Frameup
Encyclopedia
A frame-up or setup is an American term referring to the act of framing someone, that is, providing false evidence or false testimony in order to falsely prove someone guilt
y of a crime
.
Sometimes the person who is framing someone else is the actual perpetrator of the crime. In other cases it is an attempt by law enforcement to get around due process. Motives include getting rid of political dissidents or "correcting" what they see as the court's mistake. Some lawbreakers will try to claim they were framed as a defense strategy.
Frameups in labor disputes sometimes swing public opinion one way or the other. During a strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, police acting on a tip discovered dynamite and blamed it on the union. National media echoed an anti-union message. Later the police revealed that the dynamite had been wrapped in a magazine addressed to the son of the former mayor. The man had received an unexplained payment from the largest of the employers. Exposed, the plot swung public sympathy to the union.
Frameups are often part of conspiracy theories
. For example, there were frameup accusations in the anthrax incident
involving the United States Postal Service
.
, later remade into a 1993 film
starring Harrison Ford
as the doctor trying to prove that it was not he who killed his wife, but rather a one-armed man who set him up.
Another TV show that used the theme was The Dukes of Hazzard
, in which the protagonists (Bo
and Luke Duke
) were constantly being set up by the County Commissioner (Boss Hogg
) and Sheriff
(Rosco P. Coltrane). The "Duke boys" were always thwarting Boss and Rosco's schemes, and Boss was always concocting methods of getting the Dukes out of his hair and into prison, only to have the Dukes win out in the end every time.
On the TV show 24
, the protagonist of the show, Jack Bauer
, is framed in Seasons 1 and 5. In Day 1
, he was selected to be the scapegoat for David Palmer's attempted assassination which was orchestrated by Serbian businessmen with ties to European & American mercenaries. In Day 5
, he was framed again twice by a corrupt U.S. President
for his friends' murders (David Palmer, and Michelle Dessler) in a massive government conspiracy to secure oil interests in Central Asia. Later in Season 6, Jack found out his father and his brother were complicit in that conspiracy to frame him and secure American interests. In Day 6
, he finds out his father's and brother's involvement after they arranged to eliminate him. In Day 7
, Bauer was framed yet again by operatives from a private military company
(Starkwood) after he was getting close to interrogating one of their moles
and finding out their involvement in a terrorist plot targeted against the White House by an African general and his men. Eventually, Bauer's name was cleared and he set out dismantling the conspiracy which has also corrupted the US government. The mastermind behind the private sector conspiracy was eventually caught by Jack and the FBI, also discovering that he masterminded the conspiracy in Day 5.
In the film Mission Impossible
, Ethan Hunt
, the hero, was framed by a mole in the CIA by killing Ethan's associates and leaving him alive in a mole hunt, thus confirming to the CIA he's the mole. Hunt is able to expose the conspiracy by smoking out the mole (who was his boss) and his supervisor, arms dealer Max, who tried to auction a CIA NOC (Non-Official Cover) list to terrorists.
On the TV show Prison Break
, a former criminal named Lincoln Burrows
is framed for the murder of the Vice President's brother and thrown in prison; awaiting the death penalty. Burrows's brother, Michael Scofield
, hatches an ingenious escape plan to break him out. It turns out a group of multinationals who are influencing the U.S. government, framed Burrows because his father was going to expose their illegal dealings. Several Secret Service agents, and the Vice President are involved in the conspiracy. Burrows and Scofield try to expose the conspiracy while on the run.
In the film The Bourne Supremacy
, Jason Bourne, a former CIA black ops assassin, is forced out of hiding when unknown conspirators kill his girlfriend and frame him for the murder of several CIA officers. A past mission haunts him as he finds who set him up. Eventually, he finds out his former boss (Alexander Conklin)'s supervisor, Ward Abott, assigned Bourne the haunting mission to kill a Russian diplomat named Vladimir Neski. Thus, Neski was killed because he was going to expose Abott as a mole in the CIA, stealing money and sharing it with Gretkov, a Russian oil businessman. Abott had Gretkov hire a Russian FSB agent named Kirill to kill the CIA officers who were unraveling the plot and framed Bourne for it. Bourne records a conversation between Gretkov and Abott when they confront each other, implicating Abott in the conspiracy. Abott commits suicide as Bourne survives an attempt on his life by Kirill, by killing him. In the end, Gretkov is arrested and Bourne apologizes to Neksi's daughter for killing her parents.
In the video game, Driver: Parallel Lines
, T.K. starts working for a New York gang in the 1970s. By the last 70s mission, T.K. is framed for the kidnapping and murder of Rafael Martinez.
In a Hong Kong
film Chinese Midnight Express
, a corrupted police officer framed a journalist for hiding drugs.
In Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, it is revealed that Peter Pettigrew framed Sirius Black
for the murder of Peter himself, and he was the one who not only betrayed his friends The Marauders but that he also framed Sirius for murdering 13 people.
Some notable frame-ups
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
y of a crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
.
