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'''Hollywood Law''' refers to a fictitious legal situation which in no way resembles the actual legal system in the place portrayed, but rather is played up for dramatic purposes. Since the ins and outs of the legal system in [[Real Life]] are far less dramatic and tense than anything the average viewer would want to sit still for, it's considered one of the many [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]] for Hollywood to prioritize drama over factual accuracy when it comes to shows not directly related to law enforcement. Even in works that focus on the legal system, Hollywood will over-dramatize it to the point of trotting out things that would be disallowed in real life, or misuse a valid aspect of the law without regard to any actual procedural constraints that would prevent it being misused so blatantly.
At the extreme, many a [[Broken Aesop]] occurs when
Unfortunately, the media exerts a pervasive influence in people's perceptions by being the average viewer's most easily-accessible window into the justice system. Some of the most common misrepresentations widely used in dramatic fiction can [[Reality Is Unrealistic|fuel misconceptions in the audience]] if they believe these depictions accurately reflect the justice system in real life, and can influence how they vote in elections or result in [[The CSI Effect]] when they sit on a jury, [[Television Is Trying to Kill Us|with disastrous results]].
Note that it only falls into
'''Common examples:'''
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** Of course, there are many countries (Germany and the Netherlands, for example) where there is no such thing as a "jury" and the judge ''is'' in control all the time.
* Hollywood/TV interrogations: Real interrogations are rarely as exciting, or quick, as portrayed in media. Police are very careful during interrogations not to lead, badger, or abuse a suspect, and risk a good defense attorney having the testimony disallowed as evidence. Particularly in major felony crimes (the focus of most TV crime shows), interrogations can last hours or even days, and are mostly boring question-and-answer sessions designed to wear a suspect down over time. Stereotypical techniques like yelling, insulting, "good cop/bad cop", and other aggressive interrogation techniques are used whenever police think they are useful, and they can get away with them. Those situations just aren't as common as Hollywood would have you believe, largely because serious civil-rights action in mid-to-late 20th century exposed their rampant use of "third degree" police tactics including torture, psychological manipulation, and various other atrocious interrogation-methods—often which were ''excused'' by both police and the federal Supreme Court. Furthermore, while police are allowed to lie to suspects about certain things like the evidence against them, they are definitely not allowed to lie about the legal consequences about a confession (for instance, getting a guy to confess to attempted murder by giving him the 'Shoot the Dead Guy' schpiel down below).
* [[Miranda Rights]]: they must be read to every accused criminal upon arrest, and that if Miranda rights are not read, the charges must be dismissed and the prisoner released...WRONG. Miranda rights have to be read to a suspect before police ask him questions about the crime, if he is in their custody at the time. If the police do not ask any questions, Miranda rights do not apply. Indeed, police rarely give Miranda warnings at the time of the arrest for that very reason. Furthermore, the remedy for failure to advise the accused of Miranda rights, when the officer is required to do so, is to exclude the arrestee's statement and (depending on the jurisdiction) any evidence discovered as a result of that statement from being used against him at trial. It does not invalidate the arrest, so long as the arrest is based upon other evidence. The law also differs widely from one country to another.
* The [[One Phone Call]]: A very common misconception is that you're guaranteed by law one single phone call after you're arrested, to anyone at all, and if you blow it, too bad. The reality is that you are guaranteed '''access to legal counsel'''; beyond that, any outside communication is a privilege that can be given or withheld at the whim of the detaining institution. Nevertheless, most police officers allow you to have as many phone calls as you want, because unless you're talking to your lawyer or doctor anything you say can be recorded as evidence.
* On that topic, [[Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers]]: The perception that a person must be either guilty or a sleazeball for requesting access to legal counsel rather than waive this right, because "it will make me look guilty". If you are arrested by the police on suspicion of having committed a crime, it is ''always'' advised to have your lawyer present, guilty or not.
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** Averted on ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'', when Ben Stone relates the legal theory of the "Shoot the Dead Guy" story to prove his point about a con artist who framed a man for her miscarriage as part of a scam; not knowing how far along a fetus had to be before it reached "personhood" to be considered a legal "victim" of a crime was the basis for charging her with attempted murder of the unborn baby.
** Also averted in an episode of ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]''. A woman confessed to murdering a man stabbing a sleeping man on a bus. Jessica explained that the woman is only guilty of attempted murder (rather than being guilty of nothing at all) because the man was (unknown to the confessor) already dead at the time.
