulStupid a jaywalker.]] This may just be a reference to ''Franchise/RoboCop''.

* A minor example played for laughs in ''Series/BandOfBrothers'': Webster is berating himself after getting shot. Not for getting shot, which he couldn't have avoided, but for in the heat of the moment shouting out "They got me!", which he finds horribly cliched.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "The Happiness Patrol" features a Type 2. On Terra Alpha, being a 'Killjoy' (i.e. being unhappy) is punishable by death.
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' features a Type 2 when Nate is sent to prison. He finds that the warden is making backdoor deals to send innocent men to prison to increase his population and thus profits as it is a for-profit prison. Cue jailbreak with new mark thrown in for free.
** A similar case is shown in an episode of ''Series/TheGoodWife'', where a judge deliberately ignores plea bargains and sends people who have just plead guilty to jail for the maximum possible sentence. Specifically, he sends them to a private prison owned by a friend of his, who gives him a cut of the profits. Once Will finds out, he has the judge (an old friend) exposed.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': When Lance Hunter is forced to defend Phil Coulson from [[spoiler:a splinter of S.H.I.E.L.D. that wants to depose him as director]], he admits that Coulson sometimes chews with his mouth open and hogs the mic at karaoke night.

** [[spoiler:As it turns out, due to a glitch in the system, ''every'' action ends up giving you negative points. Globalization means that the world is so connected that everyone is connected to everyone else. Michael checks the action of a man giving his grandmother flowers before and after globalization. Before, a man bought some flowers, his grandmother loved them, plus sixty points. After, a man bought the flowers from a shop that abuses its workers, who bought them from a farm that uses pesticides, owned by a CEO who cheats on his wife--resulting in a net loss of four points. ''No one'' has gotten into the Good Place in hundreds of years because of this]].

* In ''Series/TheOrville'' episode "[[Recap/TheOrvilleS1E07MajorityRule Majority Rule]]", the people of Sargus 4 use social media to determine ''everything'', from what is true to whether someone is guilty. If someone does something extremely minor and a video of that goes viral, then that person can quickly accumulate a million downvotes, which automatically makes him a criminal (most businesses won't even service someone with half that many downvotes). What follows is an "apology tour", with the accused attending several talk shows, where he must convince the public of his redemption. During the "tour", if the criminal accumulates 10 million downvotes, he undergoes the local equivalent to a lobotomy, becoming a perpetually-happy vegetable. Yes, that's right, you can get lobotomized for saying or doing the wrong thing if someone with a smartphone is nearby.
* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'': Azrael's blade amplifies the rage in any human who handles it, causing them to commit murder for the slightest offenses. The team stumbles upon a scene where a dozen people were murdered because every time someone tried to get the knife from the person wielding it they started killing too. At the end of the episode, Dan nearly kills Lucifer over stolen yogurt.
* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': The b-plot of "It’s Better to Have Loved and Lost It" deals with Phil being investigated by an ethics committee as part of his campaign for the judicial seat. Geoffrey then decides to come clean about a deep, dark secret that he is keeping and which he fears could ruin Phil's campaign. What is this secret that could tarnish the Banks' by association? It turns out that before he became the family butler, Geoffrey participated in the long-distance race of 1976 Olympics. Geoffrey cheated by taking a cab to the Olympic Stadium parking lot which allowed him to get ahead of the other runners. Unfortunately, this act was caught on camera by a Japanese tourist. Geoffrey was stripped of his gold medal and declared "The Shame of a Nation" for his cheating. Rather than being angry at him, the Banks just laugh it off and assure him that the committee won't care about it at all.

* Even more blatant. Wrestling/MuhammadHassan. His gimmick was of an Arab-American who loved America but hated the way he was treated after 9/11. Sample quote: "I am an Arab-American, I grew up right here in America. I went to the same schools, I ate the same food, and there was never any animosity between us. But since 9/11, you people tend to generalize or stereotype people like me. We are singled out. We are humiliated. We demand the same rights that any American has!" What happened? Wrestling fans, who are not known for their tolerance of non-whites, automatically made him the villain, and Creator/{{UPN}} pressured WWE to end his career, all due to his character's race.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'':

* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'', police will try to kill you for streaking. Interestingly this only applies when actively engaged in the streaking mini-game. Walking around with no clothes on does not draw any attention by itself.

* ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}''

* Webcomic/SchlockMercenary - [[AGodAmI Petey]] warns a Toddfraug captain who was going to wipe out a planetary population with [[DeathFromAbove kinetic warhead bombardment]] to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-08 not add "rounding 'Pi' down to three"]] to his list of crimes.
* {{Webcomic/Freefall}} - [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01924.htm "A robot named Qwerty. wrote the first. of his epic. rap yodeling. operas. It was then. I knew conflict between [robots and humans]. was inevitable."]] He didn't force anyone to listen to it. Just writing it was enough to justify genocide.

* In ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', Gabe is reading his son the new ''Literature/BerenstainBears'' book, and is horrified when the father turns off the internet except for an hour a day.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!]]

* The WebVideo/TheMusicVideoShow has an example in episode 8 when Music/{{Fall Out Boy}} is about to be burned alive.
--> "You guys do kind of deserve it after you butchered a {{Music/Michael Jackson}} song...and getting John Mayer to do the (guitar) solo."

->'''Chuggaa:''' Well, you say "zed".\\

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
** The Earl of Lemongrab has some... er, interesting concepts when it comes to punishing those who do wrong. Making a mess? Thirty days in the dungeon. Asking questions? Thirty-TWO days in the dungeon. Refusing to clean up mess, or asking who exactly Lemongrab is talking to? Three hours dungeon. Harmless prank? Seven years dungeon, no trials. Assuring Lemongrab that the prank was harmless? Twelve years dungeon. Elaborate, painful prank involving spicy food? ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON!!! (Lemongrab isn't evil--he's just young, angry, and a bit of an idiot.)
** Princess Bubblegum and Finn decide to play a harmless prank on the earl of Lemongrab-- they leave a sign beside his bed that says "YOU REALLY SMELL LIKE DOG BUNS." How does the earl react? He clenches his fists, starts shaking, and opens up his mouth wide to scream loudly in sheer outrage for several seconds. And how does he attempt to punish those responsible? Round up EVERYONE in the castle, to sentence them to seven years in the dungeon, no trials!
** [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Marceline]] writes a heart-breaking, soul-crushing, tear-jerking ballad which questions if her dad even loves her because.... he ate her fries. A bit HarsherInHindsight, as in "Memory of a Memory" we see Marceline's dad ate her fries [[spoiler: while they were ''scavenging for food in a post-apocalyptic wasteland'', and Marceline was still human (well, half-demon) while her father had always been a demon, so dying of starvation was a real possibility for her.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'':
** One episode had Plucky and Hampton steal a candy bar and go through inner torment before they give it back.
** Also, one beer shared between three people will turn all of them into stereotypical wino bums, who will then steal a car to go joyriding before dying in the inevitable crash.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In the early episode "Opposite Day" when Squidward decides to move out, the realtor warns him the sale would fall through it it's surrounded by "bad neighbors".
** In one example they steal a balloon and fully intended to give it back. It pops. Torment ensues. Eventually, they give in and turn themselves in to the police, and get thrown in prison. Then they learn it is Free Balloon Day, and stay in prison for all of three seconds before being let free.
** Squidward was once sentenced to ten years in prison for stealing a wallet and running (he wasn't driving) a stop sign.
** [=SpongeBob=]'s cousin Blackjack, Squidward (again), the Tattletale Strangler, Mrs. Puff, and [=SpongeBob=] himself all have gotten sent to jail for the unspeakable crime of littering. Though the Tattletale Strangler was probably arrested for strangling people who tattled on him (hence the nickname), he was just caught for littering.
** In "The Algae's Always Greener", [=SpongeBob=] is ashamed of himself for accidentally giving a customer a large soda when they ordered a medium. "I've soiled the good Krusty Krab name! [[OverlyLongGag Soiled it, soiled it, soiled it, soiled it...]]"
** In "Little Yellow Book", after Squidward reads [=SpongeBob=]'s diary, he's alienated by the entire town, his house gets foreclosed, and he gets chained in the middle of the town for the citizens to {{Produce Pelt|ing}}. There's a ''reason'' why fans consider him the show's biggest [[JerkassWoobie woobie]], and the fact that the town themselves [[{{Hypocrite}} was reading it along with him]] makes it even worse.
