The WORST episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Based out of the New York City Police Department's 16th precinct in Manhattan, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) delves into the dark side of the NYC underworld as the detectives investigate and prosecute various sexually oriented crimes including rape, pedophilia, and domestic violence. They also investigate the abuses of children, the disabled and elderly victims of non-sexual crimes who require specialist handling, all while trying to balance the effects of the investigation on their own lives as they try not to let the dark side of these crimes affect them. Its stories also touch on the political and societal issues associated with gender identity, sexual preferences, and equality rights. The unit also works with the Manhattan District Attorney's office as they prosecute cases and seek justice for victims. The series often uses stories that are "ripped from the headlines" or based on real crimes. Such episodes take a real crime and fictionalize it by changing some details.
#1 - Intimidation Game
Season 16 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/11/2015
Video game developer Raina Punjabi solidifies the launch of her first game amid a stream of online insults, intimidation and death threats from the male-dominated gaming community. When a female employee is assaulted at a gamer convention, Detective Tutuola investigates the crime but Raina refuses to delay the launch, and the cops must “level up” to protect her.
#2 - Sophomore Jinx
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/25/1999
After a female student is murdered at a local college, Benson and Stabler turn their attention to the school's basketball team. However, the college blocks their investigation at every turn because they are not willing to risk the negative publicity that the investigation could bring to the school and the upcoming championship.
#3 - Home Invasions
Season 13 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/15/2012
A gunman storms a family's home, killing the parents and leaving their teenage daughter in critical condition. When a hate crime investigation turns into a dead end, Benson and the SVU detectives struggle to find a motive for such violence. The clues lead to a surprising revelation about Detective Rollins, which threatens her future in the Special Victims Unit.
#4 - Soulless
Season 4 - Episode 25 - Aired 5/16/2003
After a rape victim is abducted from the hospital and later found murdered, the detectives discover that one of the multiple suspects is a sociopath with a juvenile conviction for rape, torture and murder.
#5 - Snitch
Season 9 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/4/2007
When a polygamist's wife is murdered, he believes it's related to a recent criminal case he was testifying in, but detectives believe it may be connected to his culture.
#6 - Bedtime
Season 11 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/31/2010
When a journalist is found raped and murdered in her own bed, Cragen is able to connect this particular case to another five murders that happened thirty years ago, committed by the “Bedtime Butcher”. To uncover the truth behind the crimes, Benson goes undercover in order to find the real killer.
#7 - Juvenile
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/22/2002
A cancer patient who was growing marijuana in her apartment is found raped and murdered, sending the detectives on a hunt for two junior-high students, each blaming the other. The prosecution team is faced with the dilemma of trying the older boy as an adult, despite evidence that he was not mentally capable of being able to carry out the crimes.
#8 - Selfish
Season 10 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/28/2009
A grandmother reports that her 2 year old granddaughter has disappeared, but the Amber Alert fails to yield progress. The detectives then move their attention over to her young irresponsible mother as their prime suspect.
#9 - Wanderlust
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/18/1999
After a travel writer is found tied up with a woman's undergarments choking off his air supply, Benson and Stabler initially suspect his landlord's boyfriend, but suspicion soon turns to the landlord and her daughter. Both seem far too interested in what their tenant is doing with his time. After learning the daughter had a sexual relationship with the tenant, things take an even stranger turn.
#10 - Ballerina
Season 10 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/17/2009
A single murder suddenly turns into a scene with three bodies, leaving Benson and Stabler to work with a strip club owner to find a murderer whose motive may be more about righteousness than perversity.
#11 - Resilience
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/6/2002
When a fourteen year old girl is saved from jumping in front of a train, SVU is called in to help her. She falsely accuses an ex-boyfriend of raping her, but when the search turns to her dysfunctional family, surprise discoveries are made. From an overly helpful father, mysterious children, an overaffectionate little girl, a bracelet, and finally sperm from two men who never raped, SVU discovers that the family is even worse off than they thought.
#12 - Reasonable Doubt
Season 15 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/7/2014
Benson and Murphy question a television producer when he is accused of molesting his daughter; Benson strives to discover the truth as accusations fly in the media.
#13 - Russian Love Poem
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/21/2000
When multi-millionaire Andrew Harlin is found murdered in his home, Benson and Stabler turn their suspicion to Harlin's long list of lovers, which includes both men and women. Evidence at the crime scene leads detectives to a pair of Russian escorts, but before they can get the truth from them, one turns up dead, and the boyfriend of the other confesses to murder.
#14 - Alien
Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/6/2005
After young Sean Hamill is stabbed in the back at the schoolyard, detectives are led to Charlie Monaghan, the older boy who had previously gotten into trouble over Hamill, but it isn't long before their attention turns to Monaghan's half-sister Emma Boyd. Hamill had been torturing the little girl for months because she had two mothers. After getting a nice deal for Emma's side, Benson and Stabler are thrown for a loop when Emma's biological grandparents accuse Zoe, who had never legally adopted Emma, of sexually molesting the little girl, and evidence seems to support their claims.
#15 - Beef
Season 11 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/21/2010
After a young woman is sexually assaulted and murdered, Detectives Olivia Benson and Eliot Stabler track down the woman’s boyfriend – their first suspect – but learn that he is a devout vegan who wouldn’t hurt a fly. They soon find that the victim had been deeply involved in the fight to expose questionable practices in the meat-packing industry, even going undercover at a large company to find out the truth. Benson goes undercover herself to retrace the woman’s footsteps and to identify who the victim might have angered along the way.
#16 - Bombshell
Season 12 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/23/2011
A grifter named Cassandra strikes swinging men who frequent sex clubs.
#17 - Avatar
Season 9 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/2/2007
Detectives are troubled to learn that someone has taken an online game too far when a girl goes missing.
#18 - Anchor
Season 11 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/9/2009
Fin's investigation into three little girl's deaths takes him into the world of immigration, anchor babies, a grassroots opposition movement, a radio talk show host who fans the hatred, and an immigration rights attorney who is somehow tied up in everything.
#19 - Shattered
Season 11 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/19/2010
The detectives end up in a dangerous situation while investigating the whereabouts of a kidnapped eight-year-old boy.
#20 - Strange Beauty
Season 13 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/16/2012
Police dive into an underground world of self-mutilation and ritual amputation while searching for a missing woman. When a cleanly severed leg is found, the detectives look for links between their current investigation and a possibly similar cold case.
#21 - Guardians and Gladiators
Season 22 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/12/2020
When the squad tries to solve an assault in Central Park, they are hampered by their own blind spots and a community that is losing trust in the police.
#22 - Part 33
Season 20 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/7/2019
As Stone prosecutes the case of a woman who killed her abusive husband, Benson and her squad wrestle with the duty of testifying against her.
#23 - Comic Perversion (1)
Season 15 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/26/2014
When a controversial misogynistic comic is accused of rape, Benson is happy to arrest him, but Barba feels the case is weak. (Conventions (2) aired on Chicago P.D., season 1, episode 6.)
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#24 - Wrath
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/2001
The detectives investigate three murders that seemingly have with no connection to each other, but each one has ties to Benson's previous cases and the detectives worry that Benson is the intended target.
#25 - Hothouse
Season 10 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/13/2009
When a teenager's body is uncovered in the Hudson River, the detectives search for the victim's identity which leads Benson to go undercover as a madam.