Victim Blaming 47 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes
Victims doubted, shamed or blamed for what was done to them, by families, juries and the police.
- Season 1 · Episode 10
Closure: Part 1
A rape victim gives Benson a near-perfect account of her attack but never sees the man’s face, and months later a similar case forces the detectives to ask her for help again.
- Season 2 · Episode 12
Secrets
The rape and murder of a dedicated teacher exposes her secret sex addiction, and the search for her killer runs through her students, her lovers and the sex clubs she visited.
- Season 5 · Episode 9
Control
A man found castrated in a subway station proves to be a serial kidnapper who kept women as “brides” in a hidden dungeon, and one of his victims is a woman Benson once failed to believe.
- Season 8 · Episode 5
Confrontation
A rapist who keeps returning to his victims is timing the attacks to their ovulation, and the only proof grows inside a victim who will not admit it.
- Season 11 · Episode 11
Quickie
A teenager’s murder leads SVU to an anonymous-sex app and a stockbroker who knowingly spreads HIV, and then to the victim who takes revenge on him in court.
- Season 13 · Episode 6
True Believers
A piano student raped at gunpoint watches her case unravel when a civil-rights defense lawyer attacks the police work and her own credibility.
- Season 13 · Episode 8
Educated Guess
A drug-addled prisoner says he saw a rape inside a psychiatric hospital, and the patient who denies it turns out to be hiding years of abuse by a relative.
- Season 14 · Episode 3
Twenty-Five Acts
The credited author of a bestselling erotic novel accuses a talk-show host of rape, and the case turns on whether a jury will believe her once her secret comes out.
- Season 14 · Episode 20
Girl Dishonored
A freshman’s gang rape at a fraternity leads SVU to a string of victims and a university that protects its students’ attackers.
- Season 14 · Episode 23
Brief Interlude
A Canadian mother on her first trip alone is found beaten and raped in Central Park, and the search for her attacker uncovers the nightlife she kept from her family.
- Season 15 · Episode 8
Military Justice
A Coast Guard ensign found drunk and bleeding in Manhattan says shipmates raped her, but the service charges her instead and protects her commander.
- Season 15 · Episode 10
Psycho/Therapist
Benson must testify against William Lewis, who acts as his own lawyer and turns her account of her abduction, and her beating of him, against her.
- Season 15 · Episode 15
Comic Perversion
A comedian who builds his act on rape jokes is accused of raping a college student, and SVU’s case against him becomes a fight over free speech.
- Season 15 · Episode 18
Criminal Stories
A star newspaper columnist embedded with SVU declares a Muslim woman’s rape report a hoax after her account of an attack in Central Park falls apart.
- Season 16 · Episode 5
Pornstar's Requiem
A Hudson freshman who made porn videos to pay her tuition is raped by two classmates, and her past is put on trial alongside them.
- Season 16 · Episode 8
Spousal Privilege
A leaked video shows a retired football star knocking out the mother of his son, and SVU pursues the case although she refuses to cooperate.
- Season 16 · Episode 10
Forgiving Rollins
A visiting Atlanta detective says her deputy chief raped her during a New York conference, and the case forces Rollins to reveal what he did to her.
- Season 16 · Episode 18
Devastating Story
A TV newsmagazine’s story of a fraternity gang rape goes viral, and SVU’s case unravels as the student’s account changes and the reporting proves unchecked.
- Season 16 · Episode 20
Daydream Believer
SVU and Chicago’s Intelligence Unit hunt a doctor suspected of a decade of rape-murders after he abducts a young woman from Voight’s office and drives her to New York.
- Season 17 · Episode 12
A Misunderstanding
A 15-year-old says a senior assaulted her in a school darkroom, and SVU must prove a case built on what neither teenager said aloud.
- Season 17 · Episode 13
Forty-One Witnesses
A woman is assaulted in her building’s courtyard in view of many neighbors, none of whom called for help, and SVU needs one of them to testify.
- Season 17 · Episode 16
Star-Struck Victims
When a vlogger says a TV star and his friend assaulted her at his club and the DA declines to charge, Rollins goes undercover to catch the pair in the act.
- Season 17 · Episode 21
Assaulting Reality
A reality-show contestant sees on live television that she was sexually assaulted while unconscious, and SVU finds the producers hid who did it to protect their storyline.
