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{{trope}}
{{quote|''[[Sarcasm Mode|"Thanks. Now I'll really have the advantage."]]''
|'''Mal,''' ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]''}}
A cousin to [[Cardboard Prison]]. It happens where an antagonist is caught by police/soldiers/the good guys, but is destined to escape. The antagonist will then have handcuffs applied but, to facilitate their later escape, will inexplicably be handcuffed so their hands are in ''front'' of them. Obviously, their hands are much more useful when they manage to grab a gun or simply run for it.
Often, the handcuffs will be pressed into service as an [[Improvised Weapon]], usually either a club (with rigid cuffs) or a garotte (with chained cuffs) -- never mind that this would probably hurt the attacker more than the victim, any bruising can be [[Cuffs Off, Rub Wrists|quickly massaged away]].
The sad thing is that police procedure in some countries requires ''all'' people that have handcuffs applied to be cuffed in the back, with the only exceptions being people who physically are unable to do so. Which means that any TV police officer that cuffs someone in the front is violating procedure. Note that this does not necessarily apply outside of
People escaping while bound is covered by [[With My Hands Tied]], which is connected to this.
Contrast [[Bound and Gagged]], when the cuffs are not going off so easily. Can lead to [[Cuffs Off, Rub Wrists]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': The entire Gurren Brigade got once handcuffed with good ol' wooden boards, but that didn't deter Simon from digging with his Core Drill until recovering his Lagann.
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Pierrot le Fou". While Tongpu is being taken along a passageway by two guards his hands are cuffed in front to him. He takes advantage of this to eliminate the guards and escape.
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[The Punisher]]'' was captured by a minor gang leader named Machete, who insisted on killing a cuffed Castle in a machete duel. Castle rejects the machete, and kills the guy with his bare hands.
** In ''The Cell'' he was cuffed this way when he was being led to his cell. As soon as a guard taunted him about how the most dangerous inmate was going to kill him Frank elbowed his face, grabbed the other guard's baton and bludgeoned the inmate to death. [[Badass Boast|Then he told them to send the second most dangerous inmate after him.]]
== Film ==
* In the movie ''[[Predator]]'', the captured rebel Anna had her hands tied in front of her and took advantage of it to escape. Somewhat justified because the team was traveling through steep, rough terrain and she needed her hands in front of her to hold onto things and avoid falling.
* Happens in the movie ''[[
** This is one relatively rare case where it's justified; Wolverine has retractable claws on the back of his hand that are sharp enough to cut through metal. The cuffs were designed to keep his hands where everyone can see them and he can't cut the cuffs off himself. they're also specially designed to point his hands in such a way that ''if'' he were to pop his claws all he would do is stab himself in the chest and neck.
* In ''[[Dick Tracy (
* In ''[[The Bourne Ultimatum]]'', Bourne hands another Treadstone agent a flexicuff, then demands that he cuff himself in the front, presumably because he'd rather keep his eyes on his hands.
** Also because it's notoriously difficult to cuff yourself with a flexicuff in the back, and Bourne certainly wasn't going to approach the agent to cuff him.
* ''[[
* Happens in ''[[Pitch Black]]'', where Riddick is blindfolded and handcuffed around a post with his hands behind him. Sensing that the post is not secure at the top, he dislocates both shoulders to get his hands up and over and escape.
* Averted in ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'': Chigurh's hands ''were'' cuffed from behind, and he has to switch them to the front when the cop is on the phone.
* In ''[[
* One [[Abbott and Costello]] sketch involves one of them getting handcuffed with his hands in front when he points out that he can still swing his hands around. He then asks his captor to show where the cuffs need to go; the captor puts his hands behind his back, gets cuffed, and the good guy escapes.
* In the ''[[Street Fighter (
* In the ''[[True Grit]]'' remake, two outlaws having their hands restrained in this way allowed one to kill the other with a knife before he could talk.
* ''[[
* A spectacularly silly example in ''[[Salt]]'', as {{spoiler|Salt had previously just beaten the piss out of several cops and Secret Service agents with her bare hands. Not that it matters. When they cuff her hands behind her back at the end, she still manages to kill Winters}}.
== Literature ==
* ''[[Discworld]]'': Happens with Vimes in ''[[
{{quote|
:: He also points out that it pays to be cooperative and stick your arms out for the jailer because when that way you're more likely to have your arms cuffed in front of you, and you have quite a bit of freedom that way.