** In the computer game ''Employee of the Month'', [=SpongeBob=] goes to a fancy restaurant called Sublime Seafoods to get a jacket needed to gain access to Oxygen Springs; once he is seated, the lobster waiter greets him and is ready to present an array of fancy foods, but when [=SpongeBob=] asks for a krabby patty, this infuriates the waiter enough to realize he's from Bikini Bottom which sells foods that are "despicable", resulting in him banned from the restaurant. However, the waiter forgot to remove his jacket, thus letting him in to Oxygen Springs.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** In the episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS7E9ChristianRockHard Christian Rock Hard]]", after the boys download a song, armed police immediately show up in a helicopter. They are taken to the station and shown how the artists they stole from are "suffering", such as how they can't buy a private island or get new features for their private jets.
** Another notable example occurs in "Butt Out," when their parents act as if smoking is "the worst thing" Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman have ever done, never bothering to comment upon the fact that they've just burned their school to the ground!
** ''South Park'' uses Type 3 a lot, like when Stan was exiled from the town for refusing to vote on the school mascot election between [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical Turd Sandwich and Giant Douche]].
** Eric Cartman repeatedly insulted his friends, abused them (often brutally) and betrayed them just for the sheer joy of it. He also made at least two attempts to murder a large group of the population, convinced women to have abortions for his own profit and, having arranged to have a couple murdered [[spoiler:(one of which was his father)]], made them into chili and fed it to their son. But ''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking eating the skin of all the fried chicken]]'' was the last drop that finally prompted his friends to ignore him. Kyle even mentions that Cartman did a lot worse before.
** In "Toilet Paper", the boys' [=TPing=] of a teacher's house results in a full-scale police investigation, complete with PerpSweating. Kyle, who participated reluctantly, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone becomes wracked with guilt]], seeing flashbacks of the event in his nightmares. That being said, the family in question reacts to it appropriately: moderate annoyance. The police officer openly admits he's taking it so seriously because he has nothing better to do.
** In "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce", Mr. Mackey calls the police when he discovers someone has taken a dump in the urinal. He becomes completely obsessed with finding the culprit, at one point declares, "I'm gonna catch this sonofabitch if it's the last thing I DO!!"
** "I Should Never Have Gone Ziplining" has the boys going on a ziplining trip. The whole thing is a mildly crappy experience with the sort of things you'd expect of a disappointing vacation: the tour guides are annoying, the other people are annoying, the journey to get to the ziplines is way too long and the actual ziplining only lasts a few minutes. The boys and the narrative, however, treat the entire thing like an unforgettable traumatic event that they barely survived, a la ''I Shouldn't Be Alive.''
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'':
** Almost all the villains are built on this. Simple things most kids don't like doing such as homework, washing dishes, eating vegetables, and going to the dentist are blown to world-destroying proportions.
** One episode features a hardware store owner who wants to eliminate two aviators who bought their plane parts from him. Why? Because they ''kept smudging his counter with chili''. DisproportionateRetribution much?
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', with the episode "The Ultimate Enemy." Danny cheats on a test, and what are the consequences? Not a detention, or a lecture, or auto-failing the test. Rather, [[spoiler:circumstances make everyone he truly cared for ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus his English teacher]]) die, which also brought [[LocalHangout The Nasty Burger]] along with them in a horrendous explosion, which was caused by an exploded pack of hot sauce, which caused the boiler to leak, which eventually caused said explosion, which also took his family, his friends, and his English teacher along with it, and Danny's ghost half separating to became an ''OmnicidalManiac with no humanity or morals whatsoever'']].
* On ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', Jimmy thinks up several horrible punishments of what [[LouisCypher Lucius]] will do to him when he finds out what he's done. He laughs them off. When [[YesMan Samy]] tells him that he'll take away his TV privileges, he reacts with horror.

** Skinner also behaves this way when the teacher's edition textbooks of Springfield Elementary are stolen, leaving the teachers completely unable to teach any new content. (The thief eventually turns out to be [[spoiler: Lisa]]; [[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]].) Upon finally finding the textbooks, Skinner's first reaction is relief; his second is moral outrage: "Who's responsible for this monstrous crime?!"

