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{{trope}}
* Laura Collins in ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]'', a phoenix-like being who appears every hundred years and then burns herself to death, preferring to take any offspring with her. She's prevented from killing her son David, but still presumably goes on to try again every hundred years.
* Happens on at least two occasions in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'': Both the Akritirians in "The Chute" and the unnamed alien from "Persistence of Vision" come off none the worse for their crimes.
** Actually, there are countless examples in ''Voyager'' (and a few other of the later ''Trek'' series) of villains being let off with, at most, a severe telling off or minor setback. One of the most obvious examples is Verin in "Friendship One" who ''murders a popular recurring character in cold blood'' and gets off scot free at the end. Well, okay, he gets deposed (although even that's ambiguous) but he still gets cured of radiation poisoning and lives out a long and happy life.
** The Viidians who stole Neelix's lungs. Janeway catches them, but then lets them go with a warning... ''and with the lungs''.
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**** This, thankfully, doesn't apply to the episodes other villains. The dad of the first {{spoiler|real}} victim is sent to jail for witness tampering, so he's unable to enjoy the money he made off of his sons molestation, and the grandmother of the "second victim", who not only ruined the case by lying about her granddaughter's molestation, but had been keeping her sick to the point where she literally had only a month to live, is charged with fraud and attempted murder.
*** A good (and not rich) SVU example is Darius. He sets up [[The Plan]] to seek revenge on his family and ensure that he gets away with at least one murder. He still fully expects to go to jail, but he knows he won't get nearly as much time as he should. In the end he is found not guilty and walks away scot-free. That said, it was a [[Pyhrric Victory]], as revelations from the trial - namely that {{spoiler|Darius was a product of father/daughter rape}} - left Darius even more emotionally screwed up than before.
* Harmony, the soulless vampire from ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' has killed people, and even betrays Angel in the end. But since she was so predictable about it and useful in an [[Affably Evil]] way, he not only let her go but types up a written letter of recommendation. (She was his secretary.)
** A far worse example from the Buffyverse would be Drusilla. Even after killing slayer Kendra and forcibly turning Darla into a vampire again, she was never staked and is still at large as both series closed.
** Russel Winters in the ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' pilot "City Of..." openly brags about being a [[Karma Houdini]] who can, as he puts it, "do whatever I want". Then Angel asks him "Can you fly?" {{spoiler|Unlike some movie vampires, he can't, especially not in the sunlight.}}
** Andrew Wells is an arguable example. His list of crimes include being a willing member of Warren's Trio in Season 6, being willing to abandon Jonathan in one scheme, denying any responsibility throughout the whole arc, and {{spoiler|''stabbing Jonathan in the back'' in Season 7 in a ritual that could have unleashed a caveman vampire apocalypse if Jonathan hadn't been anemic. He was tricked into doing this though}}. But while he doesn't suffer much direct punishment for it, he is forced to confront what he did by Buffy and feels horrible about it, and he works to redeem himself by helping the crew against The First Evil in whatever way he can.
** Willow - she murdered Warren by skinning him alive, tried to kill Andrew and Jonathan despite them not being involved in Tara's death, as well as casually killing a warlock who sold her magic, then tried to ''destroy the world''. She was being influenced by dark magic at the time, but then, she absorbed it on purpose. Her punishment? A couple months in England learning to better use her world-destroying powers.
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** The protagonists go through considerable trouble to make vampire Willow into one of these. Even after she tries to murder dozens of innocent people succeeding with few, the Scooby gang just let her leave back to her own world, even giving goodbye hugs and advice "try not to kill people". The hand of karma is swift in her case, as she gets staked seconds after her return, but not for the lack of trying.
** Wolfram and Hart is the last example of this from the spin-off series ''Angel''. Despite the horrors they commit, the Armageddon they have planned, the misery and devastation they have sowed, all of the team's efforts are only enough to inconvenience them, leading to a [[Bolivian Army Ending]]. To be clear, this refers to the Senior Partners and the organization as a whole, not individual employees. Almost every single evil employee ended up paying for their actions in one way or another.