* Missing Persons Reports: Everyone's seen this one in movies and TV, the hero's loved one has been kidnapped, the hero ''knows'' foul play is involved, but the police can't help because a person can't be considered "missing" unless he or she has been missing for at least 24 hours, and because the hero is certain his loved one will be dead by then, he has to take the law into his own hands and do what the police can't. Exciting and dramatic, yes, but only occurs in fiction. The "justification" behind this is that most "missing" people went off on their own and return rather quickly, but there is no law whatsoever that demands this, in fact, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_Control_Act_of_1990#:~:text=Bush%20on%20November%2029%2C%201990.,the%20commission%20of%20a%20crime. Crime Control Act of 1990] specifically mandates that all law enforcement agencies ''immediately'' report a missing child under the age of 18 to the DOJ, while the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_Act_of_2003 Protect Act of 2003] (aka Susanne's Law) amended that to include up to age 21. In the age of cell phones, most law enforcements in general know that a person who cannot be reached usually means action must be taken.
For
▲For '''Hollywood Law''' tropes on this wiki, see: [[You Fail Law Forever]]. See also [[Read the Fine Print]].
{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Manhunter (comics)|Manhunter]]'', Kate Spencer's prosecution of Shadow Thief for the murder of Ron Raymond, aka Firestorm, is ludicrous. It's hard to know where to begin, but consider the fact that Spencer calls a bunch of superheroes to testify without giving their real names. You can't testify at a trial under an alias. Secondly, most of them weren't even legitimate witnesses in the first place: they didn't actually see the crime committed, and she just asked them questions about what a hero Firestorm was, and what a great guy he was. None of that would be relevant at trial except perhaps for his character. The bizarre part is that there were other superheroes who were present at the crime and saw it happen, at least one of whom, Vixen, has a public identity and could have been called as a witness; needless to say, she wasn't.
** There is evidence that trial law in the DCU has been modified to allow superheroes to testify without revealing their identities. The other points absolutely stand, though.
*** That would be the Keane Act and the Ingersoll Amendment, the latter so named for the comic columnist Bob Ingersoll, who analyzed and criticized poor representation of the law in comic books.
* In a recent{{when}} issue of ''[[Daredevil]]'', a judge appointed under Norman Osborn overruled a Not Guilty verdict in a criminal trial and sent the innocent defendants to prison, ignoring 300 years of legal precedent and the US constitution. To be fair, though, the Marvel Universe at the moment seems to be a fascist dictatorship under Osborn, so the law probably changed to allow this (completely illegal and unconstitutional in our world) decision.
** To further highlight the batshit insanity of this: under the US legal system, there is one and only one circumstance under which a judge can declare a criminal defendant to be guilty—that being, if the defendant has waived his right to a jury trial and requested summary judgement. The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution vests the right to convict defendants of criminal trials solely in juries. In a jury trial, the absolute most a judge can do is set the entire trial aside, declare a "mistrial", and have the entire case tried again from scratch with a different jury, and even then he needs strong procedural reasons to do so. Some confusion happens with writers because there are procedural circumstances where judges are allowed to arbitrarily disregard a ''guilty'' verdict from a jury, and declare the defendant to be "Not Guilty"... but that doesn't violate the Sixth Amendment because you need a jury for ''conviction'', not necessarily for acquittal. However, the reverse of this—taking a 'Not Guilty' that a jury has already handed down and flipping it around to 'Guilty' -- is simply not possible under US law, and would earn any judge near-instant impeachment for even trying it.
** Osborn getting that job he had in the first place, long after being exposed and jailed for being a superhuman homicidal maniac, whose standard M.O. was flying around a city throwing bombs and who once planned to murder ''all life on Earth'', is however a pretty straight example.
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* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' #40 had Sonic point out that the party responsible for his transformation into Mecha Sonic, Nack the Weasel, had been missing the entire time and that the overzealous Antonie had utterly forgotten about him. However, Princess Sally, acting as the judge, practically tells Sonic to cram it. He's later forced to drag Nack back to prove his innocence.
* Marvel writers have repeatedly had a character charged with "treason" over acts which have nothing to do with the deliberately narrow definition of treason expressly spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. (For one thing, it must involve a foreign enemy. It does not mean "acting against a government agency" or "insubordination".)
* A ''[[Punisher]]'' story made hash of the [[Insanity Defense]] by having a judge
== [[Film]] ==
* Two words: ''[[Con Air]]''.
