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{{trope}}
[[File:sins-of-freck-
A character is subjected to a [[Long List]] of his sins and transgressions, often impossibly long. Alternatively, a character is placed in purgatory or otherwise judged for his crimes, with a convenient long list of crimes at hand, possibly because the [[
May be listed on a [[Wanted Poster]]. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]] is typically invoked, making this a sister trope. And sometimes the Long List is actually a [[Short List]], because [[Rule of Funny]]. In even sillier cases, the accuser [[Oh Wait, This Is My Grocery List|accidentally reads from his grocery list instead, first]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In one ''[[Black Jack]]'' story, Black Jack's school friend, Makube, is a criminal. He gets detained by the ICPO.
{{quote|
Makube: [[I Resemble That Remark|I'll cop to public urination]]. }}
==
* ''[[
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* In ''[[Strangers in Paradise]]'', when Katchoo is arrested for her revenge on Freddie, her list of crimes reads as follows (creator Terry Moore [[Word of God|got the specifics]] from a lawyer who'd read the previous issue):
{{quote|
'''Freddie:''' ...Castrate me! The crazy bitch tried to castrate me!
'''Katchoo:''' Imagine my surprise when I found I didn't have to! }}
* ''[[Lobo]]''{{'}}s list of crimes.
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* In ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures]]'' #23, a space criminal named Bellybomb is sentenced to a toxic prison planet for seventeen life sentences for extortion, armed robbery, hijacking, kidnapping, torture, murder, man-eating, brain poaching, soul thievery...and impersonating a primitive deity named Bob. After the jailers read off these crimes, Bellybomb points out that they didn't mention his unpaid parking tickets.
* In IDW's ''[[Transformers|Megatron: Origins]]'' miniseries, Starscream is brought before the Senate to give testimony about the Decepticon "fight club"...
{{quote|
'''Starscream:''' Heh. Nobody's perfect. }}
* From ''[[Atomic Robo]]'':
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== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'', from which the image/quote is taken:
{{quote|
'''Freck:''' You gonna read me my sins? Eh, it's gonna take a hundred thousand hours.
'''Creature:''' '''''Your sins will be read to you ceaselessly, in shifts... throughout eternity. The list will never end.'''''
'''Creature:''' ''(begins reading) "The Sins of Freck."''
'''Narrator:''' Charles Freck wished he could take back the last half hour of his life.
'''Creature:''' ''"... theft of fingernail clippers..." "... you did knowingly and with malice..." "... punched your baby sister, Evelyn..." "... December, theft of Christmas presents..." "...one billion lies..."''
'''Narrator:''' One thousand years later, they had reached the sixth grade, the year he had discovered masturbation.
'''Creature:''' ''"... November 14, Percodan... Vicodin... Cocaine..."'' }}
* ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'': At each of Tuco's "executions" an official reads off the list of crimes for which he has been convicted. They go on for quite a while.
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* In ''[[Brazil (film)|Brazil]]'', arrested {{spoiler|Sam Lowry}} is presented with a long and painstakingly accurate list of his transgressions, from high treason to overexpenditure of stationery. Since this is harsh dystopia, the scene is anything but funny.
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: Curse of the Black Pearl'' does this before Jack Sparrow is to be executed.
{{quote|
** Note that the man reading them stated at the beginning that only "the most egregious" of his crimes were to be stated. The list still goes on for a ''very'' long time.
* ''[[Year One]]'' has {{spoiler|Cain}} reading a list of charges against Zed ([[Jack Black]]) and Oh ([[Michael Cera]]) when they are {{spoiler|about to be stoned}} in Sodom. [[Played for Laughs]] when one of the charges is "Sodomy", much to the crowd's confusion, until it is revealed that the actual charge is "Refusal of Sodomy".
* ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]''. The charges against Captain Sternn:
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** Coincidentally enough, the viewer soon learns that Sternn also ran a "preschoolers prostitute ring" and "sold dope disguised as a nun".
* Near the end of [[W. C. Fields]]' ''[[The Golf Specialist]]'', we briefly see J. Effingham Bellweather's wanted poster which includes such things as manslaughter and homicide. The next shot is a ten-second pan down a list of his [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|other offenses]]:
{{quote|
Passing as the Prince of Wales,
Eating spaghetti in public,
Using hard words in a speakeasy,
Trumping partner's ace,
Spitting in the Gulf Stream,
Jumping board bill in seventeen lunatic asylums,
Failure to pay installments on a strait-jacket,
Possessing a skunk,
Revealing the facts of life to an Indian. }}
* Subverted in ''[[The Pope Must Die]]'' when the dying Cardinal Rocco asks for absolution for his sins. When asked what they are he replies that since he doesn't have a lot of time, if you can think of it, he's done it.
