Law & Order Special Victims Unit

“He raped me.” Those are words we never want to say, think, nor hear, yet Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, has aired them on the majority of their 332 episodes. The portrayal of so many reported rapes is an example of the misrepresentations some people complain about in regards to Law & Order: SVU. Some viewers acknowledge that the lack of realism in the show stems from it being on television; however, others are outraged at how often certain, unrealistic scenarios are depicted in the series. Law & Order: SVU does not always portray the most realistic plotlines, but nevertheless, the show consistently destigmatizes rape while encouraging victims to speak up in hopes of receiving justice.

The introduction to the show is quite recognizable:

Many of the episodes feature stranger-rape cases, those in which the attacker and victim are not acquainted, as well as cases with female attackers. The high proportion of episodes featuring these types of cases lead one to falsely believe that stranger-rape and cases with a female perpetrator are common occurrences. This elicited a strong response by a blogger and rape victim, Melissa McEwan. She asserts that Law & Order: SVU misrepresents the truth behind rape by having disproportionate amounts of stranger-rape cases, cases involving female attackers, and victims making false accusations (McEwan). Others feel as though Law & Order: SVU is giving off a false assurance that the police will believe the rape victim’s claim and investigate it to as full an extent as the detectives on the show do. For example, Sara Alcid, a reproductive health and justice advocate, stresses that investigators may assume a victim to be lying simply based on the victim’s drug or alcohol habits, his or her occupation, especially when involving prostitution, and relation to the accused rapist. Her main point, however is much broader: that Law & Order: SVU misrepresents rape, both at the time of the attack and in the aftermath

Ms. McEwan makes a strong case with which I can easily agree. Stranger-rape cases accounted for only 24.1% of rapes from 2005 to 2010, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (Harrell 2012). In an analysis of rape and sexual assault by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, it was shown that in 1994, 99.6% of the imprisoned sexual assaulters were male, leaving only 0.4% to be made up of female perpetrators (Greenfeld 1997). As far as false accusations are concerned, there is debate on how many cases are actually fabricated, but, in 1996, approximately 8% of forcible rape cases were “unfounded” (U.S. Department of Justice 24). Ms. Alcid also has a valid point. Rapes may go unreported due to the lack of believability of the victims’ claims. In fact, only 40% of rapes are reported to the police (“Reporting Rates”). Regardless of my acknowledgement that both women’s opinions are well-founded and agreeable, I do not share in their noticeable distaste of the