Comic Books
"No no, a fine won't do. You'll just go out and loiter again, won't you? No, we've got to look for a more permanent solution. I think I'll sentence you to death, how does that sound?"
— Judge Death, Judge Dredd, Young Death: Boyhood of a Superfiend
Film — Animation
Justice is swift in the Court of Miracles
I am the lawyers and judge all in one
We like to get the trial over with quickly
Because it's the sentence that's really the fun!
I am the lawyers and judge all in one
We like to get the trial over with quickly
Because it's the sentence that's really the fun!
— Clopin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
"Alright! I wanna know who's responsible for wreckin' our town, Sheriff. I want his hood on a platter. I'm gonna put him in jail 'til he rots. No, check that, I'm gonna put him in jail 'til the jail rots on top of him, and them I'm gonna move him to a new jail and let that jail rot..."
— Doc Hudson, Cars
Film — Live-Action
Commissioner Gordon: No lawyer, no witnesses? What sort of due process is this?
Jonathan Crane: More than you gave Harvey's prisoners, Commissioner. Your guilt has been determined. This is merely a sentencing hearing. Now, what will it be? Death or exile?
Jonathan Crane: More than you gave Harvey's prisoners, Commissioner. Your guilt has been determined. This is merely a sentencing hearing. Now, what will it be? Death or exile?
Judge Doom: Does the condemned have anything to say before his sentence is carried out?
Roger: Well, actually I—! [Judge chokes him out, silencing him]
Roger: Well, actually I—! [Judge chokes him out, silencing him]
"I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it; I felt I owed it to them."
—Judge Elihu Smalls, Caddyshack
Literature
There was polite laughter in the courtroom. Bosch noticed that the attorneys — prosecution and defense — dutifully joined in, a couple of them overdoing it. It had been his experience that while in open court a judge could not possibly tell a joke that the lawyers did not laugh at.
— A Darkness More Than Night, by Michael Connelly
"Yes indeed, sir, once the seat of the Hangnail family and most notably of Lord Justice Hangnail, who famously declared that he never took account of any plea of not guilty on the basis that 'criminals always lie' and was, by happy chance, the Worshipful Master of the Benevolent Company of Rope Makers and Braiders. With any luck, we'll not see his like again."
— Willikins, Snuff
Cheery was aware that Commander Vimes didn't like the phrase 'The innocent have nothing to fear', believing the innocent had everything to fear, mostly from the guilty but in the longer term even more from those who say things like 'The innocent have nothing to fear'.
— Snuff
Live-Action TV
"Soldiers, you will press those triggers if this criminal answers with any word other than 'guilty'."
"The sentence is death. Let the trial begin."
— Archon Makbar, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Tribunal"
Magazines
General Clang: Captain Quirk! Boner McGoy! You are here to stand trial for the assassination of Chancellor Gerkin! But be assured that this will be a fair and impartial trial!
Klinkon Judge: We find the Captain and his crew guilty!
Captain Quirk: I thought this was going to be a fair and impartial trial!
General Clang: Did I forget to mention fast? Above all, it will be a fast trial!
Klinkon Judge: We find the Captain and his crew guilty!
Captain Quirk: I thought this was going to be a fair and impartial trial!
General Clang: Did I forget to mention fast? Above all, it will be a fast trial!
— MAD Magazine Special #83, Star Blecch VI: The Uninspired Continuation
Music
Well raise 'im high and string 'im up!
We've gotcha now, you're good as dead!
From the gallows to your grave
It's gonna take your breath away!
Crime they say, does not pay
And you’re the living proof
But not for long, cause you’ll be hung
By your neck
We've gotcha now, you're good as dead!
From the gallows to your grave
It's gonna take your breath away!
Crime they say, does not pay
And you’re the living proof
But not for long, cause you’ll be hung
By your neck
— "Death by Hanging", by Heathen
Old judge Jones never gave a man a break
On his hangin' tree the leaves don't shake
That man in black, what did he say?
A hundred years and one dark day
On his hangin' tree the leaves don't shake
That man in black, what did he say?
A hundred years and one dark day
— "Old Judge Jones", by Les Dudek
"Start the court! Start the court! Convict! Death!"
— The Master of the Court, "Capriccio Farce"
Puppet Shows
Judge H.T. Stone: Guilty!