** First, there's very little chance Cameron Poe would have been charged, to say anything of being convicted, for defending his wife from being assaulted by a gang of drunks.
** Second, no judge in the U.S. has ever used a person's military training against them in cases like this.
*** Not military training per se, but the status of a professional boxer etc. would certainly be taken into account in an assault-trial.
**** True, but given that we're talking about a man defending his pregnant wife from being sexually assaulted
*** There's a Blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot that shows the dead guy's buddies grab his knife when they run. There would then be no witnesses to the fact that Poe was being threatened with deadly force and coupled with his implied past ("You were almost that guy again.") it could look like he purposefully escalated the fight.
**** There would be witnesses (the people in the bar) as to the prior altercation and threats made by the victims, which would support his case. Also, Poe's wife cannot be forced to testify against him but ''can'' testify on his behalf.
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* Played for laughs in both ''Reckless Kelly'' and ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' in which celebrities are legally exempt from any laws.
* In ''[[Revenge of the Nerds]],'' the antagonists commit various crimes against the "Nerds," but are told by police that it's "out of their jurisdiction;" since it's "college pranks--" even regarding outright crimes, including assault, battery, terrorism, and Malicious Destruction of Property; in response, the Nerds commit other crimes against the jocks in "revenge--" including one "Nerd," Lewis, raping a cheerleader by posing as her boyfriend (a serious felony). In reality, state laws do not recognize college campuses as sovereign boundaries or "no-man's lands;" however here, even felonies were entirely subject to judgement by Hollywood Law.
** Universities are often granted limited allodial title which in its fullest interpretation means having a sovereign claim, like churches and Indian reservations(as the tribe which holds it was an independent power beforehand). However allodial title in the US tends to be limited and might be better described as another kind of feudal title. That is such titles are tax exempt and may have some degree of legal autonomy but certainly do not imply that the holder is an independant prince. For more information see [[The Other Wiki]].
** The ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' sketch comes down ''hard'' on the nerds for what they did.
*** That was another case of Hollywood Law, since it ignored the defense of selective prosecution (i.e. the law cannot be applied selectively, to punish those whom it will not protect from the same offenses). The campus police had already told the Nerds outright, that fraternity pranks were "out of their jurisdiction" (which is correct, if it's considered a "social contract" among college students that they accept by enrolling there); and everything the Nerds did in their "revenge," pretty much qualified as fraternity-pranks (since they ''were'' acting as members of a fraternity, being honorary tri-Lambs). Likewise, the rape-victim, Betty Childs, didn't ''want'' to file charges, falling [[Rape Is Love|hopelessly in love]] with Lewis (he was [["It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It"|just that good]] at the science of sex, as he evidenced earlier in the film). Meanwhile, the jocks got away with destroying the Nerds' house, and the police ''still'' didn't care—a case of [[Truth in Television]], since football players have been known to get away with ''murder.'' (Now, if Booger had ''actually'' "blown the fuckers up" and still gotten away with it, then THAT would have been an interesting case indeed.)
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* ''Fracture'': A defendant is on trial for attempted murder for shooting his wife, but he's orchestrated a crafty [[Xanatos Roulette]] to dispose of the murder weapon. After he's acquitted, he gets a judge to sign off on terminating her life support. Then the DA unravels his [[Xanatos Roulette]] and finds the murder weapon and claims that Double Jeopardy does not cover him against new charges of murder since his wife has died. Double Jeopardy covers all related charges stemming from the facts surrounding any criminal count: i.e., if he's not guilty of attempted murder, he's not guilty of murder either. DAs cannot resubmit charges against an acquitted defendant under different legal statutes; the only exceptions would be in the case of trying a defendant under a separate sovereign jurisdiction, or the accused was never in jeopardy (read: tampering with witnesses/judge/jury/etc has been proven).
** Except that by turning off life support, the defendant was engaged in a separate set of actions resulting in murder that were separate from the original shooting. The defendant was never in jeporady for murder because the act of committing the murder didn't occur until after the original trial.
* ''[[Ocean's Eleven]]'' ([[Adaptation Displacement|the remake]]). There is a fictitious Nevada Gaming Commission law in the film stipulating that casinos in the state are required to hold a minimum amount of cash on the premises, in the event that a high-roller strikes the grand jackpot. Not surprisingly, the title characters [[The Caper|hatch a plan]] to exploit this.
