Witnesses at Risk 35 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes
Witnesses threatened, hidden or silenced, and the risks they take by testifying.
- Season 1 · Episode 8
Stalked
When a prosecutor is raped and killed in Central Park, the detectives focus on a realtor she once took to court, who then fixes his attention on Benson.
- Season 3 · Episode 12
Protection
A boy shot in a drive-by is murdered in his hospital bed, and the detectives must protect his mother and brother, the only witnesses against a ruthless drug dealer.
- Season 4 · Episode 5
Disappearing Acts
A rape victim is whisked into federal custody, and the hunt for her attacker runs into a federal prosecutor protecting a key witness against the Russian mob and his family.
- Season 5 · Episode 4
Loss
The murder of a supposed call girl exposes an undercover police officer inside a Colombian cartel, and prosecuting her killer puts Cabot in the cartel’s sights.
- Season 6 · Episode 2
Debt
Two small children left alone in a Chinatown apartment lead the squad to a mother who owed smugglers for her daughter’s passage, and to the gang that collects such debts.
- Season 6 · Episode 5
Outcry
A teenager found bound at a campus construction site says cadets raped her, but her shifting story and a media frenzy hide the man she is really afraid of.
- Season 6 · Episode 16
Ghost
A cartel hit man’s gun links a string of murders to the attack on Alexandra Cabot, forcing the former prosecutor out of witness protection to face him in court.
- Season 6 · Episode 20
Night
A rapist who pays off undocumented cleaning women leaves one dead, and the trail leads to the son of a wealthy, protective mother.
- Season 9 · Episode 10
Snitch
The murder of a 15-year-old Nigerian bride seems to be a drug dealer’s warning to a witness, until the investigation turns to her husband’s other wives.
- Season 11 · Episode 16
Witness
A rape case hinges on a neighbor who stopped the attack, a Congolese survivor of wartime sexual violence who fears that testifying will get her deported.
- Season 11 · Episode 22
Ace
A pregnant rape victim who vanishes from the hospital leads SVU to a Bulgarian ring smuggling women into New York to sell their babies.
- Season 12 · Episode 24
Smoked
A rape victim is shot dead before her attacker’s trial, and the trail leads to a hired stalker who is also a federal informant.
- Season 13 · Episode 12
Official Story
A vigilante father’s assault on a military contractor’s CEO leads SVU and a new executive ADA to the gang rape of the man’s daughter in Iraq and the company’s cover-up.
- Season 14 · Episode 1
Lost Reputation
Captain Cragen wakes beside a murdered escort and is charged with killing her, while an outside prosecutor and an interim captain order SVU to stay away from the case.
- Season 14 · Episode 16
Funny Valentine
A teenage pop star beaten by her famous boyfriend refuses to testify, and her loyalty to him draws her mentor and then herself into danger.
- Season 14 · Episode 24
Her Negotiation
A man Rollins arrests for flashing in Central Park refuses an easy plea, then attacks the witness against him, and his record shows a long history of escaping conviction.
- Season 15 · Episode 4
Internal Affairs
IAB enlists SVU and an undercover Cassidy to expose two patrol officers suspected of raping drunk women and burying the complaints.
- Season 15 · Episode 13
Betrayal's Climax
A 16-year-old is gang-raped while her boyfriend is forced to watch, and his gang ties and silence threaten the case.
- Season 15 · Episode 24
Spring Awakening
As Amaro faces charges for beating an acquitted suspect, a sting on a robbery-rape ring leads Benson to the mother of the abandoned baby she rescued.
- Season 16 · Episode 1
Girls Disappeared
A teenage witness to the murder of Noah’s mother leads SVU into a Mexican trafficking ring that starts killing anyone who might talk.
- Season 16 · Episode 23
Surrendering Noah
As sex trafficker Johnny D goes on trial, Benson discloses that he is Noah’s birth father, putting her adoption and the case at risk.
- Season 17 · Episode 20
Fashionable Crimes
A teenage model accuses a celebrated fashion photographer of rape, but she backs out under pressure, and then the photographer is shot dead at his family’s runway show.
- 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 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 16
The Newsroom
A news anchor accuses her network’s powerful chief of rape on live television, and SVU struggles to find colleagues willing to risk their jobs to back her.
- Season 19 · Episode 24
Remember Me Too
Charged after the hostage standoff, Lourdes Vega goes on trial while Benson tries to prove Miguel Lopez trafficked her, and his associates go after Stone’s sister.
- 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 24
End Game
When a teenage girl’s body falls into the Hudson, Benson ties the death to Rob Miller, and Stone bends the rules to put him away.
- Season 21 · Episode 7
Counselor, It's Chinatown
A raid on a Chinatown massage parlor uncovers trafficked women working off smuggling debts, and the squad follows the money from the parlor’s manager to its powerful owners.
- 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 23 · Episode 2
Never Turn Your Back on Them
Witnesses against Congressman Howard begin turning up dead, and a raid to find a missing teenage witness leaves Tamin badly wounded.
- Season 23 · Episode 3
I Thought You Were on My Side
A club singer accuses a mob-connected nightclub owner of rape and attempted murder, but federal agents and Stabler’s unit want him as an informant.
- Season 24 · Episode 5
Breakwater
A young lifeguard accuses the chief of the Bronx lifeguards of rape, and when he drowns on duty the squad uncovers how the chief qualified his staff.
- Season 24 · Episode 12
Blood Out
As the BX9 leader’s trial loses its witnesses one by one, the gang turns its violence on the captain who hunted it.
- Season 26 · Episode 19
Play with Fire Part 2
In the second half of a crossover with Law & Order, Benson comes to suspect that the decorated lieutenant who supervised a murdered undercover officer raped and killed her and two women from the shelter where she worked.