Sometimes the person who is framing someone else is the actual perpetrator of the crime. In other cases it is an attempt by law enforcement to get around due process. Motives include getting rid of political dissidents or "correcting" what they see as the court's mistake. Some lawbreakers will try to claim they were framed as a defense strategy.
Frameups in labor disputes sometimes swing public opinion one way or the other. During a strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, police acting on a tip discovered dynamite and blamed it on the union. National media echoed an anti-union message. Later the police revealed that the dynamite had been wrapped in a magazine addressed to the son of the former mayor. The man had received an unexplained payment from the largest of the employers. Exposed, the plot swung public sympathy to the union.
Frameups are often part of conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
. For example, there were frameup accusations in the anthrax incident
2001 anthrax attacks
The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on Tuesday, September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to...
involving the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
.
Frameups in fiction
Frameups are often used as a fictional device. An innocent party trying to prove that they have been framed for a crime is a popular theme in literature, film, and television. An example of such a storyline is the TV series, The FugitiveThe Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
, later remade into a 1993 film
The Fugitive (1993 film)
The Fugitive is a 1993 American thriller film based on the television series of the same name. The film was directed by Andrew Davis and stars Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. The film was one of the few movies associated with a television series to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best...
starring Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
as the doctor trying to prove that it was not he who killed his wife, but rather a one-armed man who set him up.
Another TV show that used the theme was The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
, in which the protagonists (Bo
Bo Duke
Beauregard "Bo" Duke is a fictional character in the American television series The Dukes of Hazzard, which ran from 1979 to 1985. He was played by John Schneider. The name of Beauregard may have been chosen after the famous Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard.Bo and his cousin Luke Duke live in...
and Luke Duke
Luke Duke
Lucas K. "Luke" Duke is a fictional character in the American television series The Dukes of Hazzard which ran from 1979 to 1985. Luke was played by Tom Wopat....
) were constantly being set up by the County Commissioner (Boss Hogg
Boss Hogg
Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg, better known as "Boss" Hogg, is a fictional character featured in the American television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He was the greedy, unethical commissioner of Hazzard County. A stereotypical villainous glutton, Boss Hogg always wore an all-white suit with a white...
) and Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
(Rosco P. Coltrane). The "Duke boys" were always thwarting Boss and Rosco's schemes, and Boss was always concocting methods of getting the Dukes out of his hair and into prison, only to have the Dukes win out in the end every time.
On the TV show 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
, the protagonist of the show, Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer is the main protagonist of the American television series 24. His character has worked in various capacities on the show, often as a member of the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit based in Los Angeles, and working with the FBI in Washington, D.C...
, is framed in Seasons 1 and 5. In Day 1
24 (season 1)
Season One, also known as Day 1, of the television series 24 was first broadcast from November 6, 2001 to May 21, 2002.The season's storyline starts at 12:00 a.m...
, he was selected to be the scapegoat for David Palmer's attempted assassination which was orchestrated by Serbian businessmen with ties to European & American mercenaries. In Day 5
24 (season 5)
Season Five, also known as Day 5 of the television series 24 premiered on January 15, 2006 and aired its season finale on May 22, 2006.The Season Five storyline starts and ends at 7:00 a.m. It is the same time frame as the previous season....
, he was framed again twice by a corrupt U.S. President
Charles Logan (24 character)
Charles Logan is a fictional character played by Gregory Itzin in the television series 24. During the show's fourth season, Logan is the Vice President of the United States who is sworn into office as President of the United States when former President John Keeler is critically injured in a...
for his friends' murders (David Palmer, and Michelle Dessler) in a massive government conspiracy to secure oil interests in Central Asia. Later in Season 6, Jack found out his father and his brother were complicit in that conspiracy to frame him and secure American interests. In Day 6
24 (season 6)
Season Six, also known as Day 6, of the television series 24 premiered in the United States on Sunday, January 14, 2007, the UK on January 21, 2007 and in Australia on January 30, 2007.The season's storyline began and ended at 6:00 a.m...
, he finds out his father's and brother's involvement after they arranged to eliminate him. In Day 7
24 (season 7)
Season Seven, also known as Day 7 of the American serial television series 24, was to premiere on January 13, 2008, but was delayed for one year due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. On November 23, 2008, Fox aired 24: Redemption, a two-hour TV movie set between seasons. Season...
, Bauer was framed yet again by operatives from a private military company
Private military company
A private military company or provides military and security services. These combatants are commonly known as mercenaries, though modern-day PMCs refer to their staff as security contractors, private military contractors or private security contractors, and refer to themselves as private military...
(Starkwood) after he was getting close to interrogating one of their moles
Mole (espionage)
A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...
and finding out their involvement in a terrorist plot targeted against the White House by an African general and his men. Eventually, Bauer's name was cleared and he set out dismantling the conspiracy which has also corrupted the US government. The mastermind behind the private sector conspiracy was eventually caught by Jack and the FBI, also discovering that he masterminded the conspiracy in Day 5.