* In the ''[[M*A*S*H (TV)|M* A* S* H]]'' series, the exit story of Major Frank Burns is so horrible - for everybody save himself. After acting as the ultimate jerk for five seasons, he got promoted and got his own command - stateside!!!
** Amusingly, the exit story of Major Burns in the book and movie is '''also''' an example of sorts, in the other direction. After Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke pester him into flipping out and trying to kill them, Major Burns gets hauled away in a straitjacket. After that, Colonel Blake calls them in, tells them flat out that he knows what they did, but the only disciplinary action he's going to give them is not making Trapper chief surgeon for another week because it would look bad. Mostly because he can't afford to lose more people who actually know what they're doing, granted...
*** One of the protagonists (either Hawkeye or Duke, depending on the version of the event) asks if he can go home if he has sex with Hot Lips and punches out Trapper.
* ''[[Foyles War|Foyle's War]]'' is one of the ultimate sources of this trope; set during the [[Second World War]], many of the murderers and criminals Foyle exposes are also somehow essential to the British war effort, and thus manage to wriggle out of punishment entirely and literally get away with murder. In some cases, the British government actually actively helps them escape justice. {{spoiler|This actually prompts Foyle to quit at the end of the fifth season, frustrated that too many people escape justice and use the war as an excuse.}}
** Neatly played with in one episode - the murderer, a prominent American businessman, manages to escape punishment because he is an essential figure in a movement to eventually bring the United States into the [[Second World War]]. Before he leaves for America, Foyle comes to see him off. The businessman gloatingly triumphs over Foyle, but is quickly cut down to size when Foyle informs him that he's only postponing justice, not escaping it; he's free because of the war, but the war will end one day, and when it does he'll still be a proven murderer - and Foyle will bring him to justice then.
*** And the last episode of the series, does indeed end with Foyle boarding a ship headed for post-war America.
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** Scott Templeton. Despite the fact that he fabricated quotes and information about the supposed serial killer roaming around Baltimore in season five, and even though almost everyone involved knows he's lying (McNulty asks how the lie will benefit Templeton in the end, and it's implied the Baltimore Sun brass know what he did but are intentionally looking the other way), he not only gets away with it but receives a prestigious award for his work.
** ''[[The Wire]]'' seems to be 50/50 with its Karma victims. While the above is probably the best example for the series, there are numerous other complete ''bastards'' (criminal or otherwise) who get away scot free. Life goes on, presumably is the message.
* Unsurprisingly, [[Satan|Sheriff Buck]] of ''[[American Gothic]]'' is a [[Karma Houdini]] for the entire run of the series. Among the most notable things he gets away with are: killing Merlyn Temple ''in the very first episode'' and blackmailing his failed [[Bastard Understudy]] Ben Healy to keep quiet about it; imprisoning, torturing, and eventually causing the death by neglect of an out-of-town reporter (complete with {{spoiler|removing from his belongings the evidence that might convict Buck of various crimes}}, [[Good Is Impotent|all while Dr. Matt and Gail look on helplessly]]); tormenting Dr. Matt about his alcoholism, nearly getting him expelled at the hospital due to his tragic past, and eventually {{spoiler|[[Unwitting Pawn|setting him up to look like an insane vigilante so he could be locked up in a mental ward]]}}; manipulating Gage Temple into {{spoiler|killing Gail's parents (from which he escapes only by [[Broken Pedestal|revealing to her how awful her parents really were]]}}); and summoning the spirit of the Boston Strangler to kill Merlyn ([[Idiot Ball|only to have him go after Gail as well]]). He even seems to win at the end of the series. This would be enough to constitute a [[Downer Ending]] and a reason to wash your hands of the show, if not for the suitably vague ending, [[The End - Oror Is It?|which implies the victory might not be all it seems]], and how deliciously this [[Magnificent Bastard]] pulls most of this off.
