History Main / TradingBarsForStripes

** In the pilot episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' Tom Paris was recruited by Captain Janeway from a New Zealand penal colony for a dangerous mission into the Badlands to help find a Maquis raider. Played with in that to the characters it was ''supposed'' to be a downplayed BoxedCrook situation (help with one specific mission, and you'll get help with your sentence), but then Voyager ended up stuck on the other side of the galaxy, and 'help with one mission' ended up becoming 'pilot and all-around expert for seven years straight'. By the time they got back his sentence had apparently become a non-issue, probably because he'd originally been jailed for involvement in terrorist attacks against the Cardassians, whom the Federation were at war with for much of Voyager's sojourn in the Delta Quadrant.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', it turns out that Principal Skinner, whose backstory had long had him as an Army sergeant in Vietnam, actually stole the real, MIA-and-presumed-dead Sgt. Skinner's identity on returning home. He was really a juvenile delinquent who had snatched a purse and was caught after ([[LiteralMetaphor literally]]) having a run in with a judge, and was offered a choice between the Army, jail, or apologizing to the judge and old lady.

* The ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fanfic "Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty" has a {{Jerkass}} named Kamajirou who shows up early on. He turns up later as part of the trainees for the newly formed Anything Goes Task Force. When asked what he's doing here, he explains he committed crimes, but the judge offered him a commuted sentence if he agreed to join up with the Japanese military.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''/''Literature/CiaphasCain'' crossover [[https://fimfiction.net/story/55377/Blueblood%3A-Hero-of-Equestria "Blueblood: Hero of Equestria"]] many of the 1st Night Guard Regiment were recruited in this manner due to lack of volunteers (what with the whole swearing allegiance to the Princess that used to be Nightmare Moon). Most notably Captain Blitzkrieg of the pegasus company, who is fanatically loyal to Luna for saving him from life in prison.

* The US made use of this trope during the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI First]] and [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Second World War]] and even as late as UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. It was not unusual for judges to [[LeonineContract offer this deal]] to those of [[{{Conscription}} draft age]]. However, this practice was banned by act of Congress at the request of the military after Vietnam, and nowadays it is very difficult to join up with a criminal record, even a juvenile one (you have to obtain a waiver, which is not easy[[note]]Though the waiver sometimes becomes easier to get when the military has difficulty meeting its recruiting goals. This quite controversially happened in the late 2000s as [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror the increasingly-unpopular Iraq War]] made it harder to get people to join the Army. It was ''only'' the Army that lowered recruiting standards. The Marines' [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous elite reputation]] combined with not ''needing'' as many men to fill their smaller ranks had no difficulty meeting their quotas, while the Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard weren't sending very many people to Iraq.[[[[/note]]). This [[http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/joinprison.htm page on About.com]] even cites various official military regulations that bar any such enlistments. As for the "enlist or go to prison" option, in short the US Navy strongly discourages the practice and the other four services (Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard) outright forbid it now.

Not to be confused with the rare but perfectly acceptable practice of American junior officers who wear gold or silver bars resigning their commissions and enlisting.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'': Terran soldiers tend to be "neurally resocialized" convicts. Tychus Findley is a specific example who used to be a thief and an old friend of Raynor's, who was on ice for years before [[spoiler:Emperor Mengsk thawed him out and fitted him with armor that would kill him if removed so he could infiltrate the rebellion and assassinate Kerrigan.]] It should be noted that the convicts don't always get a choice in the matter, as demonstrated in the ''Frontline'' comic which features a resocced political dissident.
** The novel ''Liberty's Crusade'' has a female Marine assigned to be the protagonist's bodyguard. She's eventually revealed to be a former serial killer who flayed her victims alive with a kitchen knife; when she witnesses firsthand what the Zerg do to their victims, the stress starts to unravel her neural resocialization. [[spoiler:She loses it completely when she gets trapped by Zerg and [[TakingYouWithMe goes to town on them with a knife]] until she ends up [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe Half The Woman She Used To Be]].]]

* ''Film/{{Ava}}'': The opening credits show that Ava was an overachieving honor roll student when she was involved in a serious car accident while driving under the influence. She ended up in the Army, it's implied as a result of a plea deal, winding up in Special Forces.

* ''Film/{{Ava}}'': The opening credits show that Ava was an overachieving honor roll student when she was involved in a car accident while under the influence. She ended up in the Army, it's implied as a result of a plea deal, winding up in Special Forces.

* There were several flavors of this in the Red Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* The US made use of this trope during the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI First]] and [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Second World War]] and even as late as UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. It was not unusual for judges to [[LeonineContract offer this deal]] to those of [[{{Conscription}} draft age]]. However, this practice was banned by act of Congress at the request of the military after Vietnam, and nowadays it is very difficult to join up with a criminal record, even a juvenile one (you have to obtain a waiver, which is not easy). This [[http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/joinprison.htm page on About.com]] even cites various official military regulations that bar any such enlistments. As for the "enlist or go to prison" option, in short the US Navy strongly discourages the practice and the other four services (Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard) outright forbid it now.

* ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'', a feature in DC's ''Our Fighting Forces'', was a pretty direct riff on ''The Dirty Dozen'', a WWII special forces unit made up of soldiers convicted of various crimes. In this case, the cons' expertise was usually limited to the stuff they were already good at before they were drafted--Snake Oil, for instance, was a con man who also happened to be fluent in six languages, including German and Japanese.

** Alan in ''Into the Dark'' was recruited from jail, and sexually assaults Alexis while drunk. After fighting him off, she lies to spare him from hanging and he swears off drinking and becomes a model sailor. [[spoiler:He eventually acts as a ReverseMole when a SpacePirate overpowers Alexis's prize crew, saving her life, and is killed in the process of regaining control of the ship. Someone later remarks that the man he was pre-Alexis would have gone over to the pirates for real.]]

** In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', Michael Burnham is dishonorably discharged and given a life sentence for mutiny at the end of the second episode. Captain Gabriel Lorca of USS ''Discovery'' gives her a reprieve in exchange for her help ending the war with the Klingons, which she helped start. Somewhat unusually for the trope, Burnham tells Ash Tyler it's only a temporary reprieve: once the war's over, she goes back to prison.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', the PlayerCharacter is a convict from the Imperial City Prison released on the authority of the Emperor himself to the eponymous backwater province under the condition that you join up with [[SecretPolice the Blades]]. Of course, given the series' WideOpenSandbox nature, there's nothing actually ''forcing'' you to join up once you are released. You are perfectly free to wander off and explore the setting however you want.

* The line "Got a letter in the mail / Go to war or go to jail" appears in military marching cadences every now and then.