* A minor case of this in the movie ''[[Wall Street]]''. While several actions noted as bad would count as immoral, the fact that the movie takes place a couple years before it was filmed means that several of the actions shown were not actually illegal during the film's timeframe, despite Bud Fox's fears of losing his license or worse. In fact, Gordon Gekko most likely didn't break the law at all. Bud Fox definitely broke the law by disclosing confidential information from his client (Gekko) to a competitor (Wildman) and using that information to cost his client millions.
* The film ''[[Changing Lanes]]'' is made of this trope. Everything from leaving the scene of the accident to turning off credit accounts without cause by themselves would get a real lawyer disbarred.
** At the scene where two firm partners started colluding with Gavin to forge a signature on a document, any real lawyer will declare "[[Artistic License Law|You Fail Law Forever]]" and walk out, not just because they're breaking four different [http://www.law.cornell.edu/ethics/aba/current/ABA_CODE.HTM ethical rules], the senior partners are trying to cover for the mistakes of a junior associate... by breaking the rules themselves! Seriously, anybody who pens a movie about lawyers behaving badly could at least [[Did Not Do the Research|try to read the actual rules first.]]
* In ''[[Judge Dredd (film)|Judge Dredd]]'', Dredd is convicted for murder because bullets from a Lawgiver pistol are tagged with the DNA of the Judge who fired them, and forensic examination revealed the tag to match up with Dredd ( {{spoiler|And were actually from his twin brother Rico}}). Judge Hersey, the defense, objects to the evidence on the grounds that she had not been informed of the existence of this evidence, much less been allowed to examine it, before it was presented at the court-martial. The court ( {{spoiler|In the person of the [[Corrupt Cop]] who arranged for the murder in the first place}}) ignores her entirely valid objection.
** [[Justified Trope]] in this instance. The ''Judge Dredd'' world is a Crapsack, totalitarian state where individual police officers can hand out any punishment up to and including the death penalty right on the spot. The fact that Dredd got a trial at all is the exception, rather than the rule.
* In the
* In the remake of ''[[Miracle on 34th Street]]'', when the villains move to have Kris Kringle forcibly committed, the entire commitment hearing hangs on Kringle's attorney proving that his client is not mentally ill at all. While that may have been the case when the original film was made, a Supreme Court ruling made in 1975 states clearly that whether or not Kringle was simply mentally ill would be irrelevant to such a proceeding. The question would be whether or not he was a danger to himself or others. If he wasn't, he could believe he was Superman or Captain Nemo and it wouldn't matter. They couldn't commit him without his consent.
* [http://www.cracked.com/article_18815_the-5-most-wildly-illegal-court-rulings-in-movie-history.html Cracked.com's article] "The Five Most Wildly Illegal Court Rulings in Movie History" points out different instances of this trope.
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''Alex Cross's Trial'' by James Patterson. The book is about a white attorney, Ben Corbett, coming to his hometown of Eudora, Mississippi and investigating lynchings and the Klan at the command of President Teddy Roosevelt, putting the book's date range between September 14, 1901 and March 4, 1909. The book fairly drips with examples of this trope. Here are a few:
** In a town dominated by the Klan (which had been officially disbanded since around 1877 and which didn't exist in its modern form until 1915, but that's [[You Fail History Forever|another issue]]) and in which the sheriff is a sincere member of the Klan, two "White Raiders" who have come to lynch an old black man and his granddaughter die—one by falling off the roof and the other by being stabbed in the back by the granddaughter. The granddaughter is not only not convicted of murder or manslaughter—she never even gets
*** If the court is confident that the defendant will appear in court later on their own recognizance then the defendant does not have to be physically taken into custody. That's called "bail", which can potentially be set at zero dollars if the court so chooses. Furthermore, if the man in question was an immediate danger to the life of her elderly grandfather she could stab him in the anywhere and it still wouldn't be manslaughter. And finally, this is pre-1910, Wild West rules would still apply.
*** Also, if the sheriff really is a Klansman, if he puts her in his jail then he's responsible for her safety and has to account for any harm she suffers in his care. Maybe he was leaving her out in the open in the hopes somebody else would finish the job?