* HBO's ''[[Oz]]'', being tilted toward the cynical side of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], had several unrepentant criminals escape any kind of justice for their evil deeds. Notably, Jason Cramer got his murder rap overturned (he'd decapitated his lover and mailed the guy's body via FedEx) and waltzed out of the prison scott-free.
** Conversely, genuinely repentant Miguel Alvarez runs afoul of the vindictive head of the parole board who tells him to his face that he will ''never'' be paroled though they will continue to go through the motions every year.
* Sylar on ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. His continued survival defeats the entire purpose of the first season arc, there are newer and better villains on the show such as Adam Monroe, and the only person who seems to think that his presence continues to be necessary is [[Creator's Pet|creator Tim Kring]]. Fans in general are sick of him and his continued survival. {{spoiler|In the third season premiere he obtained Claire's power ''without killing her'' - admittedly when Sylar got her power in the alternate timeline of season one's "Five Years Gone" we never saw her dead<ref> and it's [[Scream (Filmfilm)|not the last time this would happen]] to someone played by [[Hayden Panettiere]]</ref>, but it still kind of makes the whole "save the cheerleader, save the world" thing [[Shaggy Dog Story|a little pointless]].}}
** Also, he {{spoiler|had some ability (Empathic Mimicry) used on him that forced him to feel all the pain he's caused other people. Which is a lot. Sure, he's not dead, but he's definitely suffered for his crimes.}}
*** Doesn't count. He doesn't suffer permanent consequences, and is right back to being, well, Sylar.
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** In ''Let's Kill Hitler'' we meet a group dedicated to punishing these. They travel to the end of a war criminal's established timeline and torture them to death. Ironically, they become [[Karma Houdini|Karma Houdinis]] themselves.
** A few episodes have had the classic horror-movie "that creature is no threat to us!" character who immediately gets eaten or whatever, but often the Doctor saves the contrarians along with everyone else. The 2007 Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned" subverts it with a plot where nearly every likable character dies, but rude, unhelpful, selfish coward Rickston Slade not only survives the disaster, but turns out to have financially benefited from it. One character even comments on this to the Doctor, saying it's not fair, but you can't choose who lives and who dies.
* Denise in the ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]''' miniseries ''Children of Earth''. The politician who {{spoiler|suggested that the elite protect their own and select the lowest achieving schools}} gets to be in charge at the end.
** Though by taking over, Denise is denying this status to Prime Minister Green (the guy who {{spoiler|willing and quickly agreed to sell out ten percent of the world's children, ordered his loyalist employee to hand over his own children for the sake of the cover up - leading to said employee's familicide/suicide - and attempted to blame everything on the Americans}}). So, it's a glass half-empty sort of situation.
** The people in the episode "Meat" who were harvesting the meat of a live alien. They cut off slabs of the alien's meat while the alien was still alive just so that they could profit from it. Their punishment? They had their memories erased and were allowed to return to their normal lives. As Jack remarks, what else could they do?
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** What's the difference?
* Benjamin Linus on ''[[Lost]]''. His body count from "The Man Behind the Curtain" ALONE was at least a couple dozen, shot Locke and left him for dead in the same pit that the aforementioned dead bodies were unceremoniously dumped, and recently {{spoiler|actually KILLED Locke (but he comes back to life)}}. His punishment has been the occasional beating, but he's always been forgiven (somehow).
** Beatings in ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' are the equivalent of a slap of the wrist, considering that many of the characters have died horrible, horrible deaths, some of which include being buried alive, blown up while holding sticks of dynamite, shot down with flaming arrows, presumably eaten by a mysterious smoky monster, being blown up in a massive tanker explosion, getting accidentally shot while being pretty, and getting blown up. For some reason, explosions tend to happen a lot on that island.
