Penalty

A penalty is a punishment or sanction issued to a lawyer for one of many reasons, usually due to breaking a rule or presenting irrelevant evidence. It can also refer to "damage" incurred on Phoenix Wright's spirit while using his magatama to break Psyche-Locks during investigations.

Penalties in the courtroom
In the Ace Attorney games, penalties on the defense attorney "damage" a "health bar" or penalty capacity bar associated with the attorney, and a guilty verdict is immediately rendered if this bar is depleted. People in the courtroom are aware of the bar and can show the extent of the penalty they want to give on the bar. Penalty capacity is the only resource in the series that the player needs to maintain to avoid losing.

Although prosecutors can receive penalties following trials, there has not been any evidence of official penalties during court proceedings to date.

Penalties in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
In the first game, penalty capacity is represented by exclamation marks. Phoenix Wright starts with five and loses one for every penalty received. However, a guilty verdict can still be rendered independently of this penal system in some instances. Penalty capacity is replenished at the end of each chapter, including the segments of trials in Rise from the Ashes.

Penalties in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All
The second game introduces the "health bar", which is adopted in subsequent games. One consequence of this is that the judge can give penalties in various degrees of severity depending on the seriousness of the attorney's accusations or a deal made between the attorney and the judge or prosecutor. In this game, the amount of "health" that Wright has carries over to every chapter in an episode and can only be replenished by breaking a character's Psyche-Locks, which recovers 50% of Wright's total capacity. Penalties are dealt in multiples of 10% of the bar, with a maximum of 100% occurring during Farewell, My Turnabout.

Penalties in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
In the third game, the "health bar" is replenished at the end of a trial or an investigation but not at the end of a chapter during an investigation or trial. One consequence of this is that trial penalties and spirit penalties are kept separate. Penalties are dealt similarly to the previous game, with a 100% penalty possible at the end of Bridge to the Turnabout.

Penalties in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
In the fourth game, penalty capacity is replenished at the end of each chapter, including chapters that end in the middle of a trial. Penalties are dealt in multiples of 20%, with a maximum of 80% occurring at the end of Turnabout Succession.

Penalties in investigations
In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, the "health bar" is also used to denote Phoenix Wright's "spirit health". If Wright presents the wrong evidence while trying to break someone's Psyche-Lock, he suffers a penalty to his spirit; the extent of the damage depends on the nature of what Wright is trying to prove. If his "spirit health" is depleted, the lock-breaking process immediately terminates. However, this does not result in losing the game, and Wright is free to attempt to break any person's Psyche Locks, albeit with virtually no health.