Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (often abbreviated to Law & Order: SVU or just SVU) is an American police procedural, legal, crime drama television series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced. In the style of the original Law & Order, episodes are often "ripped from the headlines" or loosely based on real crimes that have received media attention. Created and produced by Dick Wolf, the series premiered on NBC on September 20, 1999, as the first spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama, Law & Order. The show started its 17th season on September 23, 2015, and has aired 380 original episodes as of February 10, 2016. It is the current longest running scripted non-animated U.S. primetime TV series since the cancellation of the original Law & Order in 2010 and is the fifth-longest running scripted U.S. primetime TV series on a major broadcast network.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit originally centered almost exclusively on the detectives of the Special Victims Unit in a fictional version of the 16th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. As the series progressed, additional supporting characters were added as allies of the detectives in the New York County Manhattan District Attorney's office (known as advisers from the Sex Crimes Bureau) and the Medical Examiner's office. Typical episodes follow the detectives and their colleagues as they investigate and prosecute sexually based offenses. The show starred Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler and Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson for its first twelve seasons until the former left the cast, unable to come to an agreement on his contract.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 2)

The second season of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered October 20, 2000 and ended May 11, 2001 on NBC. The show remained in its time slot, Friday nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern / 9:00 p.m. Central. As Neal Baer's first year producing the show, the second season was accompanied by drastic changes in tone. Additionally, the series began to increase its focus on trial scenes with the addition of an Assistant District Attorney for sex crimes to the cast.

Production

David J. Burke and Neal Baer served as chief executive producers to replace Robert Palm. Baer took over in the season finale. Neal Baer, a former pediatrician, left ER to work for Dick Wolf's first Law & Order spin-off. When explaining how he first became interested in the show, Neal Baer said he was "drawn to it by Mariska" who appeared in ER. Mariska Hargitay felt that Baer gave the show the direction it previously lacked and explained "There was no consistency. Dick wasn't really here. We had no leader, we had no vision." Jonathan Greene also credited Baer with improving the quality of the show, saying "He literally took this, not just to the next level, but up five or six levels above that." In a video interview, Richard Belzer said "The show's better this year, so I think it's directly attributable to him being at the helm."

Law and Order

Law and Order may refer to:

In politics

In entertainment and media

In film

In music

In television

Law and order (politics)

In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through stricter criminal penalties. These penalties may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three strikes laws, and in some countries, capital punishment.

Supporters of "law and order" argue that effective deterrence combined with incarceration is the most effective means of crime prevention. Opponents of law and order argue that a system of harsh criminal punishment is ultimately ineffective because it does not address underlying or systemic causes of crime.

"Law and order" is a recurring theme in political campaigns around the world. Candidates may exaggerate or even manufacture a problem with law and order, or characterise their opponents as "weak" on the issue, to generate public support. The expression also sometimes carries the implication of arbitrary or unnecessary law enforcement, or excessive use of police powers.

Law & Order (UK TV series)

Law & Order (often referred to as Law and Order) is a series of four British television plays written by G. F. Newman and directed by Les Blair. It was first transmitted in 1978 on BBC Two.

The Tales

The four stories within Law & Order were told from the perspective of the Detective, the Villain, the Brief and the Prisoner.

A Detective's Tale

The first play (broadcast on BBC2 on 6 April 1978) focuses upon Scotland Yard, Detective Inspector Fred Pyle - played by Derek Martin. Pyle is open to corruption from villains and operates a system of 'checks and balances' where certain villains get brought to justice and some do not. After a meeting with his informant Mickey Fielder (Roy Stone), Pyle discovers that a villain from Kentish Town Jack Lynn (Peter Dean) is putting together an armed robbery of a supermarket in Putney. Prior to this Pyle had arrested Clifford Harding (Alan Ford), following a police raid of his home which recovered an illegal firearm. Harding agrees to bribe Pyle to walk away from the firearms charge. Pyle however knows he can get more out of Harding and later on uses Harding's relationship with Lynn to make him turn informant and gain further information about the supermarket robbery. Pyle's informant Fielder reveals the date and time of Lynn's robbery but for some reason it does not happen. Pyle however is determined to nail Lynn and is willing to resort to 'fit up' tactics to gain a conviction - even if he has not actually committed the crime in question. Add to this a cosy relationship with a corrupt lawyer Alex Gladwell (Ken Campbell), and a seemingly blind eye to his activities from superiors within Scotland Yard it seems Pyle is almost a law unto himself.