*** I think it's a mistake to discount the sheer amount and viciousness of the beatings Benjamin Linus received. One might argue that this is a perfect example of karmic retribution - the bad guy never escapes un-blooded by his victims. And from Season 4 onwards, he's faced much worse than beatings as a result of his villainy. {{spoiler|His acknowledgment of these misfortunes as the just consequence of his evil deeds is part of his final [[Heel Face Turn]] and ultimate redemption.}} Notably, in The End, he is the one character who waits outside the church {{spoiler|because he knows he has not yet earned his happy ending.}}
** Principal Reynolds in Lost episode, "Dr. Linus" lets his school fall into disrepair, carries on an inappropriate relationship with the school nurse, and threatens to ruin Alex's future. He's not punished for any of this.
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* ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' had an episode starring Joan Jett as an immortal named Felicia Martin on the run from a brutal hunter named Devereaux...it later turns out she's a remorseless murderer who, centuries earlier, killed Devereaux's wife and baby son. How does this end? She beheads the guy trying to avenge his family, reveals that to get someone's trust and murder their loved ones to throw them off their game is her MO and fights hero Duncan MacLeod. He wins...and spares her life at his idiot sidekick's request. She lives and we never hear from her again, despite immortals portrayed far more sympathetically losing their heads when they murder just one person as opposed to the hundreds Felicia has presumably slaughtered.
** Other example: the immortal Kenneth, who appears 9 years old. His MO is getting people to take him in and beheading them when their guard is down. If anyone gets in his way, he murders them, human or no. After betraying just about everyone and attempting to kill the heroes...he gets threatened by his teacher/foster mother and waltzes out of town, no punishment. Granted, losing her hurts him, but still.
* The cops on ''[[Homicide: Life On the Street|Homicide: Life on the Street]]'' often had to watch murderers they brought in escape punishment. In the finale, another Karma Houdini goes free, and it's the last straw for Tim Bayliss, who {{spoiler|resigns his commission and kills the criminal}}.
* On ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]'', Hilary Briss escapes to the Caribbean with no punishment whatever for [[Take Our Word for It|whatever it was he was doing]], although {{spoiler|the [[Big Damn Movie]] of vague canonicity eventually averts this with [[Redemption Equals Death]])}}. Similarly, we have {{spoiler|Papa Lazarou}}, who never pays in the slightest for any of the [[Nightmare Fuel|horrifying]] stuff {{spoiler|he}} did.
* Alpha from ''[[Dollhouse]]''. He murdered a ton of people, rendered Ballard brain-dead and in the end Echo just lets him walk out? She should have just killed him then and there. That's the last we ever see of him. (Granted they may have been planning to resolve the Alpha plotline at a later time but couldn't because the show got canceled).
** Echo couldn't bring herself to kill him knowing that he had Ballard inside him. He does show up again in "Epitaph Two: Return", having undergone a [[Heel Face Turn]], but doesn't receive any comeuppance.
* The third ''[[Black AdderBlackadder]]''. Unlike the first, second, and fourth incarnations of him, he rarely gets the punishment the world's biggest Jerkass should. He often takes advantage of his boss and the Prince of Wales, George, to escape karma at the last minute, even going so far as {{spoiler|assuming his identity in the season finale.}} The modern and distant future Blackadders take after the third.
** Whilst not exactly a villain, nothing at all happens to Colonel 'Insanity' Melchett in ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' after all the other major characters (including [[Smug Snake]] Captain Darling) {{spoiler|die in another attempted push}}.
* In the second season of ''[[Burn Notice]]'',an entire episode revolves around trying to extradite a criminal bastard in exile back to Haiti so he can answer for his crimes. He looted the nation's treasury and fled into hiding. Halfway through the episode, we learn that {{spoiler|his dead father}}, also a criminal and a thief, is nowhere near as dead as suspected, but also escaped into hiding. While the target is apprehended and shipped off to Haiti, his equally guilty partner stays in hiding in the states and it, apparently, never occurs to the heroes to ship HIM back for judgment as well.
