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"Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:get out of jail free.jpg|link=Monopoly (game)|frame]]
[[Heel Face Turn|Heel-face turners]] and [[Anti-Hero|Anti Heroes]] are often fascinating characters. They can add a level of grey, be someone who understands villain motivations, or provide a [[The Atoner|good source of angst]]. In a series with [[Cardboard Prison]] tendencies, it's a lot more of an effective way of ending a threat.
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A subtrope of [[Saved by the Awesome]]. Contrast [[Karma Houdini]], where ''no'' such explanation is given.
This is the opposite of the "
The [[Trope Namer]], of course, is from ''[[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]'', the most commercially successful American board game [[Kanye West|of all time]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has the Time Space Administration Bureau justifiably arrest Fate Testarossa for her actions during the "Jewel Seed incident." However, seeing as Fate was a minor, acted on the orders of an abusive and insane parent, never personally committed a major crime, and had [[Heel Face Turn|expressed remorse and a sincere desire to repent]], sympathetic officers were more than willing to represent her at her trial and she was able to get off with only community service (i.e. working for the Administration). Which she was more than willing to do. One of these officers later adopted her. Her familiar Arf received similar treatment.
** In the [[Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo|sequel]] ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's]]'', the [[Anti-Villain|Wolkenritter]] get much the same treatment, as they were not responsible for the actions they were forced to undertake as slaves to an [[Artifact of Doom]]. They did get a much stiffer and longer sentence than Fate, though, because of their lengthy, unpleasant history with the Bureau, and their sheer power. It helped that they were now beholden to a moral little girl who was eager to join the Bureau. Oddly, in the third series their master Hayate would be blamed for the trouble caused by the "Book of Darkness," despite having been unwittingly and indirectly involved at most. Then again, the one doing the blaming was an unsympathetic [[General Ripper]], who may or may not have simply disliked the fact that a "criminal" like Hayate was running a Mobile Unit and nosing around in his (illegal) affairs.
*** It also helped that actually revealing the facts of the Book of Darkness incident would have revealed corruption and maverick behavior at the highest levels of the TSAB, so the whole thing got brushed under the rug.
*** This escalating pattern of crime and consequence continues with the end of the third season, though it is no less tempered with mercy and love than the other occasions. Many of the younger Numbers Cyborgs who recognize their crimes and agree to seek rehabilitation are sent to a special ocean facility rather than prison, with Sein, Otto and Deed joining the Saint Church and Cinque, Nove, Dieci and Wendi joining the TSAB and being adopted by the Nakajima family. Agito gets a similar deal as Signum's new Unison Device, and only went to the rehabilitation facility to be with Lutecia.
** Then again, the TSAB seems understaffed (see A's
** ''ViVid'' shows us one instance of a character who apparently refused the card; Lutecia is confined to what is probably the [[Luxury Prison Suite|most luxurious]] [[Penal Colony]] in fiction, a bright and beautiful vacation world with no limits on communications, visitors, or delivered items. The only apparent restriction to her activities is that she's not allowed to leave the planet. Then again, Lutecia's circumstances were very similar to Fate's in the first season, having committed almost all of her crimes in the name of saving her mother and being told by a trusted adult that it was okay to do what she was doing.
* Ken, the ex-[[Digimon Adventure 02|Digimon Kaiser/Emperor]], falls under several of these. First, he was one of the [[The Chosen One|Chosen Children]]. Second, he had a [[Morality Pet]], Wormmon. Third, he was [[Brainwashed|affected by a Dark Seed]]. Last, and most importantly, he became [[The Atoner]] afterwards, seeking absolution from the main characters and the world itself before he could become part of the [[True Companions]]. It does take a while for the rest to forgive him, though; particularly Iori, who distrusts him, and is wary of his ability to change for a long time... [[The Scrappy|and takes much fandom hate for that]].
** And also the fact that he never realized (at least in the dub) {{spoiler|that the beings in the Digital World were real sapient creatures instead of just computer programs, he didn't know that he had actually been inflicting true harm instead of just playing a game}}.