In the film Mission Impossible
Mission: Impossible (film)
Mission: Impossible is a 1996 action thriller directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Cruise. Following on from the television series of the same name, the plot follows a new agent, Ethan Hunt and his mission to uncover the mole within the CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire...
, Ethan Hunt
Ethan Hunt
Ethan Hunt is the central protagonist in the Mission: Impossible film series.-Mission: Impossible:In Mission: Impossible, Hunt acts as the IMF point man for an established and experienced field team, led by veteran Jim Phelps, with whom he has a particularly close bond...
, the hero, was framed by a mole in the CIA by killing Ethan's associates and leaving him alive in a mole hunt, thus confirming to the CIA he's the mole. Hunt is able to expose the conspiracy by smoking out the mole (who was his boss) and his supervisor, arms dealer Max, who tried to auction a CIA NOC (Non-Official Cover) list to terrorists.
On the TV show Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
, a former criminal named Lincoln Burrows
Lincoln Burrows
Lincoln Burrows, played by Dominic Purcell, is one of the main protagonists of the American television series, Prison Break. The plot of Prison Break revolves around Lincoln Burrows' setup for the murder of the vice president's brother and his brother's plan to help him escape his death sentence....
is framed for the murder of the Vice President's brother and thrown in prison; awaiting the death penalty. Burrows's brother, Michael Scofield
Michael Scofield
Michael J. Scofield is the main protagonist in the American television series Prison Break. He is portrayed by Wentworth Miller. The character first appeared in the series pilot as a man who stages a bank robbery in order to get sent into the prison where his older brother, Lincoln Burrows , is...
, hatches an ingenious escape plan to break him out. It turns out a group of multinationals who are influencing the U.S. government, framed Burrows because his father was going to expose their illegal dealings. Several Secret Service agents, and the Vice President are involved in the conspiracy. Burrows and Scofield try to expose the conspiracy while on the run.
In the film The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Supremacy (film)
The Bourne Supremacy is a 2004 American spy film very loosely based on Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. The film was directed by Paul Greengrass, written by Tony Gilroy and Brian Helgeland, and produced by Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley. Universal Pictures released the film to theaters in...
, Jason Bourne, a former CIA black ops assassin, is forced out of hiding when unknown conspirators kill his girlfriend and frame him for the murder of several CIA officers. A past mission haunts him as he finds who set him up. Eventually, he finds out his former boss (Alexander Conklin)'s supervisor, Ward Abott, assigned Bourne the haunting mission to kill a Russian diplomat named Vladimir Neski. Thus, Neski was killed because he was going to expose Abott as a mole in the CIA, stealing money and sharing it with Gretkov, a Russian oil businessman. Abott had Gretkov hire a Russian FSB agent named Kirill to kill the CIA officers who were unraveling the plot and framed Bourne for it. Bourne records a conversation between Gretkov and Abott when they confront each other, implicating Abott in the conspiracy. Abott commits suicide as Bourne survives an attempt on his life by Kirill, by killing him. In the end, Gretkov is arrested and Bourne apologizes to Neksi's daughter for killing her parents.
In the video game, Driver: Parallel Lines
Driver: Parallel Lines
Driver: Parallel Lines is the fourth video game in the Driver series. The game was released on March 2006 on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox by Atari, Wii and Microsoft Windows on June 2007 by Ubisoft.-Overview:...
, T.K. starts working for a New York gang in the 1970s. By the last 70s mission, T.K. is framed for the kidnapping and murder of Rafael Martinez.
In a Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
film Chinese Midnight Express
Chinese Midnight Express
Chinese Midnight Express is a 1997 Hong Kong film, directed by Billy Tang Hin-Shing....
, a corrupted police officer framed a journalist for hiding drugs.
In Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, it is revealed that Peter Pettigrew framed Sirius Black
Sirius Black
Sirius Black is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Sirius was first mentioned briefly in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a wizard who lent Rubeus Hagrid a flying motorbike shortly after Lord Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter...
for the murder of Peter himself, and he was the one who not only betrayed his friends The Marauders but that he also framed Sirius for murdering 13 people.
See also
General- Framing (social sciences)Framing (social sciences)A frame in social theory consists of a schema of interpretation — that is, a collection of anecdotes and stereotypes—that individuals rely on to understand and respond to events. In simpler terms, people build a series of mental filters through biological and cultural influences. They use these...
- Honey trapHoneypotHoneypot or honeytrap may refer to:* A pot used to store honey* Espionage recruitment involving sexual seduction in** reality** fiction* A type of sting operation such as a** Bait car...
- Identity theftIdentity theftIdentity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
Some notable frame-ups
- Carl Ingold JacobsonCarl Ingold JacobsonCarl Ingold Jacobson was a City Council member in Los Angeles, California, from 1925 to 1933. He was tried on a morals charge, and then it was later shown that he was the victim of a frame-up by local police authorities.-Biography:...
, Los Angeles, California, City Council member, framed on a morals charge