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* ''[[Yes Minister]]'':
{{quote| '''Hacker:''' In private industry, if you screw things up, you get the boot; in the civil service, if you screw things up, ''I'' get the boot.}}
* Mandy the assassin on ''[[Twenty Four|24]]''. In her very first appearance, she ''blows up an airliner full of civilians'', then follows it up by attempting to kill President Palmer (and almost succeeding) at the end of the second season. Then there's the video game, where Tony Almeida watches as she slashes the Governor of California's throat and walks off. She then goes on to execute a CTU field agent (and blow up an innocent couple in their car) in the fourth season before being subdued by Jack Bauer. Better yet, the government knows about all of her past crimes...so, what do they do? Give her full immunity for revealing Marwan's location. She gets to walk away scot-free. By the end of the series, she is the only recurring antagonist to remain at large.
** There's also Jonathan, the assassin from season one. He's last seen fleeing the scene after Jack wrecks the initial attempt to kill Senator Palmer, and never mentioned again.
** How about Miles Papazian in season 5? Not only did he impede Jack and Chloe several times, but he eventually {{spoiler|switched sides to work for Charles Logan and helped him destroy evidence proving him responsible behind David Palmer's death that Jack had spent several episodes struggling to get, meaning he'd done it all for nothing}}. Miles then gets transferred to a nice new government job and the worst he gets is a slap in the face from his disgusted now-ex partner Karen Hayes.
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* In ''[[The Monkees]]'' episode "The Picture Frame", the boys get off the hook for the robbery they were [[Film Felons]] for, but the real crooks aren't shown getting in trouble for it in the end.
* The [[Big Bad]] for the last quarter of season four of ''[[Chuck]]'', {{spoiler|Vivian Volkoff}}, is this. {{spoiler|She's told she can meet with her father if she helps with a mission, but in the end Beckman doesn't hold up her end of the bargain. Most people would be pissed. Most people would also agree that taking over her [[Evil, Inc.|father's company]], hiring someone to blow up Castle, manipulating the team into retrieving a deadly weapon for her and then leaving them to die is a slight overreaction. After being told Chuck's parents were responsible for her father becoming Volkoff, she tries to kill Sarah to hurt Chuck. She hands over the cure in the end, but only after Chuck gives her a blank identity so that she can start a new life, meaning she not only suffers no retribution from Team Bartowski, but is guaranteed not to have to deal with any consequences from anyone else, either.}}
* Happens to several major villains from ''[[The Shadow Line (TV)|The Shadow Line]]''. {{spoiler|Gatehouse, Patterson, Jay Wratten, Ratallack and Lia Honey}} not only all remain at large at the end of the series, they're all in better positions than when they started and {{spoiler|are ready to start over with a new incarnation of Counterpoint}}.
* While they're not villains at all (or even intentionally antagonistic), the kids from [[Outnumbered]] will generally get away with causing general mischief and chaos every episode. One of the bigger offenders is when Karen almost ruins a wedding.
* [[Leverage]]: [[Smug Snake|Sterling.]] [[Word of God|Never.]] [[Karma Houdini|Loses.]]
* ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'':
** Vulcan ambassador T'Pel {{spoiler|who was really a Romulan spy called Sub-Commander Selok}} in "Data's Day".
* [[Lex Luthor]] in ''[[Smallville]]''. It looked like Karma had finally caught up with him in Season 8, when [[Green Arrow]] blew him up, but as of the [[Grand Finale]], he's been resurrected, regained all his old holdings, and is set to become [[President Evil]] at some point in the future.
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{{quote| '''Darcy: '''"Doesn't matter what happens, he ''always'' survives."}}
* Averted on ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' 99% of the time; the main unsub of the episode has gotten away with it a grand total of ''once''. Occasionally played straight with minor characters only tangentially related to the crime, however, a good example being the [[General Ripper]] responsible for the unsub's [[Start of Darkness]] in "Dorado Falls."