* An early scene in the 1986 movie ''[[Armed and Dangerous]]'' has one of the protagonists ([[Eugene Levy]]'s character a lawyer under a ''lot'' of stress) defending a gang-banger with a Swastika tattooed on his forehead; the defendant is charged with 3 counts of breaking and entering 5 counts of armed robbery 3 counts of kidnapping, 1 count of extortion, 2 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and 5 counts of assault with intent to kill. After the defendant threatens the lawyer, the judge convinces Levy to enter guilty pleas on all of them (ensuring he'll be in prison too long to consider retribution) in exchange for Levy finding a career with [[Ironic Echo|"less responsibility".]]
==
* ''[[The Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'' by Bede, Book 5, Chapter 13
* [[Santa Claus]].▼
{{quote| ''He's making a list. He's checking it twice. He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice.''}}▼
▲* ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', Book 5, Chapter 13 - an example of this trope being [[Older Than Print]]. Two beautiful youths gave the king was given a small white book containing a list of good deeds performed. Then, evil spirits came and gave a large black book containing a list of transgressions. The evil spirits told the youths why they were here, since he was clearly ours.
* The [[Neil Gaiman]] short story "Other People" from ''Fragile Things'' is centered on the premise of hell being basically this, only instead of simply being read the list, every single sin is brought forth and purged from the individual via [[Cold-Blooded Torture]].
* Dante's ''[[Divine Comedy|Inferno]]'' keeps track of transgressions, with Hell being divided into subsections for specific crimes.
* Two from ''[[Discworld]]'':
** In ''[[
{{quote|
'''Carrot:''' I don't think that one --
'''Vimes:''' ''I'' can't see 'em. }}
{{quote|
* [[The Bible]] mentions in its last book Revelation that there will be a great judgment of the entire human race conducted by God Himself. It states simply that those who have accepted Jesus will enter God's kingdom as their transgressions have been pardoned by Jesus on their behalf, and those who have not accepted Jesus will not receive this pardon and all of their long list of sins will be held against them. ▼
== [[Live
* Happens in ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' in a preliminary to the court case. It makes George Sr. aware, for the first time, just how deep in trouble he is.
* The health inspector reading the list of violations at ''[[Fawlty Towers]]''. About halfway through Basil says "Yes... say no more..." but the inspector just ploughs right on until he reaches "... and two dead pigeons in the water tank."
* From ''[[CSI:
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* ''[[Law
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* One ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch centered on a lawyer representing one of the old cranks that the ''[[Scooby
* In ''[[The Brittas Empire]]'', Gordon Brittas has quite [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist|a long list]] when he turns up in heaven including [[Comedic Sociopathy|115 separate acts of manslaughter]], [[Driven to Suicide|cause of 4 suicides]], and [[Break the Cutie|23 people driven clinically insane]]. They'd been counting up a while before he arrived too, {{spoiler|don't worry, even Heaven recognises the [[Death Equals Redemption]] trope}}.
* This happens in ''[[Stargate SG-
* This is how every episode of ''[[The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret]]'' begins, with a British judge reading legal charges against the titular character, leading into a [[How We Got Here]] plot.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
== Radio ==▼
▲* [[Santa Claus]].
* In the first episode of [[Old Harry's Game|Old Harrys Game]], Thomas demands to know why he's been put in Hell. At first, [[Satan]] can't find the list and thinks he's made a mistake, but he soon finds Thomas's list - and it's pages long.▼
▲{{quote|
▲* [[The Bible]] mentions in its last book Revelation that there will be a great judgment of the entire human race conducted by God Himself. It states simply that those who have accepted Jesus will enter God's kingdom as their transgressions have been pardoned by Jesus on their behalf, and those who have not accepted Jesus will not receive this pardon and all of their long list of sins will be held against them.
▲== [[Radio]] ==
▲* In the first episode of ''[[Old Harry's
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The Dwarves of ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' have a Book of Grudges.
