Crime And Punishment Tropes
Basic Information
Crime and Punishment Tropes are genre tropes which predominantly appear in Crime and Punishment shows. This list also includes Cops and Detectives and the tropes surrounding them, mystery tropes, courtroom tropes, and the like.
List of Crime and Punishment Tropes
- A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma
- Absence of Evidence
- Acquitted Too Late
- Adversary Map
- All Crimes Are Equal
- All In Hand
- Alone With The Psycho
- Always Murder
- Amateur Sleuth
- Ambiguously Trained
- Anachronistic Clue
- Androids and Detectives
- Anonymous Killer Narrator
- Anti-Climactic Unmasking
- Asshole Victim
- Atonement Detective
- Bad Cop/Incompetent Cop
- Badges and Dog Tags: An ex-military veteran who now works in law enforcement.
- Basic Mystery Classes
- Be As Unhelpful As Possible
- Beneath Suspicion
- Big Brother Is Your Friend
- Big Secret
- Big Store
- Blackmail Is Such An Ugly Word
- Blood-Stained Letter
- Bluffing the Murderer
- Bluffing The Murderer
- Bonnie And Clyde
- Book 'Em, Danno
- Born Detective
- Bugs Meany Is Gonna Walk
- By-the-Book Cop
- Calling the Cops on the FBI
- Candlelit Bath
- Cast as a Mask
- Chewbacca Defense
- Chronic Evidence Retention Syndrome
- Clear My Name
- Clock Discrepancy
- Closed Circle
- Clueless Deputy
- Clueless Detective
- Clueless Mystery
- Comatose Canary
- Condensation Clue
- Confess in Confidence
- Connect The Deaths
- Consulting a Convicted Killer
- Conviction by Contradiction
- Cop and Scientist
- Courtroom Antic
- Cowboy Cop: A reckless cop who "enforces" the law without regard for the rules of proper police procedure.
- Cozy Mystery
- Creek Moment
- Culture Police
- Curtain Camouflage
- Cut And Paste Note
- Cut Himself Shaving
- Da Chief
- Dead Mans Chest
- Death in the Clouds
- Defective Detective: An investigator with serious personality flaws.
- Detective Animal
- Detective Mole: It turns out that someone investigating a crime is also a culprit in it.
- Detective Patsy
- Detectives Follow Footprints
- Did Not Die That Way
- Dirty Cop: A dishonest police officer who behaves like a criminal and partakes in illegal activities.
- Dirty Harriet: A (female) cop who goes undercover as a prostitute.
- Disability Alibi
- Donut Mess With A Cop
- Dramatic Curtain Toss
- Driving Question
- Eagle-Eye Detection
- Encyclopedia Browned
- Eureka Moment
- Everybody Did It
- Everyone is a Suspect
- Evidence Dungeon
- Evidence Scavenger Hunt
- Evil Plan
- Exposition Victim
- Fair Cop: A gorgeously attractive police officer.
- Fair-Play Whodunnit
- Fatal Attraction
- FBI Agent: An agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
- Female Flatfoot and Snarky Guy
- Finger-Licking Poison
- Fingertip Drug Analysis
- Flashed Badge Hijack
- Forensic Phlebotinum
- Framing The Guilty Party
- Freaks Of The Week
- Friend on the Force: A police ally of the hero.
- Gentleman Detective
- Going By The Matchbook
- Good Cop/Bad Cop
- Great Detective: They are a master of solving crimes.
- Guilt By Coincidence
- Hammerspace Police Force
- Handy Cuffs
- Hanging Judge
- Hardboiled Detective
- He Knows Too Much
- Hello Again, Officer
- Hidden in Plain Sight
- Hidden Villain
- Hidden Wire
- Hide the Evidence
- Hitman With A Heart
- I Never Said It Was Poison
- Impersonating An Officer
- Important Character, Important Evidence
- Inkblot Test
- Insanity Defense
- Insignia Rip Off Ritual
- Inspector Javert: A detective is obsessed with capturing and turning in someone accused of a crime, regardless of whether that person is truly guilty.
- Inspector Lestrade
- Inspector Oblivious
- Interdisciplinary Sleuth
- Internal Affairs: A police unit tasked with investigating misconduct within the police department itself.
- Interpol Special Agent
- Intrepid Reporter
- It Never Gets Any Easier
- It Was Here I Swear
- Its For A Book
- Jack The Ripper
- Jurisdiction Friction: Two cops from different police forces clash over who has official authority for handling crimes in a particular area.
- Just One Little Mistake
- Justice By Other Legal Means
- Justified Criminal
- Kangaroo Court
- Kid Detective: A child who investigates crimes and mysteries.
- Killer Cop
- Last Minute Reprieve
- Law Enforcement, Inc.
- Lawman Gone Bad: A rogue former cop who has turned to a life of crime.
- Lead Police Detective
- Lemming Cops
- Lesbian Cop: A gay policewoman.
- Let Me At Him
- Let Off by the Detective
- Lights Off, Somebody Dies
- Little Old Lady Investigates
- Locked Room Mystery
- Lotsa People Try to Dun It
- Luxury Prison Suite
- Mafia Princess
- Magician Detective
- Mary Kelly's Kidney
- McCloud Speech
- Meddlesome Patrolman
- Minority Police Officer: A cop who's a member of an ethnic minority group.