* The Argentine [[Los Exitosos Pells (TV)|Los Exitosos Pells]] had a magnanimous writer: [[Happy Ending]] for all. For all the good guys, of course, but also for all the bad guys. The evil assistant who wanted to rule the TV channel got a TV channel for her own, the journalist who wanted to replace the news presenter of the channel is in charge of the new channel news program... and even the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] that was jailed. Last episode, the bad guy has been revealed as such, captured and held behind bars... [[The End - Oror Is It?|the end?]] No! He was freed some months afterwards because of a legal technicism, and began a [[President Evil|political career]].
* [[Complete Monster|Adelai "I Torture People to Death For Laughs" Niska]] in ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' manages to escape from ''Serenity's'' vengeful crew in "War Stories", a fact they lampshade with Inara telling Mal, "I just wish you'd killed that old bastard." Of course, it's entirely possible that [[Joss Whedon]] intended for Niska to get his comeuppance later, but the show was [[Screwed Byby the Network|Raped to Death By the Network]] before that could happen.
* In the [[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman TV series]], this happens a lot. If someone is participating in a crime and seems to not really want to do it, or better yet does anything to thwart the rest of the criminals, they will never be punished at the end for the crimes they committed. Also some villains escaped: Mariposa in ''Screaming Javelins'', Count Cagliostro in ''Diana's Disappearing Act,'' and... [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Gault's brain]] in ''Gault's Brain''
* This trope is most definitely in play when it comes to the wife, Debra, on [[Everybody Loves Raymond]]. While it's true that her mother-in-law Marie was smug towards her, there really was no justification for her to treat her husband Ray the way she did, subjecting him to physical and verbal abuse on many occasions in the mid-to-later seasons of the show. On one occasion, she's annoyed at him and shoves him at full force into a bunch of bookshelves, so hard that the books actually fall off the shelves. On another occasion, she's irritated at him for making a joke about her food, so [[Disproportionate Retribution|she pours piping hot marinara sauce--right off the stove, mind you--onto Ray's crotch.]] But perhaps the worse was the episode where we learn that Debra actually encourages Ray's own kids to make fun of him behind his back and see him as less of an authority figure. Throughout all this, ''Ray'' always ends up being the one to be humiliated in every episode, and keeps coming back to Debra, who maintains a rather smug attitude, bragging about her supposed superiority to Ray on many occasions. [[Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male|Mind you, if the roles had been reversed, and Ray treated Debra the way she treats him, it clearly would not fly.]]
* Several visitors to [[GilligansGilligan's Island]] who know all about the Castaways do nothing to help them get rescued, including the Mosquitoes, Wrong-Way Feldman and Harold Hecuba. Hecuba even steals their idea for a musical Hamlet. None of these people suffer the slightest retribution for their callous treatment of the seven castaways.
* Regina from ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon A Time]]'' definitely fits the trope. Doesn't matter what Emma or anyone else does, she comes out on top. Recent revelations suggest she was preemptively hit by [[Laser-Guided Karma]], but at this point her karmic ledger is definitely in the red.
* Brittany on Glee. She cheats on Artie with Santana for months in season 2, yet Artie is the one portrayed as a villain after confronting her and calling her 'stupid'. In season 3, she releases flashy campaign posters for Kurt's school president race against his wishes, and then runs herself (and wins!) after he balks. This could be because she's Too Dumb To Live, though.
* Though she commits not one [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|arson, murder, or jaywalking]], ''[[ER]]'''s Jen Greene, the controlling harpy of a wife of protagonist Dr. Mark Greene, certainly qualifies. From close to the beginning she makes it clear that it's her way or the highway in the Greene household, threatening to leave Mark and take their daughter when he stands up to her for a little of what ''he'' wants. ''Then'' it comes out she's boinking her filthy rich law partner, following which ''she'' sues ''Mark'' for divorce, marries said filthy rich law partner, and proceeds to live a more comfortable life than Mark could in his wildest dreams. And as the final twist of the knife, {{spoiler|it's heavily implied that after Mark's death she gets custody of the aforementioned daughter, whom she had neglected so badly said daughter turned to drugs}}.
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