*** {{spoiler|Who wouldn't be convicted of mass theft at the very least if their video game crimes were suddenly revealed to be real.}}
* In ''[[Spiral]]'', Ayumu gains control of the tape with Rio confessing to murder, but Eyes threatens to tell the police about their criminal connections to [[
* In the anime ''[[Trinity Blood]]'', Leon Garcia (a convicted murderer) is let out of prison on a quite superficial [[Hand Wave]], whereupon he joins the hero team.
** In the Manga and Novels, it's elaborated on, in that his sentence is ridiculously high, and he IS still in prison...but they let him out to carry out missions for him, and if he succeeds (read as live, the missions ''are'' pretty dangerous), his sentence is reduced. When he's not doing stuff for them, he sits around in prison doing very little.
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== Comic Books ==
* Subverted in ''[[
* Averted in the first run of [[Marvel Comics]] ''[[New Warriors]]''. After Vance Astrovik, AKA Marvel Boy, is convicted of {{spoiler|negligent homicide}}, he [[Self-Restraint|refuses to go along]] when his teammates try to break him out.
{{quote|'''Vance''': I {{spoiler|killed my father}}. Whether I meant it or not -- and I didn't -- I'm still responsible for the act. You can quibble about the law all you want, but [[Lawful Good|I believe in the system, so I'm going to abide by it]].}}
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** Well, not hundreds. The ones he did kill were the ones torturing an FBI agent, mercenaries protecting a war criminal and assassin, and the ones on the glacier who were there to kill him. The ones at the end of the film qualify, but one gets the impression the government was quite willing to look the other way as he cleaned up some of their own garbage.
*** They were authority figures who supported illegal and highly murderous ends in a supposed attempt to make a better world, so it is nicely ironic that they become fair game themselves. That's why Swagger says what he says before shooting the congressmen. If the lawmen himself becomes the vigilante...
* In the ''[[Star Trek]]'' film series, the crew commit numerous crimes to help resurrect Spock such as forcibly stealing the decommissioned USS Enterprise, sabotaging the USS Excelsior, later destroying the Enterprise. To that, the whole idea of ''[[Star Trek IV: The
* ''[[Clear and Present Danger]]'': When Jack Ryan learns about Operation Reciprocity, an illegal war being fought in Columbia, he confronts Ritter with incriminating evidence. Ritter produces an "autographed get out of jail free card" in the form of written authorization from the President of the United States.
** The book makes it much more plausible (and Ritter less of an evil bastard): he's covered from prosecution because his operation was deemed necessary by the President to eliminate a "clear and present danger to national security" (hence the book's title). However, he discovers that covering his ass in this way has also locked him into a predetermined course of action; if he reveals the operation in an attempt to save the soldiers that have been abandoned, then he's guilty of treason at worst, subverting national security at best. He realizes the trap after the fact and is not happy about it.
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* In ''[[The Three Musketeers (novel)|The Three Musketeers]]'', Cardinal Richelieu gives one of these to Milady de Winter: "It is on my orders and for the good of France that the bearer of this letter has done what they have done." When the titular Musketeers kill Milady de Winter, they use that letter against Richelieu himself to keep from being punished for it.
== Live
* Anyone who tried to punish ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' of her past warlord crimes were such fanatical [[Inspector Javert]]s that their technically ''true'' accusations were eclipsed.
** Or she saved everyone who wanted to punish her and they let her off.
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* Subverted in the comic strip ''[[Broom-Hilda]]'', when Broom-Hilda was put on trial for her latest crime spree and found guilty. The complete idiot Irwin Troll, acting as Broom-Hilda's lawyer, tries to get her off by handing the judge a Get Out of Jail Free card. The trope is subverted when Irwin's ploy fails. Actually, the subversion is subverted, because this is just a dumb comic strip where [[Negative Continuity|no action has any real consequences]] ... so, in the next day's strip, Broom-Hilda is out of jail anyway.
