History Main / ReformedCriminal

* Modern-day [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylite stylite]] Maxime Qavtaradze took his monastic vows after a stint in prison, saying "When I was young I drank, sold drugs, everything". Until 2015, he lived alone on top of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katskhi_pillar Katskhi pillar]], coming down only twice a week.

* Modern-day [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylite stylite]] Maxime Qavtaradze took his monastic vows after a stint in prison, saying "When I was young I drank, sold drugs, everything".

* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', [[Characters/BatmanRoguesGalleryPart2 Mister Freeze]] surrenders quietly after he realizes that his wife, Nora, was miraculously cured of her chronic illness by the Quirk she developed in cryo-sleep. After spending fifteen years in Arkham as a model inmate (even helping to foil the breakout attempts of other supervillains), he leaves a free man and later starts Fries Financial, a successful conglomerate on par with Wayne-Powers, Queen Consolidated, and [=LexCorp=].

* Michael Franzese was a former captain of the Colombo crime family and lived through many of the events covered in [[Creator/MartinScorsese Scorsese]] films; he knew the real [[Film/GoodFellas Henry Hill]] and even saved his life on several occasions. Many of the mobsters arrested in [[Film/DonnieBrasco Donnie Brasco]] were his personal acquaintances (in fact, Donnie was originally going to target Michael's family before switching to the Bonannos). The Jimmy Hoffa incident happened during his time and he knows for sure what truly happened, but has declined to divulge any detail. Much like Larry Lawton above, Michael is now a motivational speaker and has his own [[https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelFranzese YouTube channel,]] which he uses to talk about the Mafia life and reviews mob movies.

* Judge Mathis of ''Series/JudgeMathis'' used to be a delinquent and a teenage hoodlum, before he turned his life around and became a judge.

* Jesse [=McCree=] from ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' used to run with the notorious Deadlock Gang until he was approached by Gabriel Reyes and given a chance to avoid prison by joining Blackwatch, Overwatch's black-ops division. Even after Overwatch is disbanded, he continues to fight the good fight as a vigilante. Eventually, to shed his past for good, he stopped using his criminal alias to [[RenamedToAvoidAssociation go by]] Cole Cassidy, his real name [[RealitySubtext (which was written in response to his namesake being one of the people targeted by a high-profile sexual harassment suit against Activision-Blizzard)]].

** ComicBook/RedHood (Jason Todd) kept trying to reform prior to Flashpoint, at one point his little brother ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}} (Tim) felt he'd moved past his "[[CameBackWrong Pit Madness]]" and trusted Jason's intentions enough to help him break out of prison. Jason never had a proper redemption arc and writers kept making him go off the deep end again, by Flashpoint he'd upgraded from anti-villain to straight up villain. Post Flashpoint he's been hovering somewhere near anti-hero, and his past of trying to murder his little brothers because he was pissed at their dad is apparently still cannon.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': One of the heroes mentioned in the second disc of the DVD is Blazestone, who is noted to have been arrested and jailed for unknown reasons prior to being recruited by the National Supers Agency. She worked with Universal Man as part of her rehabilitation.

* Michael Franzese was a former captain of the Colombo crime family and lived through many of the events covered in [[Creator/MartinScorsese Scorsese]] films; he knew the real [[Film/GoodFellas Henry Hill]] and even saved his life on several occasions. Many of the mobsters arrested in [[Film/DonnieBrasco Donnie Brasco]] were his personal acquaintances (in fact, Donnie was originally going to target Michael's family before switching to the Bonnanos). The Jimmy Hoffa incident happened during his time and he knows for sure what truly happened, but has declined to divulge any detail. Much like Larry Lawton above, Michael is now a motivational speaker and has his own [[https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelFranzese YouTube channel,]] which he uses to talk about the Mafia life and reviews mob movies.

* Michael Franzese was a former captain of the Colombo crime family and lived through many of the events covered in ''Creator/MartinScorsese'' films; Michael knew the real [[Film/GoodFellas Henry Hill]] and even saved his life on several occasions. Many of the mobsters arrested in [[Film/DonnieBrasco Donnie Brasco]] were his personal acquaintances. The Jimmy Hoffa incident happened during his time and he knows for sure what truly happened, but has declined to divulge any detail. Much like Larry Lawton above, Michael is now a motivational speaker and has his own [[https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelFranzese YouTube channel,]] which he uses to talk about the Mafia life and reviews mob movies.