* In season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', Grandad, Riley, Huey, and Jasmine all sneak into a movie without paying for it and are treated to a warning about movie piracy that insists that pirating movies makes you the most horrible, evil, violent person on earth. The boys all ignore it but by the time the completely over-the-top announcement is over, [[TheWoobie Jasmine]] is bawling her little eyes out and begging for them to take her out of the theater out of guilt. This is based off a series of strips in the comic (which is in turn based off a series of PSA's about movie piracy) where they show various people's over-the-top tearjerking plights thanks to movie piracy - one of which is a bootlegger who can't sell ''his'' pirated movies anymore.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Zoidberg accidentally destroys the Professor's model ship and decides to frame Fry in order to avoid blame. He later becomes wracked with grief and self-loathing after Fry has to pay for the damages to the amount of ''ten dollars''. Justified, as to Zoidberg, ten dollars is a VERY large amount. He's too poor to realize that Fry simply rummaged his pockets to pay off the debt.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** When the Mayor gets called out for HoldingOutForAHero to the girls, he jumps into a Hot Air Balloon with Miss Bellum and starts to punch criminals with an extendable glove from the air. It starts by hitting a genuine mugger but then escalates to him hitting people he only ''thinks'' are committing a crime.
** The episode where Buttercup was exiled from Townsville because she refused to take a bath (though to be fair, she had recently fought a monster that seemed to be made of raw sewage).
* The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "WesternAnimation/DaffyDoodles" begins with this ominous bit of narration that describes what role Daffy Duck is playing this time around:
-->In a large eastern city, a demon is on the loose. The people are terrified. The police baffled. With diabolical cleverness, the monster strikes without warning... [[MustacheVandalism and draws moustaches on all the ads]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' features Black Lightning acting like this in a dream sequence, during which he shoots lightning at people for the heinous acts of... putting sprinkles in coffee, not cleaning up after their dogs, driving an SUV, wearing white after Labor Day, and making "Smell That Pig IV". At one point he attacks Batman because he doesn't like his costume.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'':
** The show liked to revisit the unwritten code of honor kids must live by on the playground. Everything from how a scuffle is conducted to weird superstitions is treated as deadly serious, and God help you if you don't automatically know all the rules; if you're ''really'' lucky, you'll have friends who not only do know the rule you broke, but how to restore your honor as well.
** The word "whomp" is treated a ''so bad'' a swear that ''SWAT teams'' are brought in and the kids are out in ''court''.
** In the episode where the kids protest the tearing down of an old jungle gym by staying on it endlessly, Prickly decides to initiate "Plan P", which Ms. Grotke calls "extreme". The plan: [[spoiler: calling the kids' parents.]]
* OnceAnEpisode on ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'', Coop berates the MonsterOfTheWeek with a list of everything evil they did in that episode and a declaration that he's going to kick their ass because of it. The final item on the list is always something extremely innocuous and is always the thing Coop claims is the most heinous act out of all of them.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Pinkie Pie invokes this with her deadly-serious attitude towards keeping secrets in "Green Isn't Your Color".
--->'''Pinkie Pie:''' Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever! '''''FOR-EV-ER!!!'''''
** Rarity simply cannot abide crimes against fashion and/or fabulosity. She's willing to yell at a rampaging dragon just for damaging her clothes, rather than [[SkewedPriorities abducting her]].
** Later, in "Lesson Zero", Twilight Sparkle actually suffers a psychotic breakdown when she thinks that she'll be unable to write her weekly [[AnAesop Aesop of the week]] letter to the princess and therefore be... gasp... '''tardy'''!
** Also, in "The Cutie Pox", it turns out Pinkie Pie ate not two, not three, but''' ''six'' '''corn cakes (and possibly even more than that)!
** [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup "NOPONY breaks a Pinkie Promise!"]]
** Twice in "Read it and Weep", as not only does the plot revolve around non-egghead Rainbow Dash being into reading, she also gets the hospital's staff on her case because they thought she had broken in to steal a patient's slippers.
** "Peeved" is apparently a strong curse-word in Equestria, as a mother covers her child's ears and glares after Fluttershy struggles to drop a P-Bomb.
* In an early episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' the FBI burst into Peter's living room and shoot the VCR when he attempts to tape Monday Night Football with the expressly-written consent of ABC, but not the NFL.