- Mistaken Confession
- Mistaken for Evidence
- Mockspiracy
- Mockstery Tale
- Motive Equals Conclusive Evidence
- Motive Rant
- Murder Dot Com
- Murder The Hypotenuse
- Murderer POV
- Mysterious Stranger
- Mystery Arc
- Mystery Arc
- Mystery Magnet
- Mystery of the Week
- Mystery Writer Detective
- Necro Cam
- Needle in a Stack of Needles
- Never One Murder
- Never Suicide
- Never the Obvious Suspect
- No Tell Motel
- Noble Bigot with a Badge: A cop who is prejudiced towards a group, but still values their lives.
- Not Proven
- Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon
- Notable Non Sequitur
- Occult Detective: A detective who specializes in supernatural cases.
- Off On A Technicality
- Officer O'Hara: The stereotypical Irish police officer.
- Old-Fashioned Copper
- Old, Dark House
- One Riot, One Ranger
- Only One Plausible Suspect
- Ontological Mystery
- Orgy of Evidence
- Outranking Your Job
- Perfect Poison
- Perp And Weapon
- Perp Sweating
- Perves Sell Products
- Phone-In Detective
- Photo Psychic
- Pinkerton Detective / Pinkertons Agent
- Placebo Eureka Moment
- Plea Bargain
- Plethora Of Mistakes
- Police are Useless: The police are too incompetent or oblivious to defeat the bad guys without the heroes' help.
- Police Brutality: When an aggressive cop uses unnecessary physical violence against suspected criminals (or innocent citizens who they treat like criminals).
- Police Code for Everything: The police have a code for every kind of situation they end up getting involved with.
- Precrime Arrest
- Prison Rape
- Prison Sequences
- Private Defective
- Private Detective: A professional crime investigator who is not a member of the police.
- Private Eye Monologue
- Profiling
- Proof Dare
- Public Secret Message
- Pull The Thread
- Puzzle Thriller
- Rabid Cop
- Reading Your Rights
- Red Herring
- Repli Force
- Retirony
- Returning To The Scene
- Reverse Whodunnit
- Rewind, Replay, Repeat
- Ripped from the Headlines
- Rogue Agent
- Saying Too Much
- Secret Identity Apathy
- Secret Police: A covert police agency responsible for cracking down on political dissent against their authoritarian government.
- Self Restraint
- Serial Killer
- Serial Killings, Specific Target
- Shell Game
- Sherlock Can Read
- Sherlock Homage
- Sherlock Scan
- Signature Item Clue
- Sleuth Dates Cop
- Smith of the Yard
- Snooping Little Kid
- Snuff Film
- Society Is To Blame
- Space Police: Law enforcement that patrols outer space to fight and arrest space criminals.
- Spock Did It
- Spot the Imposter
- Standard Police Motto
- Strange Cop in a Strange Land
- Stranger Behind the Mask
- Summation Gathering
- Super Cop
- Suspect Is Hatless: Someone reports a criminal while giving a description too vague and non-specific to narrow down who the criminal could be.
- Suspect List
- Suspiciously Idle Officers
- SWAT Team: A paramilitary police unit designed for situations that require better weapons and equipment than usual.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist
- Sympathetic Murderer
- Take Me Out At The Ball Game
- Taking The Heat
- Ten Little Murder Victims
- That Mysterious Thing
- The Alibi
- The Bad Guys Are Cops
- The Big Board
- The Butler Did It
- The Commissioner Gordon: The leader of the police who is on good terms with the hero.
- The Con
- The Dog Was the Mastermind
- The End... Or Is It?
- The Game Never Stopped
- The Killer Becomes The Killed
- The Lopsided Arm of the Law
- The Meddling Kids Are Useless
- The Murder After
- The Profiler
- The Seven Mysteries
- The Sheriff: The leader of a sheriff's department (county-level police force).
- The Stakeout
- The Summation
- The Summation
- The Unsolved Mystery
- There Should Be A Law
- Thriller on the Express
- Time Delayed Death
- Time Police: An organization that chases after people trying to mess with the laws of time.
- Traffic Wardens
- Trail of Blood
- True Crime
- Turn In Your Badge
- Twist Ending
- Two Dun It
- U.S. Marshal: An agent of the United States Marshal Service (USMS).
- Undercover Cop Reveal: Someone turns out to be a police officer working undercover.
- Undercover Model
- Urban Legends
- Vampire Detective Series
- Vigilante Execution
- Vigilante Man
- Vomiting Cop: A squeamish cop pukes after witnessing a particularly grisly crime scene.
- Weather Report Opening
- Wheel Program
- Who Murdered the Asshole?
- Whodunnit to Me?
- Whodunnit To Me
- World of Mysteries
- Writing Indentation Clue
- Wrongful Accusation Insurance
- You Do Not Have To Say Anything
- You Get Me Coffee
- You Have 48 Hours
- You Meddling Kids
- You Wake Up in a Room
- You Wake Up on a Beach
See Also
- courtroom procedure
- crime scene
- crimes
- criminal
- investigator
- organized crime
- police procedure
- punishment
- victim
Sources
Bibliography
Game and Story Use
- If there are no crimes being committed in your campaign, someone involved in it is probably doing something wrong.
page revision: 7, last edited: 07 Sep 2019 23:53