History Main / SelectiveEnforcement

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'' has Chloe, after going through a horrible day at school, getting her ass kicked by Ash in a battle, her father not noticing her distaste for Pokémon and Mr. Mime making curry on Ash and Goh's request -- as they're nothing more than a reminder that she and Goh are drifting apart -- lashing out by slamming a plate of hot curry in Goh's face and splashing water Ash's face in fury. But Professor Cerise chews his daughter out for being angry, making Chloe believe that Ash and Goh will '''always''' have his support but she will never have his love or support in the slightest. It's one of the factors that gets her on the Infinity Train; her belief that this DoubleStandard is just a part of her life and no one cares for her.
** Except… [[AvertedTrope not really]]. Chloe certainly ''thought'' at the time that the boys could get away with murder, while she would be punished for everything she did. However, she came to this conclusion [[UnreliableNarrator through the eyes of a ten-year-old with trust issues]]. In reality, Professor Cerise truly didn't have many ''reasons'' to punish Ash and Goh- they were model employees and helpful to just about everyone. As for Chloe, she believed that she was still being punished for [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown lashing out at her bullies]] and "not being the perfect Pokemon-loving daughter" months after the fact- but the truth is, she was merely [[FauxHorrific spending the afternoons at her dad’s workplace]], and [[SelfInflictedHell she could have left anytime she asked]]. In essence, Chloe wanted the boys punished because she hated them and thought that it was ''obvious'' that [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence they were making her uncomfortable just by being around]]. Even in the confrontation that started it all… Ash and Goh’s [[FelonyMisdemeanor crimes]] included filming a Pokemon battle, enjoying a meal of curry, and chatting about Pokemon without realizing how much Chloe ''hated'' the subject. Goh also [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech yelled at Chloe about not having a dream]]... ''after'' she nearly destroyed his phone [[DisproportionateRetribution in an effort to get rid of an embarrassing video]]. In turn, Chloe retaliated against Ash and Goh with the aforementioned FoodSlap. The truth was, Professor Cerise had ''every right'' to scold his daughter at that point... it would just take a ''[[ArchivePanic long]]'' time before Chloe was in the right headspace to admit it.

* This trope is a recurring theme in ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' shorts that feature Spike. When said shorts open, Spike is generally doing his own thing, minding his own business, and gets caught up in Tom and Jerry's antics. Even when Spike ''clearly'' sees Jerry causing trouble as well, he ''always'' singles out Tom and places all the blame on him, which Jerry proceeds to [[ExploitedTrope milk for all its worth]] throughout the rest of the cartoon.

* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Ross finds out that students are sneaking into the library stacks for sex (particularly the aisle containing his thesis). The library refuses to do anything about it. He decides to monitor the aisle himself, meets a pretty grad student... and ends up getting caught by the librarian.

** Except… [[AvertedTrope not really]]. Chloe certainly ''thought'' at the time that the boys could get away with murder, while she would be punished for everything she did. However, she came to this conclusion [[UnreliableNarrator through the eyes of a ten-year-old with trust issues]]. In reality, Professor Cerise truly didn't have many ''reasons'' to punish Ash and Goh- they were model employees and helpful to just about everyone. As for Chloe, she believed that she was still being punished for [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown lashing out at her bullies]] and "not being the perfect Pokemon-loving daughter" months after the fact- but the truth is, she was merely [[FauxHorrific spending the afternoons at her dad’s workplace]], and [[SelfInflictedHell she could have left anytime she asked]]. In essence, Chloe wanted the boys punished because she hated them and thought that it was ''obvious'' that [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence they were making her uncomfortable just by being around]]. Even in the confrontation that started it all… Ash and Goh’s [[FelonyMisdemeanor crimes]] included filming a Pokemon battle, enjoying a meal of curry, and chatting about Pokemon without realizing how much Chloe ''hated'' the subject. Goh also [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech yelled at Chloe about not having a dream]]... ''after'' she nearly destroyed his phone [[DisproportionateRetribution in an effort to get rid of an embarrassing video]]. In turn, Chloe retaliated against Ash and Goh with the aforementioned FoodSlap. The truth was, Professor Cerise had ''every right'' to scold his daughter at that point… it would just take a ''[[ArchivePanic long]]'' time before Chloe was in the right headspace to admit it.

* ''Film/{{Deewaar}}'': The mother of the young bread thief Ravi shot in the leg accuses the police force of this, saying only poor people get shot by them, while the ones who are up to their ears in black market affairs go unpunished.
* ''Film/{{Outlaw}}'' playes the trope straight for drama. In the film, the London Metropolitan Police is horrendously ineffective at dealing with professional criminals and hooligans, but when the protagonists form a vigilance committee and start beating up dealers and robbing money launderers a corrupt cop turns them into public enemy #1. [[spoiler: 2/3rds of the remaining protagonists wind up getting gunned down by armed Flying Squad members in the end.]]
* ''Film/TheLongestYard'''s remake had a referee who was on the guard's payroll, and thus wasn't calling blatantly obvious penalties committed by the guards against the cons. Paul Crewe puts an end to that by throwing a high speed bullet pass [[GroinAttack into his crotch]] on two consecutive plays, then "suggests" he calls the game down the middle from now on. The pained ref agrees.