** Ben Corbett's father is appointed judge in the trial of the three surviving Raiders (yes, they were arrested by the sheriff who's a Klansman and who believes in what they're doing). This makes no sense, as Judge Corbett seems pretty low on the judicial hierarchy. Corbett tries traffic cases. And small claims cases between neighbors. This is a case of attempted murder. Newsflash, Patterson: Corbett is a judge of a small-town CIVIL court, not the judge of a county or state
** The sheriff tells another cop to read the surviving Raiders their rights. The concept of the Miranda rights didn't come into existence until the Supreme Court decision in the case of [[wikipedia:Miranda v. Arizona|Miranda v. Arizona (1966)]]. It's somewhere between 1901 and 1909. Miranda rights don't EXIST yet.
*** Heck, Ernesto Miranda himself wouldn't even be born until the '40's!
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** The "precedent" cited is the conviction of Dreyfus, which is unfortunately not fictional.
== [[Live
* ''[[All in The Family]]'': One episode contained probably Hollywood's worst misunderstanding of Miranda rights ever. And considering how badly Hollywood usually understands that subject, that's saying a lot. In that episode, Archie is mugged and reports the crime to the police. The police catch the perpetrator and read him his Miranda rights in perfect English after the arrest. However, they have to release him because the mugger didn't understand a word of English. As stated in "Common Examples" above, that's
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' is set in a space-operatic setting which may have a different legal system than ours, but Baltar's trial is nonsensical enough to qualify anyway, if only for the mistrial motion that is totally ignored.
** Though numerous characters (Baltar first amongst them) contest that this isn't a trial but a show for the surviving humans to give them someone to blame for their woes. The beliefs are not unfounded either. When one of his defense team (Lee Adama) is called to the stand by the lead of the team (Lee himself agreeing with the prosecution this was insane basically) he essentially states that the Colonials have gotten to the point where they have to do whatever works, including ignoring the law, mutiny, coups and more, in their situation. In this instance it only went ahead because it was clear Admiral Adama wanted to hear what was said.
* From the ''[[Boston Legal]]'' page. Please note that David E. Kelley is a former lawyer, and as such, he chucked realism under [[Rule of Funny]].
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*** It might be sustainable under Common Law, and if the defendant was very wealthy.
* Sam Puckett on ''[[iCarly]]'' is arrested for assaulting an ambassador and gets off scot-free and never has to deal with the issue. [[Rule of Funny]] obviously applies.
* ''[[Columbo]]'' utilized the same Hollywood Law trope in every episode—while also being something of a [[Jerkass]]: Columbo would basically disguise his surveillance of a suspect, by pretending to simply question the person as a witness-- ''nonstop'' throughout the episode. In this manner he would thus badger, harass and trick the suspect into revealing evidence that would eventually convict them. This is highly illegal, breaching many various civil and ethical protections against police abuse and harassment; however, even when suspects complain about Columbo's nonstop harassment in order to end it, this proved to no avail, as Columbo would simply claim that it "proves" that the person is guilty, and that "he's touching a nerve." This made Columbo into more of a [[Moral Guardian]] than a policeman, since he was [[Always Right]], and never harasses an innocent person: however in reality, the law is not made to presume that the police are always right, but to protect the citizen's presumption of innocence.
** This fits the mold of most "cop shows," i.e. the police are always right, even when ''torturing'' suspects (e.g. ''[[NYPD Blue]]''). The moral is that it's smart to trade liberty for security, since the villain always uses his rights as a [[The Loophole]] to get away with murder (often literally).
** Columbo also had a bad habit of tampering with evidence. The way he handled evidence, there was no chain of custody and most of what he would try to admit wouldn't be permissible in court because he would just walk around, pick something up, put it in his pocket, and keep it there until he was ready to share it with the murderer.
* An episode of ''[[True Blood]]'' had this, where Sam is arrested because there was a girl with a gaping hole in her chest in his diner's freezer. Sure, this has happened before, which would make him a suspect, but there's no evidence that he actually did anything.
** To quote Videogum, [
* There's an episode of ''[[Supernatural]]'' where Dean, asking questions of a woman whose husband's murder they are investigating, at one point says, 'Mrs. Waters, withholding information from the police is a capital offence.' Sam coughs, and Dean mutters, [[Lampshade Hanging|'...in some parts of the world, I'm sure.']]