Stenographer: But, sir, we haven't started the trial yet.
Judge H.T. Stone: Well, do get on with it; I'm way ahead of you!
—Dinosaurs "Charlene's Flat World"
Tabletop Games
Claims of innocence mean nothing; they serve only to prove a foolish lack of caution.
— Judge Traggat, Selected Sayings, Warhammer 40,000
When passing sentence, always err to the side of harshness. Remember: there is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
— Credo Inquisition, Selected Sayings, Warhammer 40,000
Innocence Proves Nothing.
— Inquisitorial Motto, Warhammer 40,000
No one except the gravedigger celebrates when a travelling judge arrives on the scene.
— Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Sigmar's Heirs
Video Games
"Its scale would never neglect the weight of even the smallest sin."
— Flavor text of Judgement Bird, Lobotomy Corporation
The NCR's military doesn't like being in the role of "peace-keeper". Crimes across the Mojave are typically punished by death.
— Loading screen tip, Fallout: New Vegas
Until Isle Delfino is completely free of his vile handiwork, Mario shall not be allowed to leave!
— Judge, Super Mario Sunshine
Webcomics
Mayor: I pronounce the trial over and both of you guilty!
Defense Lawyer: Your honor, the defense requests that we have the trial first.
Defense Lawyer: Your honor, the defense requests that we have the trial first.
— Team Fortress 2: Unhappy Returns
Real Life
"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius."note
— Attributed to Arnaud Amalric, advising a Crusader who was worried about killing orthodox Catholics along with the heretics
"You have been tried by twelve good men and true, not of your peers but as high above you as heaven is of hell, and they have said you are guilty. Time will pass and seasons will come and go. Spring with its wavin' green grass and heaps of sweet-smellin' flowers on every hill and in every dale. Then sultry Summer, with her shimmerin' heat-waves on the baked horizon. And Fall, with her yeller harvest moon and the hills growin' brown and golden under a sinkin' sun. And finally Winter, with its bitin', whinin' wind, and all the land will be mantled with snow. But you won't be here to see any of 'em; not by a damn sight, because it's the order of this court that you be took to the nearest tree and hanged by the neck til you're dead, dead, dead, you olive-colored son of a billy goat."
— Judge Roy Bean, passing sentence upon a cattle rustler
"When you slithered out of your hole that day, and you spewed your venom all over this defenseless 12-year-old girl, you made this court's top 10 hit list. I've had the misfortune of being involved with some of the lowest scum this county has to offer and you've made the top 10.
In a way, the best sentence this court could give would be no sentence at all, because if you left this courtroom I don't think you would be alive 10 minutes.
You are nothing but a weed, a weed among wheat. And when we have a weed, it's my job to eradicate the weed, because if I don't, you will choke the wheat. Therefore, I'm going to take you off the streets for just as long as I possibly can." [starts ticking off long sentence after long sentence for every crime committed against the girl in question] "It means you aren't even eligible for parole until you're 92.
That leaves only one more count, aggravated robbery. You stole this little girl's bra as a souvenir, probably to brag about it to your friends later on. Well, I'm going to give you a souvenir of Trumbull County justice. And that is, you will receive a maximum sentence of 10 to 25 on the aggravated robbery for the stealing of that bra. And I hope that in your last 25 years in prison that you remember that souvenir.
Get this scum out of here."
In a way, the best sentence this court could give would be no sentence at all, because if you left this courtroom I don't think you would be alive 10 minutes.
You are nothing but a weed, a weed among wheat. And when we have a weed, it's my job to eradicate the weed, because if I don't, you will choke the wheat. Therefore, I'm going to take you off the streets for just as long as I possibly can." [starts ticking off long sentence after long sentence for every crime committed against the girl in question] "It means you aren't even eligible for parole until you're 92.
That leaves only one more count, aggravated robbery. You stole this little girl's bra as a souvenir, probably to brag about it to your friends later on. Well, I'm going to give you a souvenir of Trumbull County justice. And that is, you will receive a maximum sentence of 10 to 25 on the aggravated robbery for the stealing of that bra. And I hope that in your last 25 years in prison that you remember that souvenir.
Get this scum out of here."
— Judge Wyatt Mckay, who adored Bean and has one of his quotes on his wall, passing sentence on a man who kidnapped, robbed, beat and repeatedly raped a twelve year old girl