---> '''Colonel Phillips:''' I can’t touch Stark. He’s rich and he’s the Army’s number one weapons contractor. You are neither one.
---> '''Peggy Carter:''' With respect, sir, I don’t regret my actions. And I don’t think Captain Rogers did either.
---> '''Colonel Phillips:''' What makes you think I give a damn about your opinions? I took a chance with you, Agent Carter. And now America’s golden boy and a lot of other good men are dead, cause you had a crush.

* ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' can be strict with spelling during "Final Jeopardy". The general rule is if a misspelling affects the pronunciation, then the answer is ruled incorrect.
* ''Series/MatchGame'' has always been notorious for their judging of matching answers. Synonyms are obviously fine, but if a contestant says an answer that covers a general area and the celebrities give a specific answer using the same word (and vice versa), no points are awarded. This is what led to the infamous "School Riot" episode where "finishing school" and "night school" were disallowed as a matches for "school".

* In the ''Literature/WaysideSchool'' books, Todd always gets in trouble three times over the course of the day and is always sent home early on the kindergarten bus. On multiple occasions, this is due to a selective enforcement plot when the rest of the class gets away with things, but he gets caught for a minor infraction. For example, the whole classroom will be misbehaving with the teacher not paying attention, but the second Todd opens his mouth, [[SevenMinuteLull the entire class is silent]] and he's caught talking in class. Similarly, one scene has Joy bugging him over what page he's on in the math book, and mocking him for being so far behind her. Her mocking gets very, very loud. But when he finally loses his cool, he's the one who gets in trouble. Immediately after he saved the lives of everyone in the class. At least he got a hero’s goodbye. What a {{Jerkass}} Mrs. Jewls and Joy were.

'''The Champ:''' You're just tired. ''[pats Drebin on the cheek]'' You didn't mean it.\\
'''Bobby Briggs:''' ''[to Drebin]'' Aw, forget it.\\
'''The Champ''' ''Forget it?'' '''Nobody''' says "forget it" to me! ''[takes a swing at Briggs]''
* Happens a lot on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' whenever the plot requires it. Andy seems less intent on actually enforcing the law than he is in promoting his own sense of values, and it always seems to work out. Barney, on the other hand, can't seem to tell where to draw the line on anything he's involved in.
* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'': When Drake does something wrong, no one does anything about it. But when Josh tries to do the same, everyone has almost laser precision of what he is doing.

* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}''. You cause a problem in front of a police officer or prefect, you will get taken down. Some NPC causes a problem (even if it's against you) in front of a police officer or prefect, he or she will get taken down just the same.

* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'': The whole situation with Kasumi and the Mugen Tenshin Clan has shades of this. Raidou had raped Kasumi's mother Ayame, stole the Torn Sky Blast, their most sacred technique, and broke Hayate's spine and put him in a coma, and the Mugen Tenshin decided not to bother going after him, whereas Kasumi decided to pursue Raidou herself because no one else would and is immediately branded a traitor and MarkedToDie.

* This happens in ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'', due to the author's bad experiences in school. A specific example is when the local bully Jeremy keeps pushing Millie into the mud and the nearby teacher doesn't lift a finger. But when [[RageBreakingPoint Millie finally has had enough and hits the bully in retaliation]], the teacher is immediately there to drag her to the principal's office.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E2AllsFairInOvenWar All's Fair in Oven War]]", despite witnessing the other contestants sabotaging Marge's entries, Lisa does nothing about it. But when Marge decides to get even by doing the same to them, [[DoubleStandard Lisa calls her out on it and forces her to confess what she did]].

Almost always played as comedy, this trope can range from a single scene to a whole plotline. It is rarely done as drama, despite the dramatic potential. It is a fairly subversive trope, showing a poor fit between action and consequence.

--> '''Colonel Phillips:''' I can’t touch Stark. He’s rich and he’s the Army’s number one weapons contractor. You are neither one.
--> '''Peggy Carter:''' With respect, sir, I don’t regret my actions. And I don’t think Captain Rogers did either.
--> '''Colonel Phillips:''' What makes you think I give a damn about your opinions? I took a chance with you, Agent Carter. And now America’s golden boy and a lot of other good men are dead, cause you had a crush.

** In "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS5E19SmileForTheEd Smile for the Ed]]", none of the staff stop the Cul-de-Sac kids from harassing Eddy in the cafeteria, yet they punish Eddy for allegedly [[FelonyMisdemeanor impersonating the principal]] ([[MisplacedRetribution which Edd did]]).

