Framing

Framing is a term used to describe when a person or group of people are unfairly convicted of a crime because of falsely planted evidence or deliberately misinterpreted evidence. Framing is often associated with cover ups and conspiracy theories.

Common reasons why a person might be framed

• The person doing the framing had committed the crime and wants to get away with it, so they get someone else to go to jail instead of them.
• A secret service agency might frame someone because that government's police force is unable to capture the culprit or else they are unable to figure out who did it, so they are under pressure to capture someone in order to restore public confidence in the police force, which is restored even if the person who they capture is the wrong person.
• Someone protecting the culprit might frame someone in order to protect their friend/relative/loved one.
• A person might be framed by police because they genuinely think that they did it, but do not have enough evidence. For example, police genuinely thought that Lindy Chamberlain killed her daughter Azaria Chamberlain but didn't have enough evidence so planted some, so as to restore public faith in the police force.

Results of a person being framed

People who are framed ordinarily remain imprisoned for the duration of their sentence. Framings are rarely uncovered and rarely believed. Because the term conspiracy theory is used in a derogatory fashion, so too are any suggestions that someone is framed.

As goes the joke:

Everyone in prison is framed

They obviously are not all framed; hence people who are actually framed rarely get justice.