whipping boy and the word or phrase that I want

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar, Slang, Metaphors
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I've just learned that a scapegoat can be called a whipping boy.
I wonder when the errors are too serious, such as murder, what word or phrase do you native speakers would use to describe?
Because in some cases, a poor boy would like to serve as a scapegoat for the murder committed by a rich man. Not that the poor boy wants to die; I believe he is sacrificing himself to get his family out of poverty.

Context:

whipping boy
n.
someone punished for the errors of others

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@oristarA,

Whipping boy wouldn't be an appropriate term of a situation like murder.

Quote:

Because in some cases, a poor boy would like to serve as a scapegoat for the murder committed by a rich man. Not that the poor boy wants to die; I believe he is sacrificing himself to get his family out of poverty.

This sounds like a plot from the Oscar nominated anthology film, Wild Tales (2014).

Stooge or fall guy might be a better term to describe someone taking the fall for a particular crime like murder.

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

Whipping boy wouldn't be an appropriate term of a situation like murder.

Quote:
Because in some cases, a poor boy would like to serve as a scapegoat for the murder committed by a rich man. Not that the poor boy wants to die; I believe he is sacrificing himself to get his family out of poverty.

This sounds like a plot from the Oscar nominated anthology film, Wild Tales (2014).

Stooge or fall guy might be a better term to describe someone taking the fall for a particular crime like murder.

Thanks.
Stooge as a noun in Oxford: 1)derogatory A subordinate used by another to do unpleasant routine work: party stooges put there to do a job on behalf of central office.
Since it is a routine work, is it suitable here?
2)A performer whose act involves being the butt of a comedian’s jokes:
the stooge is offstage
This definition failed to meet the requirement here.

Fall guy :
(Oxford) informal , chiefly North American
A scapegoat:
he contends that he is innocent, that he was set up as a fall guy

It's better but informal.

(Non-Oxford): fall guy
n.
a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of.

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Also, there's patsy.

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whipping boy and the word or phrase that I want

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