go scot-free

go scot-free

To escape from some predicament, accusation, or wrongdoing without incurring any penalty or punishment; to be acquitted of all charges for some crime or crimes. It sickens me that all these bankers that ruined our economy get to go scot-free, while millions of people have suffered as a result. Due to an error in the filing of evidence by police, the suspect ending up going scot-free.
See also: go
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

go scot-free

 and get off scot-free
to go unpunished; to be acquitted of a crime. (This scot is an old word meaning "tax" or "tax burden.") The thief went scot-free. Jane cheated on the test and got caught, but she got off scot-free.
See also: go
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

get off/go ˌscot-ˈfree

(informal) escape from a situation without receiving the punishment you deserve: It seemed so unfair that she was punished while the others got off scot-free!This idiom comes from the old English word sceot, meaning a ‘tax’. People were scot-free if they didn’t have to pay the tax.
See also: get, go, off
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

go scot-free, to

To be let off without penalty or punishment. This expression has nothing to do with Scotland, but rather with the early meaning of scot, that is, a tax assessment. Thus scot-free meant not having to make such a payment, and later was extended to mean being exempted from other kinds of obligation, including punishment. The earliest use of the term dates from the Magna Carta of 1215. Later it was transferred to nonlegal issues, as in Samuel Richardson’s novel Pamela (1740): “She should not, for all the trouble she has cost you, go away scot-free.”
See also: go
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • get away scot-free
  • go scot-free, to
  • scot
  • Scott
  • walk away scot-free
  • get off with (something)
  • get off/go scot-free
  • get off scot-free
  • penalize (someone or something) for (something)
  • penalize for
References in classic literature
Is not anything better than letting him go scot-free? Would you have me sit still and watch him blossom into a millionaire peer, a man of society, drinking deep draughts of all the joys of life, with never a thought for the man he left to rot in an African jungle?
A Millionaire of Yesterday
If we could do that, she might go scot-free for aught I cared.'
The Old Curiosity Shop
Her generosity had tried to screen them, but Newman's heart rose into his throat at the thought that they should go scot-free.
American
'The lesson [from that] decision is horrible: 'if you steal big you go scot-free, but if you steal a cell phone you go to prison.
Marcos wealth case dismissal was based on evidence-Palace
The Indian government might be able to bend the law and courts in occupied-Kashmir according to its whim; it cannot go scot-free by playing proxies and sabotaging peace in its neighbouring country.
ICJ verdict and Indian hardliners (1)
He said lack of tight evidence has seen perpetrators go scot-free in courts, emboldening other perpetrators.
Women police officers taught how to catch rapists
Those indulging in loot and plunder of debt amounting to Rs24,000 billion cannot go scot-free.
Minister slams PML-N for defending PPP
In order to remove the misperception that non-filers could go scot-free by just paying higher tax and also to remove certain anomalies, he said, the concept of "non-filer" would be done away with and a scheme had been introduced which would force non-filers to become filers, hence it would help enhance the number of tax filers.
Hafeez shares roadmap to generate Rs5.55 trillion revenues, protect vulnerable segments
Summary: It's easy to profile video games as bad while students with no goal-setting go scot-free
How people play the blame game
It's only fair, therefore, that the officials who process the applications for the establishment of these firms and clear their operations must not go scot-free. It's quite possible that some are compromised to look the other way as the licensing conditions are ignored or simply circumvented.
Punish polluters and officials
To a question, he said that Imran has already announced that he would let the corrupt persons and those who looted the national exchequer go scot-free.
PTI govt effectively raised Kashmir issue: Mahmood
Speaking to the workers at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital before embarking on the protest, state chairman of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Viginus Nwobodo, charged the Police to ensure that Amadi's killers do not go scot-free.
Hospital Workers Protest Colleague's Murder In Enugu
The corrupt would not let go scot-free and they would have to face the music, he added
Govt ready to provide best treatment to Nawaz as per his desire: Dar
He directed all stakeholders to double their efforts in making crime more expensive and ensure that criminals do not go scot-free. He said plunderers of national wealth have plunged the country into the quagmire of debt due to which Pakistan is facing serious economic challenges.
Elements involved in money laundering deserve no leniency: PM
He reiterated that money laundering posed a serious threat to national security and directed the authorities to ensure it became an expensive risk and criminals did not go scot-free".Earlier in the meeting, the interior secretary briefed PM Imran about progress on administrative and legislative measures taken to specifically combat money laundering so far.
PM directs cabinet to 'double up' efforts against money laundering