* ''[[Frasier]]'' often uses the trope of the [[The Legal Victim]]. In a famous episode, Frasier and Daphne are sued by jilted [[Super Lawyer]] Donny Douglas, for "breach of (marriage) contract" (Daphne's last-minute refusal to marry Donny) and "tortuous interference in a private contract" (via Frasier's meddling). This is a clear case of Hollywood Law, since Daphne had never actually ''entered'' into any contract, although the case could be made that she committed [[wikipedia:Breach Of Promise Of Marriage|Breach of promise of marriage]]
** What Daphne did can be a basis for a lawsuit. This is more a case of incorrect terminology.
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*** It's not that he's told that he has no legal recourse at all, it's that he's told that the police "have their hands full with murders and robberies". So it's not the law itself that's the problem, it's that the police apparently can't be bothered to investigate any crime that isn't incredibly serious. It's also made clear that he ''could'' sue the guy, but Martin tells him that he'd end up losing more money that he payed for the painting that way.
** Yet it does happen in real life- because the fraudster will usually be/have been prosecuted for fraud and the money has either gone (on high living and/or the court case) or 'disappeared'.
*** Hardly. Suspect assets are frozen, and so stolen money can't be used on one's defense; and likewise, a felony theft carries a higher criminal penalty if the money isn't returned. While assets are lost if they can't be recovered, this doesn't simply allow a racketeer to simply flip off the victim, as shown in that episode's obvious instance of [[
* An episode of ''[[Law &
** In an older episode, a guy beats his girlfriend (with her consent) to cause a miscarriage and frame the rich lawyer they intended to sue, taking careful measure to ensure the fetus was under 24 weeks old so they could avoid going to prison. Ben and the others act like there is nothing they can do and have to use all sorts of legal loopholes, never mind the original couple conspired to commit blackmail, perjury, defamation, entrapment, and fraud.
** Too many examples to list, but whenever a judge [[Off on a Technicality|tosses out evidence against the defendant]] early on during a trial to make the case that much harder for the prosecution, though the defendant will always get their just desserts in [[Justice by Other Legal Means|one way]] [[Vigilante Execution|or another]]. However, one prominent example comes to mind:
** "Hubris": a warrant is issued to search the suspect's apartment but the courier hasn't brought it yet. Knowing the suspect will get there before the warrant, Det. Green sticks a toothpick in his lock to keep him from entering. The courier arrives a few seconds later and the police bust in and seize a videotape of the murders. The judge tosses the tape since the police secured the area before they had the warrant (even though they had reason to believe he'd destroy the evidence and were well aware the warrant had been issued). Then the judge allows the defendant to do two things he shouldn't have: call an alibi witness to perjure herself and take the stand to testify on his own behalf. Not only were the tapes admissible to cross-examine both of them but the defendant was clearly guilty of perjury considering he was [[A Fool for a Client|representing himself]] and had personal knowledge he was suborning perjury.
*** In an episode of ''[[Law & Order: Special Victims Unit|SVU]]'', the DA forces detective Benson to arrest a teenage girl on child porn charges (for "sexting" pictures of herself) in an effort to coerce her into testifying against an attacker. When she does so, the DA attempts to drop the charges, but the judge overrules her and sentences the girl to several years in prison. While the end of the episode reveals that the judge was corrupt, this has two problems. First, the arrest was an obvious case of Malicious Prosecution, which is a felony, and was one of the few cases (its a notoriously difficult charge to prove in most jurisdictions) in which it would be an open and shut case. Second, even in juvenile court, the judge has no power to do any of that.<ref>Sadly, this was inspired by several ''real world'' cases which were just as outrageous.</ref>
*** ''SVU'' has far more. Best one is evidence getting tossed because the man was part of a conspiracy with a lawyer and a
*** In "Popular", a nurse cites doctor-patient privilege in refusing to talk to Detective Stabler when she treats a middle-schooler who claims her teacher raped her. Captain Cragen, Stabler's wife and even the victim herself give Stabler grief for bothering to ''do his damn job'' and investigate the rape; even Stabler treats the whole thing like he's breaking procedure because the privilege is so sacrosanct. Doctor-patient privilege does not cover evidence of a crime: when a medical professional comes across evidence of things such as child abuse, they are ''required by law'' to report it to the authorities. A clear-cut admission from their patient would leave them with no wiggle room whatsoever for neglecting their duty in this case.
*** In "Manipulated", the detectives use a facial recognition program to compare a picture taken on the street to the DMV records for driver's licenses. The judge later throws this out, claiming that the technology was too inconclusive and all the subsequent evidence was tainted. A person has no privacy expectation in a picture taken on a public street or their driver's license photo, so comparing them to each other cannot possibly be a violation of the 4th Amendment. Without a violation, the tree isn't "poisoned" and the remaining evidence is acceptable. What's more, the unreliability of the technology bears upon its admissibility at trial, but they don't need the computer match at trial - Once the computer found the picture, the detectives confirmed it by the eyeball test and the suspect's admission. What's more than that, they already knew of the suspect because he was the husband of the victim's boss and they had an easy argument for inevitable discovery (they would have recognized him from the photo given time).