* One ''WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight'' episode involves having the titular character be discharged from the Mounted Police for doing the unthinkable...[[spoiler:eating his peas...with a ''KNIFE''!]] His horse was also discharged. ''His'' crime? [[spoiler: It was his knife.]]
* Inverted for comedic effect in a ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch: After Paris Hilton is arrested, Nicole Richie decides to break her "best friend/meal ticket" out of jail, in a parody of ''Series/PrisonBreak''. To get herself arrested, she robs a bank. The tellers say that will probably only get her a fine, so she shoots him. The guard throwing her in jail proclaims:
-->"Stupid celebrity! Armed robbery AND murder? You'll be locked up for forty-five ''days.''"
* Pepper in ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'' believes removing a friend from her My Face account is more heinous than ripping their spleen out of them.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TrippingTheRift'', Chode was sentenced to death for littering on a NeatFreak planet. Also as he was being arrested, a person who accidentally missed hitting the trash can with his trash was instantly vaporized.
* Used in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''.
-->'''Guard:''' Your Majesty, these juveniles were arrested for [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages]].\\
'''Cabbage Merchant:''' [[OffWithHisHead Off with their heads!]] One for each head of cabbage!
* In the episode "Wanted: Wade!" of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', Wade pulls a tag off of a couch, then sees that the tag [[MattressTagGag says that it's against the law to remove it.]] This causes him to run frantically around and have a dream where the police are after him for ripping off the couch tag. In that dream, tearing a tag off a pillow is so bad a crime it even gets two hardened robbers of banks and gas stations to grab the bars of the cell and want out when Wade admits his "crime" to them. Later, Wade sees a police car on the farm and gets him into his panic. When Orson tries to convince Wade he won't go to jail for it, a voice tells them and Roy "We know you're in there, come out with your hands up! We have you surrounded!", and Roy, Wade, and Orson run for it.
* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'': In ''The Origin of the Beginning of the Incredible Taz-Man'', Mr. Thickley attempts to persuade Taz to make the mailman his arch-enemy for the heinous crime of delivering junk mail to Taz's family.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', Rocko was once chased out by his friends because ''he likes'' '''''rainbows.'''''
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing "The Clock King"]]: Killing a man because he recommended you to relax, which wound up making you late? That's this trope alright, even ''if'' Fugate mistakenly believes Hill intently sabotaged him as it was his law firm that filed the injunction he ended up being late to; it's even lampshaded:
-->'''Batman:''' Give it up, Fugate. Hill committed no crime against you.\\
'''Clock King:''' He did worse. He made me late!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode, "Axed by Addition," Pete does this to ''himself.'' Among genuinely abusive and/or totalitarian actions he regrets doing to PJ, he also lists the heinous crimes of making him use "the manly deodorant" and a ''handkerchief.'' His overdramatic delivery of the latter suggests he finds it ''more'' reprehensible than everything else he mentions, which includes sending him to obedience school for not cleaning his room.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', Candace is thrown out of the museum for yelling. She meets another kid, who was thrown out of the same museum for stealing a pterodactyl. He's impressed by how hardcore she is.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Dexter Detention", Dexter is sent to detention after unwillingly helping a student cheat. The detention warden seems to think getting under his wing is unforgivable, calling the kids there "criminals" and forcing them to [[WritingLines write lines]] and worse punishments. Then in the end, apparently escaping detention is enough to send Dexter to the state prison.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode "It Takes A Village To Defeat A Hedgehog", Shadow considers the poorly-made bookshelf Sonic and friends spent the episode trying to build an embarrassment on behalf of ''all hedgehog kind''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' episode "The Laughing Bat", Joker dresses as Batman and attacks "criminals" for offenses like jaywalking and going through [[ExpressLaneLimit the ten-item lane]] with eleven items.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': In "Get Schwifty", a giant alien head appears in the sky and starts creating catastrophic weather. A religion called "Headism" forms around said head, where people such as goths, "movie talkers", and "inappropriate joke tellers" are executed via "Ascension" (AKA being [[{{Balloonacy}} strapped to several balloons and floating up into the sky]]).
* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'''s episode "Breakfast Cheese", the Titans treat the H.I.V.E. loitering near a "no loitering" sign as an excuse to beat them up. This is even what kicks off the plot of the episode, as Starfire realizes that pounding someone into oblivion just for loitering is way too harsh and that the Titans have gotten more bloodthirsty thanks to all the fighting.
-->'''Beast Boy:''' Look at them loitering so hard...\\
'''Robin:''' Disgusting!
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In "A Better World," the Justice Lords' fascist rule is such that one man is arrested on the spot simply for complaining about his restaurant bill.
* Used in the WartimeCartoon ''WesternAnimation/EducationForDeath''. A boy is made to stand in the corner of a classroom wearing a DunceCap because he expressed sympathy for a rabbit that got eaten by a fox. Unfortunately, this is set in Nazi Germany and the lesson (that the fox should be admired for eating the rabbit because MightMakesRight) works as his PoliticallyMotivatedTeacher intended: the boy becomes a mindless, ruthless and evil prospective soldier for the Nazi regime.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', the first ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' short nearly ends with Vicky getting fired after Timmy proves he doesn't need a babysitter. Then his parents see a pepperoni in his teeth, and conclude [[YankTheDogsChain if he can't do proper tooth care, he can't be trusted alone]].
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/GirlstuffBoystuff'' has Talia and Reanne having an ImagineSpot of Ben getting arrested by the Video Store Police for spoiling movie plots out loud and "enjoying ''Honky Tonk Heatwave''".
* In "[[Recap/ArthurS1E30ArthursFirstSleepoverArthursNewYearsEve Arthur's New Year's Eve]]" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', Franince Frensky tells Arthur that the New Year's Police arrest anyone who doesn't immediately throw out their old calendars when midnight ushers in New year's Day. Arthur has an ImagineSpot of his Grandma Thora being arrested by these police, who are depicted wearing party hats.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In the season 1 finale "Young Blood, Old Souls", Luz and King plan to get deliberately arrested so they can sneak themselves into the Conformatorium, break out, and rescue Eda. They do this by deliberately ignoring a "Keep Off the Grass" sign in front of a guard.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** The early games included Professor Oak's voice appearing out of nowhere to admonish the main character before he or she did something stupid and dangerous such as riding a bike indoors or trying to use a fishing rod on land. Later games change it to whoever the current professor is.
---> [Professor]'s words echoed... [Player]! There's a time and place for everything! But not now.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and their remakes, Cerulean City has a cop blocking the door to a house. He states that the house has been robbed, and that only Team Rocket could have committed such a heinous crime. Granted, robbery is a crime, and depending on how much they stole, it could be an actual felony, but the officer makes it sound like they burned down an orphanage.

