An Old Stalwart: Law and Order: SVU

           Unlike my previous posts on The Good Wife and House of Cards, both newer shows normally written about for their plot twists and overarching narratives, Law and Order: SVU (along with the original Law and Order and Law and Order: CI) is the go-to show when comparing procedural police/law shows to reality.  Studies have analyzed the 15-season show’s accuracy of its portrayal of the legal system and articles have detailed how closely SVU has mirrored its ripped-from-the-headlines stories.

            This week’s episode entitled “Criminal Stories” featured a Muslim woman, Heba, who claimed that she was raped in Central Park as a hate crime; after a journalist, played by Alec Baldwin, exposes that Heba was not in Central Park at the time of her alleged rape, it is discovered that the victim was really raped in the office of her brother’s boss.  The case goes to trial and when the reporter realizes his error and writes a retraction, the judge declares a mistrial because multiple jurors admit to reading the story.

            This case was based loosely on that of Tawana Brawley, which was directly mentioned in the episode, although Brawley fabricated her claims, while Heba was actually raped in the show.  The episode highlighted an issue with prosecuting rape cases, because as Detective Benson pointed out, victims of sexual assault omit details of their crime 50% of the time when first telling police, due to embarrassment and/or fear.  As such, the district attorney has a huge hurdle to overcome in terms of the victim’s credibility.  In this case in particular, Heba deliberately faked a crime scene by rubbing mud on herself as if she was actually in the park.  Although other evidence was found to corroborate the real story—an unrealistic, overwhelming amount—it seems unlikely that this would be a winnable case in real life.  (In the show, a plea bargain is reached.)  Additionally, despite the lovely irony of Alec Baldwin as a reporter, a sole journalist would probably not have as much impact in a real case as he did in this one.