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** Good Samaritan laws are ones which protect people who injure someone while honestly trying to help them (e.g. breaking your ribs performing CPR) from liability. In this case it was a "criminal indifference" law based on the Paparazzi in France standing around taking pictures while Princess Diana was dying after her car crash and doing nothing to help. So the foursome here could have just called police, but they decided to videotape it and make wisecracks at the victim's expense instead as he was being mugged. Still, the parade of negative character witnesses is most unlikely in Real Life, and their lack of assistance might not be enough for the charge, depending on the law. [[Rule of Funny]] and [[Played for Laughs]] reign.
* ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' had many of these, esp in Season 2. When Duncan had to kidnap his daughter? Not a chance in HELL the grandparents could have gotten custody away from the biological father, even if he hadn't been from a gazillionaire family. The trial of Aaron Echolls at the end of season 2 had the defense attorney asking about Veronica's sexual history and confidential medical info, then directly introduce hearsay from an absent 3rd party (directly, as in the lawyer ''himself'' told the jury that the absent person had said X).
** [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]. California evidence law was the first to be codified and differs in several ways from most states, especially when Proposition 8 in 1980 made a lot more fair game. If sexual history is relevant, even just to show bias, it's allowable so long as not to prove consent to a rape. Hearsay from an absent
* For a series that generally gets it right, there's a pretty big one in the finale of ''[[The Wire]]'': {{spoiler|Cedric Daniels}}, now a private attorney, appears before {{spoiler|Rhonda Perlman}}, now a judge, after they have been in a relationship. Needless to say, arguing before a judge with whom you are intimate is highly unethical for both of them. But it's Baltimore.
** No, they get it right - she gives the line "my first case, and I have to recuse myself".
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* ''[[CSI]]:'' "Invisible Evidence": a patrolman stops a car for a broken tail light, arrests the driver on an outstanding warrant and a CSI finds evidence of a murder in the trunk. The judge tosses the evidence because neither the patrolman nor the CSI applied for a warrant to search the trunk. The 4th amendment is exempted whenever a person is being arrested in their car (covering the patrolman) and anytime a car is impounded, the police have to inventory its contents (the CSI).
** Of course as it turned out {{spoiler|when the CSI team reinvestigate the case, searching for evidence that ''will'' be admissible, they discover that the driver was innocent - he was being framed by the garage mechanic, who planted the body in the trunk and smashed the tail light so he would be stopped.}}
* ''[[Shark]]'', being a TV series about a lawyer prosecuting only high-profile cases, undoubtedly had a lot of these, but one I actually looked into was an episode where a man was able to get evidence of his crime taken out of the case because he had copied his lawyer in on the emails. The emails were quite explicit; if what Shark had said were true, then all you'd have to do do get away with, say, hiring a hitman, would be to copy your lawyer in on your plans.
* The fourth season of ''[[Lost]]'' had "Eggtown", in which the flash-forwards followed Kate's murder trial. For every one aspect of law it got right, it got three or four wrong. For a comprehensive list of all the blunders, see its page on Lostpedia.
* ''[[Torchwood: Miracle Day]]'' has the governments of the world (including the US) making major changes to the legal system almost overnight as a response to the [[Death Takes a Holiday|Miracle]]. Some of these laws are clearly unconstitutional, yet no one takes notice and nothing is heard from the Supreme Court. As an example, they {{spoiler|burn people who may be conscious alive}}, which is a violation of the 8th Amendment (i.e. cruel and unusual punishment).
** [[Complete Monster|Oswald Danes]] also gets the rule on double jeopardy wrong. You can't be "tried" more than once for the same crime. No one said you can't be ''executed'' twice. Indeed, death sentences are traditionally of the format "you will take X and hang him by the neck/shoot him/etc. ''until he is dead''" for precisely this reason. Whether it takes the executioner 1 or 100 tries to finally stop the guy's clock, well, you can ''do'' that.
* In an episode of ''[[Little House
* ''[[Arrow]]'': Just about ''everything'' surrounding Moira Queen's trial in season two; the entire sequence seems to have been written by someone who was vaguely aware that criminal trials (and death penalties) ''exist'', but was more than a little fuzzy on all the niggling little details.
