Hanging Judge/Playing With

Basic Trope: A judge, who may be corrupt, is well-known for handing down severe sentences for even minor infractions.

Straight: Judge Grave has a reputation for ordering disproportionately severe sentences on questionably guilty people.
Exaggerated: Judge Grave will order the death sentence for those convicted of jaywalking... and also has a 100% conviction rate.
Justified: Judge Grave was appointed specifically to bring about order to a lawless town by terrifying would-be criminals.
Inverted: Judge Grave is known for giving very lenient sentences, and even letting guilty men walk free.
Subverted: Bob has been accused of a crime, and is terrified when he hears that the judge presiding over his case has a reputation for convicting everyone. However, when Bob appears in court, Judge Grave gives him a fair trial, with a sensible sentence if Bob is found guilty.
Double Subverted: Until it is revealed that Judge Graves fixed the trial, and that the fair-sounding sentence turns out to be carried out in an especially cruel way.
Parodied: "All rise for the Honorable Judge Hang'em!" "Guilty!... I mean, please be seated."
Deconstructed: Judge Grave was inspired to become a judge when the murderer of his parents got off with a slap-on-the-wrist. As time goes on, Judge Grave sees each accused criminal who appears before him as worse than the last, convicting and executing more and more of them. Eventually, evidence is presented that he ordered the execution of an innocent man, leaving the man's children as orphans, and Judge Grave is horrified that he has become the murderer he sought to extinguish.
Reconstructed: Yet even despite the horrors he has committed, Judge Grave has single-handedly struck fear into the hearts of criminals and significantly reduced the crime rate in his jurisdiction.
Zig Zagged: Judge Graves begins his career handing out lenient sentences, before becoming jaded and beginning to hand out stricter and stricter sentences, until he realizes what he's become and begins giving criminals the benefit of the doubt, until he finds out a man he set free went on a crime rampage and starts punishing severely again...
Averted: Judge Graves is a fair judge who treats all accused persons with respect, and, if they are found guilty, gives them an appropriate sentence.
Enforced: "We'll have to make the judge terrifying so Bob's trial will be more dramatic."
Lampshaded: "Off with his head!"
Invoked: "With my luck, I'll draw the nastiest judge in the state..."
Defied: Bob tries to bribe someone to prevent Judge Graves from being drawn, or fabricates a conflict of interest in order to avoid him. If caught, he may wind up with Judge Graves just because he upset the wrong person.
Discussed: "Did you know Judge Graves has sent more people to the electric chair than any other judge in the state?"
Conversed: "Judge Graves is like the evil judge straight out of an old western."

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