== Tabletop Games ==
* The trope namer is ''[[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]'', which features two actual "Get Out Of Jail Free" cards. Oddly enough, this trope namer ends up ''subverting'' the trope - ''Monopoly'' jail is a [[Cardboard Prison]] that only requires you to roll doubles, pay $50, or use said card to get out. Furthermore, since people in jail can [[Luxury Prison Suite|still collect rent and trade properties without fear of paying rent to others]], staying in jail as long as possible is a good late-game strategy. In fact, players are required to ''leave jail'' after three turns whether they want to or not. (A common [[House Rules|
** Parodied by [http://www.getoutofhellfree.com/ Get Out Of Hell Free] cards.
== Video Games ==
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* ''[[Darkseed]]'' has a very literal one, given to you by the local attorney. {{spoiler|Its use is required to complete the game, as you need to put some items in the real world jail to access them in the Dark World jail, but can't waste a night in the cell without rendering the game [[Unwinnable by Design]].}}
==
* Averted in ''[http://www.itswalky.com It's Walky!]'': at least two characters who could [[Cardboard Prison|break out of any jail ever made]] with ease willingly submit to imprisonment for their anti-social actions.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', Slick is gifted by Monique a "Get out of ''Hell'' free card" just before the Devil decides to take him. It actually gets him out of Hell, despite him having sold his soul to the prince of lies somewhere like 2,600 strips earlier.
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== Real Life ==
* This is an explicit power held by all Heads of State/Government. In the past, Kings and Emperors who held absolute powers (as opposed to the defanged constitutional monarchs of today) had as many "get out of jail free cards" as they wanted. Sort of [[Diplomatic Impunity]] in your own country, how's them apples?
** In America, it is common for outgoing presidents to issue a hurricane of pardons to protect their various friends from whatever nefarious deeds they committed during the president's term. [[Richard Nixon]] himself received a pardon from President Ford to protect him from prosecution for his nefarious deeds while in office. JFK also committed some bad actions in his presidency, but wasn't punished for it because by the time these were exposed... he'd already been
** Likewise [[The Scapegoat|I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby]] was aided by President George W. Bush for what almost amounted to treason (outing an undercover CIA agent while she was still in service, although she wasn't in enemy territory at the time<ref>though, if you're one of her contacts who ''is'' in enemy territory... sucks to be you</ref>). Officially, he was convicted of two counts of perjury, one count of making false statement, and one count of obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame incident, and had his sentence commuted by the President. The other prime players in the incident were protected by various government agencies (particularly by the office of the Vice President and the Department of Justice) and never received indictments.
*** As it turns out, Libby actually wasn't guilty. According to Robert Novak, the reporter who originally did the Valerie Plame story, his primary source for Valerie Plame's identity was Richard Blumenthal. Since the federal grand jury investigation knew this the entire time (Novak disclosed the fact in his initial testimony, which was then sealed for the next two and a half years) President Bush would already have known this at the time he commuted Libby's sentence. Of course, its still wrong to not answer truthfully when questioned by a federal prosecutor even if you're not guilty of the crime you're being accused of, which is how Libby ended up convicted in the first place.
*** Also, the law isn't about CIA agents in 'enemy territory', but instead about agents in NOC status ('Non-Official Cover')... which Plame was not at the time she was 'outed', even though she previously had been. Plain English translation: If the fact that you are a CIA employee is already in the public record (which in Plame's case it was), then it's not a crime to tell anybody about it.
** Quite a few people think that many government officials from both the Clinton and the GW. Bush administrations got this card.
** Several staffers involved in the Iran-Contra affair got this treatment by George H.W. Bush upon his ascent to office, although they committed the crimes under Reagan. (Reagan was implicated and then cleared, so either he wasn't in the mood for pardoning the people who almost screwed him over or he didn't want to look suspicious for being lenient, depending on how much he actually knew about the proceedings, which is still unclear.)
* Charles Manson once no-showed at a parole hearing but sent the actual Monopoly game card to the parole board, instead. They didn't let him out of jail though. Of course since he ''is'' Charles Manson, he knows that the parole board will never ever let him out anyway so he amuses himself by acting like a jackass.
* If (in California at least) you are in jail and, included with your mail, you get a note saying something like 'game piece not permitted inside facility,' someone has tried to send you a "Get Out
* Apparently common in Ancient Greece. In the dialogue ''Crito'', the title character points out that not only can he pay off the guard and let Socrates leave but that if he fails to do so people will consider him dishonorable for not rescuing his friend.
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[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Redemption Tropes]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Get Out of Jail Free Card}}
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