* Michael Franzese was a former captain of the Colombo crime family and lived through many of the events frequently covered in ''Creator/MartinScorsese'' films; Michael knew the real [[Film/GoodFellas Henry Hill]] and even saved his life on several occasions. Many of the mobsters arrested in [[Film/DonnieBrasco Donnie Brasco]] were his personal acquaintances. The Jimmy Hoffa incident happened during his time and he knows for sure what truly happened, but has declined to divulge any detail. Much like Larry Lawton above, Michael is now a motivational speaker and has his own [[https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelFranzese YouTube channel,]] which he uses to talk about the Mafia life and reviews mob movies.

* Michael Franzese was a former captain of the Colombo crime family and is basically a real-life Scorsese character. He was active during many of the events that inspire his films and knows a great deal about them. Michael knew the real [[Film/GoodFellas Henry Hill]] and even saved his life on several occasions. Many of the mobsters arrested in [[Film/DonnieBrasco Donnie Brasco]] were his personal acquaintances. The Jimmy Hoffa incident happened during his time and he knows for sure what truly happened, but has declined to divulge any detail. Much like Larry Lawton above, Michael is now a motivational speaker and has his own [[https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelFranzese YouTube channel,]] which he uses to talk about the Mafia life and reviews mob movies.

* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', Anteiku employs several reformed criminals that now manage the 20th Ward as peacekeepers and a pseudo-food bank. Among the staff are several delinquents, a hit man, and two gang leaders that all eventually made a HeelFaceTurn and work to atone for their pasts. However, [[spoiler: eventually CCG learns about the cafe and organizes an Extermination operation to deal with the high-level targets working there]].

* The Creator/GarthEnnis mini-series ''Pride and Joy'' is about a reformed criminal trying to leave his past behind him, even though [[spoiler: he got away with murder]].

* [[spoiler: Crow]] used to be a member of a criminal syndicate before his HeelFaceTurn and is now this in ''Fanfic/TheTaintedGrimoire''.
* In ''Fanfic/FourDeadlySecrets'', there's Blake (as per Canon), Miltia and Melanie Malachite, and [[spoiler: Yang.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', [[spoiler: Megamind becomes a superhero at the end of the movie.]]

** [[spoiler: Molly Carpenter]] is this. Breaking the Laws of Magic is a biiiig no-no.

** [[spoiler: Lash, the shadow of a FallenAngel when she performs a HeroicSacrifice and RedemptionEqualsDeath. Doubles as a TearJerker.]]
** Bob, actually. But this has more to do with who his owner is at any time. When Harry picked him up, he got modeled after Harry's teenage self. Before? Warden DuMorne. Before him? [[spoiler: Freaking arch-necromancer Heinrich Kemmler.]]

* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', Fade is this. [[spoiler: Actually, he's Araris Valerian guarding Tavi and Isana.]] Tavi later causes this in [[spoiler: Fidelias Ex Cursori]].

** Later, [[spoiler: Skitter]] attempts a similar tactic, becoming the hero [[spoiler:Weaver.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'', the Highwayman hero is revealed in his backstory to have been a bandit who robbed travelers and coaches for money... until one day during a robbery [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone a stray shot from his pistol killed a woman and her child]]. [[TheAtoner He was so horrified and distraught by this that he looked for his redemption by traveling to the estate to fight the evils within.]] His final line of dialogue [[HeroicSacrifice if he is chosen to be]] [[spoiler: hit by the Heart of Darkness' "Come Unto Your Maker" attack]] is [[DeathSeeker a calm acceptance of his fate.]]

* At the end of the third ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' game, former GentlemanThief [[spoiler: Ron [=DeLite=], aka Mask [=DeMasque=] ]] says that he's starting a security company to help businesses defend themselves against thieves. [[spoiler: And also that he's going to sell the security plans to crooks. At least he's not stealing anymore?]]

** The Sandman (no, not [[ComicBook/TheSandman that one]]) tried to be a good guy for awhile. It didn't take.

* Serena Linnen from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' used to be a thief until her group got her annihilated by a [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Ranker]]. Full of despair, she sought to improve herself and thus landed in the Inner Tower.