* ''[[She-Hulk: Attorney at Law]]''. The first case Jenn is given by her new firm (after being fired from her old one due to a very public fight with Titania) is defending the Emil Blonsky, aka the Abomination, a super-villain who has tried to kill her cousin numerous times. (Blonsky, in fact, specifically asks for her to defend him.) Jenn even points out this is a clear conflict of interest, but has to take it and even sign a conflict waver, if she wants to keep the job.
==
* ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'': the main plot is that Shylock the Jew has obtained the right to a pound of Antonio's flesh if he does not repay his loan. This is upheld in a court of law, despite the fact that in Elizabethan times, and to this day, you cannot make a contract that gives you the right to commit murder.
** Possibly justified in that the trial takes place not in England but in Shakespeare's rendition of Venice, whose primary function is to serve as an exotic setting rather than a factual depiction of the city and its people. Also, Shylock handwaves this, by saying that he has no intention to kill Antonio, merely to take his flesh. If Antonio expires in the course of Shylock's doing so, Shylock argues this he is not liable as both parties entered into the agreement willingly and presumably aware of the possible consequences.
* [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''Trial By Jury'' [[Rule of Funny|deliberately]] lacks even a single character that is not in violation of the law or ethics at some point. Even the ''court usher'' who's only job is to bring drinks to the jury tries to defame the defendant.
==
* In ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'', based on Lilah's word, they were going to cavity search Christian after she indicates him as a terrorist in an airport. They don't seem particularly concerned about the implications of filing a false police report, nor pissing off someone who has demonstrated a willingness to spend lots of money to satiate his own petty whims.
* In ''[[
** Guess they brought back the ol' bill of attainder.
* ''[[Something*Positive]]'' [[Played With|Plays With]] a variant of the Shooting a Corpse example--[[Break the Haughty|Kharisma]] spends months trying to murder Avogadro (with his consent, as part of a bet), only for him to die of natural causes. [[Subverted Trope|She winds up being found guilty of his murder anyway]], since she has left copious evidence from her various attempts and [[Too Dumb to Live|admitted to trying to kill him]]. That being said, even as the comic covers her trial and appeal the fact that she ''is'' guilty of ''multiple'' counts of attempted murder seems rather understated.
▲== Web original ==
* Discussed in [http://www.cracked.com/article_18385_7-bullshit-police-myths-everyone-believes-thanks-to-movies_p1.html 7 Bullshit Police Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)]
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law]]'' breaks just about every legal rule there is, but [[Rule of Funny|it's not exactly meant to be taken seriously by anyone.]]
** This was called attention to at one point, Birdman's passionate use of the insanity defense in the Devlin case actually moves the jury to tears and seems to ensure a win, but Der Spusmacher then tells Birdman that he can't use an insanity defense because it isn't a criminal trial.
* In a ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]'' episode, the titular character (who is ten) is thrown in an adult jail and forced to work on a chain gang after being accused of a crime, before a trial. Even more ridiculous, his friends are arrested and thrown on the chain gang simply for realizing (out loud) that Jimmy wanted them to smuggle him escape tools, despite not acting on this or even having an opportunity to.
* In ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'', the titular characters and Princess Morbucks have both spent time in a jail for adult males despite being little girls.
* ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'': This is most relevant in the end of Season 2, Episode 32, Part 3: "Dexter Detention"
* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'': Porter C. Powell was able to use his money and power to free Henry Masterson. Despite Masterson going on national television, declaring that he would blow up the Solar Power Plant, wiping out the state of Michigan, which would have killed at least several million people.
** Powell also talked Masterson's way out of punishment for his crimes in that episode. Regardless of the validity of his argument about a robot's rights, Masterson lied to the police about a Decepticon attack and nobody said anything about arresting him for that. Masterson remained on Sumdac Enterprises' payroll until Isaac Sumdac returned and fired him.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' has never made any claims to realism, but the episode "Peterotica" deserves special mention. Put briefly, Lois's father Carter Pewterschmitt lends Peter $5.00 (that he kept at the bottom of a jar filled with salt and razor wire) to publish Peter's erotic writings. Peter uses the $5 to make photocopies that he sells and credits Carter as publisher. One reader gets into a car accident when he decides to take his shirt off while driving and listening to a book on tape version. The driver sues Carter and sends his lawyer to his house to seize all of his assets because Carter is liable as publisher.
* In ''[[Batman:
== [[Real Life]] ==
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