* A priest/lawyer addressing the famous Rogue-Mage Raz in a trial:
{{quote|
* This is what Lord Soth had to put up with during his time as [[The Undead]] on [[Dragonlance|Krynn]]: a
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In the video game ''[[The Feeble Files]]'' (aka ''Floyd''), the game menu will track your progress by providing a list of crimes commited so far. Since the game setting is a dystopian parody, the list grows long quite quickly.
* Guybrush in ''[[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge]]'' has one of these in a [[Wanted Poster]], which keeps growing in size as the game progresses.
==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110817054642/http://fanboys-online.com/index.php?comic=308 This strip]
* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' has this in purgatory, except the list is a menu. The dead must ''eat'' all their sins before they can move on to their final rest. It takes a very long time, because there's only [[The Grim Reaper|one waiter]].
* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' in [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0329.html this strip]:
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* In ''[[Little Dee]]'', Vachel engages in a hip-hop battle with one of his former Furtovian Library colleagues who, in his rap, lists Vachel's on-the-job misdeeds:
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* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]:'' At the trial of Fructose Riboflavin--
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* The ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]'' are required to read the list of charges to the various [[Mary Sue
** [[PPC
* In ''[[Open Blue]]'', the [[The Federation|Axifloan Coalition]] lists various crimes that various Pirate Lords and ladies are wanted for. While some have pretty serious lists throughout, others... [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|not so much]]. Pirate Lady Lucille Prideux's (from v4) list ends with "Theft in general" while Captain Van Wijk's ends with "Blasphemy" (which is pretty light compared to his other crimes). The real cake takers, however, are Captain Garth (v4), with "Unlicensed operation of a menagerie", and Captain Ingrid (v4), with "Insulting Admiral Flota Vladimir Ilyavich Tokarev, '''HERO OF THE TRIBES'''".
* ''[[Rex the D.A.W.G.]]'': [http://endling.deviantart.com/art/Rex-the-D-A-W-G-89045011 Rex's rapsheet] starts out strong. Murder. Torture. Arson. Domestic violence. Brutal assalt. Treason. Smuggling. Piracy. Kidnapping. Espionage. ''Drunken'' espionage. Aggravated Mischief. Cattle forgery. Forgerous brutality. Brutal Drunkenness. Moving violations, kittennapping, littering, chain pulling... you get the idea; The number of silly crimes outstrips the serious ones, and "Drunken {something}" recurs often.
* Before killing his victim, the Confessor from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' recites a list of his victim's sins. He plucks this information from their own minds telepathically.
* Used for
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In an episode of the ''[[Woody Woodpecker|New Woody Woodpecker Show]]'', Woody finds out his nemesis Buzz Buzzard's long list of offenses to the law, which includes "unlawful toenail clipping". But there's more: Upon seeing this, Woody immediately calls the police on the phone and starts listing Buzz's offenses, to which the cop pays no mind whatsoever. Only when he mentions: "But Officer, he parked in a [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|no-parking zone]]!" do the cops decide to flock in on Buzz and arrest him (he was trying to escape in Woody's stalled car).
* The election episode of ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]'' [[Double Subversion|doubly subverts]] it. Ms. Fowl lists off the candidates' transgressions as "Bribery, blackmail, and murder", then corrects herself that the last wasn't actually murder, but operating a zeppelin on school property without a permit.
* Many Western-themed ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' shorts had wanted posters with the outlaw's offenses listed as "bank robbery, cattle rustling, and square-dance calling." Adding to that, another poster listed the Third Crime as square dancing in a roundhouse.
** Bugs Bunny's list (as read by Elmer in the short "Fresh Hare"): Resisting an officer, assault and battery, trespassing, disturbing the peace, miscellaneous misdemeanors, public nuisance, traffic violations, going through a boulevard stop, jaywalking, triple parking, conduct unbecoming to a rabbit, [and] violating traffic regulations"
* ''[[Bounty Hamster]]''. "You stand accused of breaking the Prime Directive, 16,000 speed limits, and a really nice vase!"
** On another occasion a bounty hunter arrests a criminal wanted for "12 robberies, 300 counts of dangerous flying, and dropping an ice cream truck into an active volcano".
* The ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' episode "Bus the Two of Us" is about Bloo taking Mac for a joyride without Frankie's knowledge. Unfortunately, Frankie sees the multiple police cars that followed them home. Over the end credits, she delivers her fury unto him with the following list of all the crimes he comitted in the day:
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* ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'' had "The Final Judgment of Beavis", in which St. Peter reads Beavis a list of his sins.
