Convicted by Public Opinion: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Now, here are some results from our phone-in poll: 95% of the people believe Homer Simpson is guilty. Of course, this is just a television poll which is not legally binding, unless Proposition 304 passes. And we all pray it will."''|'''Kent Brockman''', ''[[The Simpsons {animation)|The Simpsons]]
Usually when a person's guilt can't be proven (or has not yet been proven or disproven) in a court of law, it is assumed that he or she is innocent. But in the court of public opinion it tends to be the exact opposite. The public (or even the authorities) are convinced you're guilty; they just don't have enough hard evidence to prove your guilt. Now this doesn't necessarily means the person in question IS guilty mind you, It just means he/she has already been tried and '''Convicted by Public Opinion'''. The public can either be right or dead wrong.
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{{noreallife|Please practice [[Death of the Author]] and separate the works from the creators of those works.}}
{{examples}}
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* Some ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfics where Sirius Black is acquitted have the Wizarding World still believing he's guilty. One in particular has Sirius Black unable to gain custody of Harry until he found an old law stating orphans of wizarding parents cannot be raised by muggles for as long as a magical guardian remains available. The Minister was quite unhappy with this development but, having to uphold the law, couldn't prevent it.
== [[Film]] ==
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* In the ''[[X Wing Series]]'', when Tycho is tried for the death of {{spoiler|Corran Horn}}, pretty much everyone who didn't know him personally thought he did it. The New Republic trying him had to keep at least some of the public's sentiment in mind, since they had just taken the planet from the Empire, and many of the nonhumans were angry enough at the new government due to the plague that only affected nonhumans. It's stated that there were already grumblings that if Tycho hadn't been human he would already have been tried and convicted.
* [[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]] oh so many times. The wizarding public changes their mind about whether Harry is the savior of their world or a spoiled celebrity more times than they change their robes.
** Also Frank Bryce from the opening chapter of ''[[
** Sirius Black is a partial example. While he was convicted (without a trial), his infamous reputation went well beyond the crime for which he was originally convicted. For example, Stan and Ernie of the Knight Bus believed him to be Voldemort's [[The Dragon|right hand]] and an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Psycho Supporter]].
** In the case of Barty Crouch, Jr., it's implied that he was convicted on flimsy evidence because the public was crying for blood. {{spoiler|Subverted when it turns out [[The Untwist|he was guilty after all]].}}
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