* EasilyForgiven: Genuinely terrible crimes are shrugged off

** In "Little Yellow Book", after Squidward reads [=SpongeBob=]'s diary, he's alienated by the entire town, his house gets foreclosed, and he gets chained in the middle of the town for the citizens to {{Produce Pelt|ing}}. There's a ''reason'' why the fans consider him the show's biggest [[TheWoobie woobie]], and the fact that the town themselves [[{{Hypocrite}} was reading it along with him]] makes it even worse.

* SeriousBusiness

->'''Manager:''' I want to apologize, humbly, deeply, and sincerely about the fork.\\
'''Man:''' Oh please, it's only a tiny bit...I couldn't see it.\\
'''Manager:''' Ah, you're good kind fine people, for saying that, but I can see it...to me, it's like a mountain, a vast bowl of pus!

* In ''WesternAnimation/JonahAVeggieTalesMovie'', this initially seems to be the case with "fish slapping", the in-movie crime of the biblical Ninevites for which they are despised, and for which they will apparently be wiped out. This would be justified in that it's all a story being told by modern day "Pirates", and saying what the ''real'' Assyrians did (i.e., routine torture and execution of captured prisoners, cutting off and tallying the right ears of slain enemies, being executed for failing to maintain the daily quota of said ears, etc) would be inappropriate for their young audience. Ironically, however, in the end [[spoiler:this would actually be {{subverted|Trope}}. Or rather, the ''Ninevites'' are the ones guilty of this. It turns out that "fish slapping" extends to a form of execution called 'The Slap of No Return.' The Ninevites think it's funny, and they intend to have Jonah and his friends executed for [[DisproportionateRetribution accidentally stealing snack food]]. Kind of gives the term "fish slapping" a [[CerebusRetcon whole new perspective]]]].