** In the episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E10ModelMisbehavior Model Misbehavior]]", while voicing his support for Lois' modeling career, Peter states that he'll "[[ADateWithRosiePalms pleasure himself]]" to Lois' photos, to which [[ParentalIncest both Chris and Meg]] say "Me too!" In response, Peter calls out Meg, and ''only'' Meg, for saying such things about her mother, and when Meg says she was just trying to fit in, Peter responds by [[PunchAWall punching a hole in the wall]] and screaming at her to get out of the house.

->''Let me stress right now out front that I was guilty as sin. I was driving in downtown Miami, which in itself shows very poor judgment because most Miami motorists graduated with honors from the Moammar Gadhafi School of Third World-Style Driving (motto: "Death Before Yielding").\\
I probably should never have been there anyway, and it served me right when the two alert police officers fired up their siren, pulled me over, and pointed out that my car's registration had expired. I had not realized this, and as you can imagine I felt like quite the renegade outlaw as one of the officers painstakingly wrote out my ticket, standing well to the side of the road so as to avoid getting hit by the steady stream of passing unlicensed and uninsured motorists driving their stolen cars with their left hands so that their right hands would be free to keep their pit bulls from spilling their cocaine all over their machine guns.\\
Not that I am bitter.''
-->-- '''Creator/DaveBarry''' on parking tickets

** In "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS5E19SmileForTheEd Smile for the Ed]]", none of the school staff stop the Cul-de-Sac kids from harassing Eddy in the cafeteria, but they punish Eddy for allegedly [[FelonyMisdemeanor impersonating the principal]] ([[MisplacedRetribution which Edd did]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': In the episode "Girl Trouble," Helga relentlessly torments Arnold throughout the episode, and eventually Arnold gets sick of it and throws paint on her in retaliation. Mr. Simmons does nothing about Helga's bullying, but punishes Arnold for dumping paint, vocally expressing his disappointment in him.

* One episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse The Loud House]]'' where at the end has the Louds being kicked out from the resort that they were staying in just because the parents were caught SkinnyDipping. This despite the fact that the Loud siblings spent the entire episode wrecking havoc in that resort.

* One episode of [[WesternAnimation/{{TheLoudHouse}}]] where at the end has the Louds being kicked out from the resort that they were staying in just because the parents were caught SkinnyDipping. This despite the fact that the Loud siblings spent the entire episode wrecking havoc in that resort.

* One episode of [[WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse]] where at the end has the Louds being kicked out from the resort that they were staying in just because the parents were caught SkinnyDipping. This despite the fact that the Loud siblings spent the entire episode wrecking havoc in that resort.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''Machinima/HalfLifeButTheAIIsSelfAware'' LawfulStupid security guard Benrey firmly believes Gordon is a thief and murderer on the grounds of him not having his passport with him with no evidence, yet he allows everyone else to get away with the same thing, including himself, who exclusively kills random civilians. Ironically, Benrey accuses Gordon of crimes only when he is not responsible, and completely ignores it when he actually ''has'' committed a crime.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]

** In "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS5E19SmileForTheEd Smile for the Ed]]", none of the school staff stop the Cul-de-Sac kids from harassing Eddy in the cafeteria, but they punish Eddy for allegedly [[FelonyMisdemeanor impersonating the principal]] ([[MisplacedRetribution which Edd actually did]]).

** In "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS5E19SmileForTheEd Smile for the Ed]]", the school staff never stop the Cul-de-Sac kids from harassing Eddy in the cafeteria but punish Eddy when they accuse him of [[FelonyMisdemeanor impersonating the principal]] ([[MisplacedRetribution which Edd did]]).

Almost always played as comedy trope, this trope can range from a single scene to a whole plotline. It is rarely done as drama, despite the dramatic potential. It is a fairly subversive trope, showing a poor fit between actions and consequence.

** In [[SuckySchool South Park Elementary]], refusing to vote will not only get you expelled from school but ''from the entire town'', whereas bullying numerous students [[DrivenToSuicide to suicide]], intentionally infecting another student with [=HIV=], or any other criminal-level offense will simply warrant a small lecturing from the ([[ArtisticLicenseEducation severely incompetent]]) school staff.

** Ed gets [[DisproportionateRetribution severely punished]] for every small thing he does by [[AbusiveParents his parents]] (to the point of ''[[RefugeInAudacity removing the stairs to the basement since he's grounded]]''), while [[SpoiledBrat Sarah]] gets away with ''every'' bad deed she commits. ParentalFavoritism is on full display here.
** In "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS5E19SmileForTheEd Smile for the Ed]]", the [[KidsAreCruel Cul-De-Sac kids]] harass Eddy into a nervous breakdown in the cafeteria, yet the school staff never punish them. When Eddy is accused of [[FelonyMisdemeanor impersonating the principal]] ([[MisplacedRetribution which was actually Edd's wrongdoing]]), however, the school staff end up punishing ''him''.

** In ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow'' shorts and early series episodes, Lisa was just as bratty and dysfunctional as Bart, though Homer tended to only target Bart for discipline. This was excused by the creative team, they were apparently a lot more uneasy when offered gags with Homer strangling Lisa compared to Bart.