* ''What's the Worst That Could Happen?'': John Dortmunder convinces the police to cuff him in front, even though the cop knows better, just by his "hounddog" look. Naturally, {{spoiler|he manages to escape because of this}}.
* In the [[Continental Op]] short story "$106,000 Blood Money" by [[Dashiell Hammett]], a crook with his hands handcuffed in front of him is able to grab a cop's gun from its holster and shoot one of his accomplices. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] as it was written in the 1920s before handcuffing procedures were standardised.
* In Desmond Bagley's ''The Tightrope Men'', enemies trying to interrogate Giles Denison made this mistake. Denison only played along until he realized they ''didn't'' have a hostage for his good behavior; then he attacked and used the link connecting the cuffs to choke the interrogator.
* At one point in ''[[Matthew Reilly|Ice Station]]'', Shane Schofield has his hands cuffed behind
* ''[[The Shadow]]'': In at least one of the pulp novels, the police arrest a stage magician and cuff him with his hands in front. And yes, they know the guy's a professional stage magician. He doesn't stay cuffed for very long.
* In ''All Tomorrow's Parties'' by [[William Gibson]], mystical assassin Konrad is bought in wearing handcuffs. It is implied that the rush to bring him in is the end for his
▲== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Monk]]'', "Mr. Monk Gets Jury Duty". When the SFPD hands off a "most wanted" fugitive to the feds, they considerately cuff him with his hands in front of him, making his escape attempt easier to accomplish.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]''
** "Quality of Mercy". The crack security staff cuffed him with his hands in front of him, while escorting him to be executed and he therefore had nothing to lose. He ended up holding an old woman at gunpoint.
** In her final episode, Lyta is cuffed in front. As the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Touched
* ''[[Walker, Texas Ranger]]'': Happened in at least one episode. The bad guy doesn't escape, but this allows him to have a big throw-down with Walker.
* ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'':
** Sort of inverted where Mal is taking point and being relatively cooperative with the Designated Antagonist Alliance types, but they've still got him cuffed from behind. He asks to be released, so they..."compromise", by cuffing him in front. Being Malcolm Reynolds, he later turns this to his advantage.
** In "Ariel", Jayne is cuffed behind his back, but works around it through judicious application of [[Combat Pragmatist|knees, elbows, shoulders and forehead]].
* In an episode of ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'', they handcuff an [[Affably Evil]] [[Manipulative Bastard]] in the front.
* ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'':
** Played very straight. A former military suspect asks to be cuffed in front out of respect for his family. {{spoiler|He grabs a gun off one of the officers and kills himself. This immediately after attempting to kill himself and being stopped ''by the officers who arrested him''.}} One wonders why they thought that was a good idea.
** The police handcuff a deaf man with his hands in front since handcuffing him with his hands behind his back would be akin to gagging him.
*
* In ''[[The Flash (TV 1990)||The Flash]]'', the Trickster was handcuffed with his hands in front of him. While sitting in the middle of a police car with 3 officers, he grabbed a gun fron one officer and shot all 3 dead. Oh and Trickster is also an escape artist so he was out of the handcuffs seconds later.
* ''[[The Pretender]]'': "Once in a Blue Moon" has an instance of handy-cuffs-as-improvised-weapon. The prisoner starts the scene with his hands properly cuffed behind him, but talks his way into getting them re-cuffed in front. (Jarod is too smart to fall for that usually, but in this case {{spoiler|letting the prisoner get away is part of the plan}}.)
== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[The Joker]]'' of all people was handcuffed with his hands in front of him while being transferred between prisons. He picked the handcuff lock with an ordinary straight nail and then later used the handcuffs as brass knuckles against police.
== Theatre ==
* In ''[[The Bat]]'', this mistake is performed twice on the same person. The second case, in which the character manages to seize a gun with his cuffed hands, is [[Egregious]] because {{spoiler|the cuffs were put on by the ''real'' detective}}.
== Video Games ==
* In the first ''[[Police Quest]]'' game: while handcuffing a drunk driver, he'll say he's not feeling good and that he wants to be handcuffed from the front. If you do it that way, he'll hit you over the head at a later time, ending the game.
* ''[[
* Cody from ''[[
* [[Justified]] in the [[Interactive Fiction]] game ''[[The Weapon (
== Web Comics ==
* ''Tainted'': A variation with plain ropes happened in [http://tainted.comicgenesis.com/d/20071102.html this] strip.
* Vaela in ''[[
== Western Animation ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]
[[Category:Hand Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Handy Cuffs]]
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