* DissonantSerenity: The inverse of this trope in many ways; someone does a serious wrong, or witnesses something that is no laughing matter, but brushes it off as a mild inconvenience at worst.

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': The b-plot of "It’s Better to Have Loved and Lost It" deals with Phil being investigated by an ethics committee as part of his campaign for the judicial seat. Geoffrey then decides to come clean about a deep, dark secret that he is keeping and which he fears could ruin Phil's campaign. What is this secret that could tarnish the Banks' by association? It turns out that before he became the family butler, Geoffrey was a runner in the 1976 Olympics representing Great Britain. Geoffrey cheated during the long-distance race by taking a cab to the Olympic Stadium parking lot which allowed him to get ahead of the other runners. Unfortunately, this act was caught on camera by a Japanese tourist. Geoffrey was stripped of his gold medal and declared "The Shame of a Nation" for his cheating. Rather than being angry at him, the Banks just laugh it off and assure him that the committee won't care about it at all.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'':

** Spongebob's cousin Blackjack, Squidward (again), and the Tattletale Strangler all have gotten sent to jail for the unspeakable crime of littering. Though the Tattletale Strangler was probably arrested for strangling people who tattled on him (hence the nickname), he was just caught for littering.
** In "The Algae's Always Greener", Spongebob is ashamed of himself for accidentally giving a customer a large soda when they ordered a medium. "I've soiled the good Krusty Krab name! [[OverlyLongGag Soiled it, soiled it, soiled it, soiled it...]]"
** In "Little Yellow Book", after Squidward reads Spongebob's diary, he's alienated by the entire town, his house gets foreclosed, and he gets chained in the middle of the town for the citizens to {{Produce Pelt|ing}}. There's a ''reason'' why the fans consider him the show's biggest [[TheWoobie woobie]], and the fact that the town themselves [[{{Hypocrite}} was reading it along with him]] makes it even worse.

** When the Mayor gets called out for HoldingOutForAHero to the girls, he jumps into a Hot Air Balloon with Miss Bellum and starts to punch criminals with an extendable glove from the air. It starts by hitting a genuine mugger but then starts hitting people he only ''thinks'' are committing a crime.

* ''[[ComicBook/{{Annihilation}} Annihilation: Conquest]]'' shows a Kree prison where several prisoners (whom will go on to form the modern Guardians of the Galaxy) were arrested for things like parking fines (Rocket Racoon), impersonating royalty (Groot), and attacking Kree soldiers (Captain Universe). Then we see [[KavorkaMan Bug]], who is in prison for getting a Kree woman pregnant. The Kree are absolutely serious about their "genetic purity".

* Film/InspectorGadget2'': At the beginning of the film, Gadget arrests an elderly woman--who turns out to be Chief Quimby's mother--for drag racing and driving without a license. In reality, she was only going .3 MPH over the speed limit and accidentally left her wallet at home. While Quimby chews Gadget out for this, it is mentioned that the latter had arrested a group of girl scouts the previous week. Their crime? Selling cookies that were three days past expiration date. Riverton's crime rate has fallen significantly since Claw's imprisonment, so Gadget is bored due to the lack of real crime. Of course, Claw escapes from prison soon after that.

* Parodied in an episode of Luigi's Engine Room with The Runaway Guys. Chuggaaconroy thinks being Canadian is a horrible offense.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MenAtArms'' notes that Ankh-Morpork law has "a whole quiverful of offences available to a policeman who wishes to pass the time of day with a citizen, ranging from Loitering With Intent through Obstruction to Lingering While Being the Wrong Colour/Shape/Species/Sex ".

** In "Fear of Flying", Homer is banned from the bar for loosening the lid on a salt shaker, in the aftermath of pranks which involved ''setting Moe's clothing on fire'' and ''loading his cash register with a live cobra''.