- Season 17 · Episode 22
Intersecting Lives
A former inmate accuses a Rikers corrections officer of raping her inside and outside the jail, and SVU builds a case while his union closes ranks.
- Season 18 · Episode 4
Heightened Emotions
An Olympic-hopeful pole vaulter who secretly works as an escort accuses a client of rape, while Rollins takes in her newly paroled sister.
- Season 18 · Episode 12
No Surrender
An Army Ranger chosen as the face of a recruiting tour is beaten and raped after a night of underground fighting, and the man she identifies has an alibi.
- Season 18 · Episode 14
Net Worth
A junior investment banker accuses her firm’s billionaire client of rape, and his allies use emails, tabloid photos and a lucrative job offer to make the case go away.
- Season 18 · Episode 18
Spellbound
A publicist says a celebrity healer raped her at his ayahuasca retreat although she took no drugs, and SVU sets out to prove he hypnotized her.
- Season 19 · Episode 2
Mood
Detectives doubt a young woman’s report of a rape by a man in a Prince Charming mask until a second victim describes the same attacker.
- Season 19 · Episode 4
No Good Reason
A sophomore disappears after a degrading photo from a party goes around her school, and her report of rape makes her the target of more bullying.
- Season 19 · Episode 11
Flight Risk
A co-pilot who seized her plane’s cockpit says the captain raped her, and SVU uncovers an airline that bought women’s silence.
- Season 19 · Episode 12
Info Wars
When a far-right pundit is sexually assaulted during a campus riot, SVU must decide whether an antifa protester or one of her own fans attacked her.
- Season 19 · Episode 18
Service
A sex worker is raped and beaten by one of three soldiers who hired her, and the only witness willing to testify fears that doing so will end his military career.
- Season 19 · Episode 22
Mama
An Alzheimer’s patient’s rape claim, mixed up with a 50-year-old memory, leads SVU to a temp aide who targets elderly women in care homes.
- Season 20 · Episode 9
Mea Culpa
Stone is accused of a rape from his baseball days and asks SVU to investigate him, splitting the squad until the truth about that night emerges.
- Season 20 · Episode 18
Blackout
After a police gala ends with defense attorney Nikki Staines drugged and raped, SVU’s inquiry leads to a well-connected lawyer with leverage over a judge and the department.
- Season 20 · Episode 19
Dearly Beloved
A woman accuses a therapist of rape at his own wedding, but her history of harassing him and others makes SVU doubt her story.
- Season 21 · Episode 2
The Darkest Journey Home
A young woman who blacked out on a night of heavy drinking believes she was raped after a ride home, and Benson uses a new interviewing technique to help her remember.
- Season 21 · Episode 11
She Paints for Vengeance
A stripper whose rape report was thrown away paints a billboard to force SVU’s attention, and Carisi faces a ruthless former judge in his first trial.
- Season 21 · Episode 20
The Things We Have to Lose
As Sir Tobias Moore’s long-delayed trial nears, the squad struggles to keep his accusers on board while Tamin hunts a rapist who walked free, Rollins tries to rescue a troubled teen and Fin confronts an abusive father.
- Season 22 · Episode 5
Turn Me on Take Me Private
A webcam performer is sexually assaulted during a live role-play by a fan who believes they are in love, and he acts as his own lawyer at trial.
- Season 22 · Episode 15
What Can Happen In the Dark
Garland’s neighbor turns up badly hurt, and the squad comes to suspect his wife sexually assaulted him, a case few will believe.
- Season 23 · Episode 4
One More Tale of Two Victims
A man posing as a repairman rapes single mothers in front of their young children, and the brass decide which victim’s case gets prosecuted.
- Season 23 · Episode 5
Fast Times @DIGGYSPENTHOUSE
A young dancer accuses two social media stars of raping her at their content house, and the case is fought online as much as in court.
- Season 23 · Episode 16
Sorry If It Got Weird for You
A woman who panics on a date with Velasco reveals that the founder of the dating app she works for raped her.
- Season 26 · Episode 11
Deductible
A junior insurance agent is assaulted by a prospective client, and SVU finds her boss arranged to leave her alone with him to close the deal.
- Season 26 · Episode 14
The Grid Plan
A Midwestern tourist raped near Times Square refuses to wait for the police, and her secret diagnosis becomes the defense’s weapon at trial.