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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Now, here are some results from our phone-in poll: 95% of the people believe Homer Simpson is guilty. Of course, this is just a television poll which is not legally binding, unless Proposition 304 passes. And we all pray it will."''|'''Kent Brockman''', ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]
Usually when a person's guilt can't be proven (or has not yet been proven or disproven) in a court of law, it is assumed that he or she is innocent. But in the court of public opinion it tends to be the exact opposite. The public (or even the authorities) are convinced you're guilty; they just don't have enough hard evidence to prove your guilt. Now this doesn't necessarily means the person in question IS guilty mind you, It just means he/she has already been tried and
Whenever someone is placed in the dock accused of "Crimes Against Humanity", you can be pretty sure this trope is in full effect.
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Usually combined with [[Reformed but Rejected]]. See also [[Never Live It Down]].
{{noreallife|Please practice [[Death of the Author]] and separate the works from the creators of those works.}}
{{examples}}
* Some ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfics where Sirius Black is acquitted have the Wizarding World still believing he's guilty. One in particular has Sirius Black unable to gain custody of Harry until he found an old law stating orphans of wizarding parents cannot be raised by muggles for as long as a magical guardian remains available. The Minister was quite unhappy with this development but, having to uphold the law, couldn't prevent it.▼
▲== [[Fanfic]] ==
▲* Some ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfics where Sirius Black is acquitted have the Wizarding World believing he's guilty. One in particular has Sirius Black unable to gain custody of Harry until he found an old law stating orphans of wizarding parents cannot be raised by muggles for as long as a magical guardian remains available. The Minister was quite unhappy with this development but, having to uphold the law, couldn't prevent it.
== [[Film]] ==
* The whole point of ''Absence Of Malice'', in which an innocent man's entire life is ruined because an anonymous tipster's claim he's involved in a current murder case gets published in the newspapers.
* Somewhat [[Lampshaded]] in the film ''[[Stand
* In ''[[Secret Window]]'', when Mort Rainey is eventually revealed to be {{spoiler|the [[Tomato Surprise]], Sheriff Dave Newsome interrupts Mort's nonchalant casual conversation and bluntly says in a matter of fact tone something to the effect of "Both you and I know what you did. We can't find the bodies, But we'll find the bodies and we'll link you to them. And eventually put you away..}} And of course since he's the proverbial {{spoiler|[[Tomato in
* Discussed in ''[[Sin City]]'' where the powerful Roarke family can get enough public approval to not only get away with crimes, but the citizens of Basin will gladly put an innocent man behind bars.
▲== Literature ==
* In the ''[[X Wing Series]]'', when Tycho is tried for the death of {{spoiler|Corran Horn}}, pretty much everyone who didn't know him personally thought he did it. The New Republic trying him had to keep at least some of the public's sentiment in mind, since they had just taken the planet from the Empire, and many of the nonhumans were angry enough at the new government due to the plague that only affected nonhumans. It's stated that there were already grumblings that if Tycho hadn't been human he would already have been tried and convicted.
* [[Harry Potter (
** Also Frank Bryce from the opening chapter of ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (
** Sirius Black is a partial example. While he was convicted (without a trial), his infamous reputation went well beyond the crime for which he was originally convicted. For example, Stan and Ernie of the Knight Bus believed him to be Voldemort's [[The Dragon|right hand]] and an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Psycho Supporter]].
** In the case of Barty Crouch, Jr., it's implied that he was convicted on flimsy evidence because the public was crying for blood. {{spoiler|Subverted when it turns out [[The Untwist|he was guilty after all]].}}
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* Tyrion Lannister of ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' always had a reputation of being a monster, depsite the fact that he is one of the most honorable characters in the series, simply because of his outward appearance (An ugly dwarf, who eventually loses his nose). Every time he's at trial, everyone is ready to execute him unless defending him will somehow help their own agenda. Fortunately, Tyrion is very much aware of this, and has long since figured out how to use it to his advantage. {{spoiler|Eventually, however, it does make him snap.}}
* In Harlan Ellison's short story "Hitler Painted Roses", souls go to Heaven or Hell based on how good people ''think'' they were. In the story, an [[Expy]] for Lizzie Borden, sentenced to hell because everyone ''knows'' she killed her parents, gets a chance to confront her lover, a clean upstanding pillar of the community who went to Heaven despite ''actually'' killing her parents.
* An unusual variant in ''[[
** In ''[[
* Invoked almost work for word by Atticus Finch in ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]''. The public decided long before the trial that Tom Robinson, a black man, was guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, because this was Alabama in the 1930s.
* In the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'' because he's marked as a criminal Michael is an instant suspect when building start being burned down. He has an alibi all three times, but still gets chased by a mob twice before the real criminal is caught.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Talk shows like Jerry Springer or the Maury Povich show. Whenever a guest is accused of doing something wrong to his or her significant other, such as cheating with someone else, the crowd will always boo the suspect, sometimes even after the person is proved innocent. On top of this, if the show shows the couple got back together in a "Where Are They Now?" update segment, the audience will always boo the person that had broken the other's heart, even if the two of them are truly happy now.
* The ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' episode "An Innocent Man" is based on this trope.
* Nick Knight ran into it in an episode of ''[[Forever Knight]]'', both with the suspect he was investigating, and a past incidence where he was hung as a killer, even though he was innocent.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* A fairly early storyline in ''[[Pogo (
== [[Video Games]] ==
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*** To be fair, Gumshoe is shown as a big scatterbrain, so it's most likely he just kept forgetting the outcome of that trial.
* [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]: the Tribunal system in ''[[League of Legends]]'' allows players to vote on a case as to whether or not the accused deserves to be punished. The players assigned to a case can review logs of the ingame chat, a supermajority is needed for actual punishment, and the worst punishments are subject to manual review by Riot Games staff (as are randomly chosen cases that don't warrant particularly strong punishment).
* In the original campaign of ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' uses the term "trial by media". Sometimes used as a threat to force out-of-court settlement. Occasionally backfires, such as allowing another party to wait until everyone's attention is here and then throw into flame sensational materials that contradict the initial push.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Monkey Dust]]'s'' Paedofinder General sketch is a parody of this.
{{quote|
''"By the power invested in me by some bloke I met in a pub, who knew for definite, I find your sort GUILTY of PAEDOPHILIA!"'' }}
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer was accused of sexual harassment. The entire ''country'' decided he was guilty, based on nothing more than hearsay and an extremely biased - and clearly fake - news segment. The episode was meant as a satire of the current state of the media - which, sadly, hasn't improved since the episode first aired (in 1994!). The quote of the top of this page is from that episode.
** Homer himself immediately buys into the report made by the same show that slandered him about how Groundskeeper Willy (who saved Homer by coming forward with a video that happened to prove his innocence) is a perverted stalker and a looming threat to everyone in Springfield.
*** Funnily enough, Homer is [[Right for
* The ''[[Beetlejuice (
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Fame and Reputation Tropes]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]
[[Category:
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