{{quote|
'''Beavis:''' Oh yeah, heh heh, that was cool.
'''St. Peter:''' No... that sucked. Then, when you were 5, you and your friend Butt-Head passed out chocolate laxatives in your kindergarten class.
'''Beavis:''' Yeah, that was really cool.
'''St. Peter:''' No, Beavis, that also sucked.
'''Beavis:''' What do you know, asswipe?
'''St. Peter:''' I know everything... buttmunch. }}
* In the ''[[Pac-Man]]'' cartoon "Nighty Nightmares", Clyde dreams that he is on trial. Pac-Man, as the judge, reads the charges: "Chomping without a license. Chomping ''with'' a license. Chomping, chomping, chomping!"
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Marge and Homer attend a marriage retreat in the mountains, and Marge recounts all of Homer's faults, everything from not listening to chewing with his mouth open to blowing his nose into a towel.
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* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]''; the Utrom Shredder's crimes, listed by the Utrom judge at the Trial of the Shredder: willingly launching an attack on the planet Enethone, leading to the deaths of over a million innocents; [[War For Fun And Profit| inciting and funding a civil war]] on Eno II in an effort to mine their raw minerals without restriction, leading to the deaths of 3.2 million inhabitants; and on the Utrom homeworld itself, multiple attempts to seize control of the government via illegal and violent coups. [[Fridge Horror]] sets in when you realize that, because the judge gives the names of witnesses who gave testimony, these are likely the "only" crimes they had concrete evidence of (though they alone are enough for them to give him the maximum sentence) and does not mention all the crimes the four Turtles and the viewers know about, such as murdering Casey's father and Splinter's mentor, horribly torturing and mutilating Baxter stockman, and kidnapping civilians for foul experiments that [[Baleful Polymorph| stole their humanity]], crimes that almost seem penny-ante in comparison to what is revealed at the trial.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* When King Charles I was executed, the list of crimes was boringly detailed: "he, ... hath traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament, and the people therein represented, particularly upon or about the 30th day of June..."
** At his trial, Charles I was found guilty of treason, murder, rapine, burning, spoils, desolation, damage... and mischief. This last one is not really an example of [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]] since the common law definition of 'mischief' involves destruction of property. Such definitions lead to the theoretical common law crime of "Malicious mischief and mayhem".
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** ''[[Completely Missing the Point|Inside]]'' their bodies?
* [[The American Revolution|The Declaration of Independence]] is mostly devoted to enumerating the Crimes of King George III. ([http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html The full list is here].) There's a reason people [[Chorus-Only Song|only remember the first paragraph]], which ends: "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:..."
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''24.'' "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."
''27.'' "He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages..." }}
** "...[[The Daily Show|and sometimes pretends he doesn't recognise us at parties]]."
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* The Cluny abbey foundation charter of 910 threatens anyone who messes with the place with having their name taken out of the Book of Life, getting limbs chewed off by vermin, experiencing the torments of hell while still alive (as a torture-buddy of Judas), etc. Also they've got to pay a hundred pounds of gold.
* Some religions (Islam being one) believe that two angels/spirits/what-have-you record all a person's good and bad deeds throughout their lives. When someone dies, the lists get read off to whatever deity does the judging.
* [[Emile Zola]]'s historic denunciation ''[[J'accuse!]]'' charges pretty much everyone from the President of France on down with the antisemitic Dreyfus affair.
{{quote|
I accuse Major Du Paty de Clam as the diabolic workman of the miscarriage of justice, without knowing, I have wanted to believe it, and of then defending his harmful work, for three years, by the guiltiest and most absurd of machinations.
...
I accuse the three handwriting experts, sirs Belhomme, Varinard and Couard, of submitting untrue and fraudulent reports, unless a medical examination declares them to be affected by a disease of sight and judgment.
I accuse the offices of the war of carrying out an abominable press campaign, particularly in the Flash and the Echo of Paris, to mislead the public and cover their fault.
Finally, I accuse the first council of war of violating the law by condemning a defendant with unrevealed evidence, and I accuse the second council of war of covering up this illegality, by order, by committing in his turn the legal crime of knowingly discharging the culprit.
I have only one passion, that of the light, in the name of humanity which has suffered so and is entitled to happiness. My ignited protest is nothing more than the cry of my heart. That one thus dares to translate for me into court bases and that the investigation takes place at the great day!
I am waiting. }}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
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