New York City's Special Victims Unit Sparknotes

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EVENTS SUMMARY Season 17 Episode 02 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, “Criminal,” follows the members of New York City’s Special Victims Unit as they work on a complicated case involving the murder of Rebecca Wheeler. The episode begins with a florist transporting flowers across Central Park while talking to a police officer, when the florist makes a comment about a marked-off crime scene that has been untouched for days. To the officer’s surprise, there is no record of an ongoing scene at this location, thus he walks over to the taped-off region of the park to discover a body underneath a pile of leaves. Detective Elliot Stabler and Detective Olivia Benson arrive at the scene, where they are informed by Crime Scene Unit Captain Judith …show more content…

There are also a number of forensic techniques employed when searching Rebecca’s apartment. CSU is seen photographing the scene and Detective Benson, while wearing gloves, presents a turkey baster in an evidence bag that she collected from the bathtub that was likely filled with rubbing alcohol to wash away DNA. Additionally, Special Agent Dr. George Huang provides a behavioral analysis of the perpetrator’s actions. He explains that the killer is organized, intelligent, has a good knowledge of forensics, and demonstrates meticulous post-offense behavior. He also infers that the crime scene tape was used to send a message that the perpetrator is smarter than the detectives, but also cared about the victim, as she was laid gently on the ground in the park, posed, and covered with leaves. In searching for evidence related to Professor Vega, Detective Benson finds condoms in his apartment that match the latex material found inside the victim and the fiber from Rebecca’s trachea matches the material of one of Vega’s …show more content…

In addition to the wrongful level of significance placed on the class evidence, there was also a level of bias throughout this case because Professor Vega is an ex-convict of murder. Once the detectives take a better look at the evidence, another trial is held in which ADA Novak explains to Judge Lena Petrovsky that, in light of the new evidence, the People and the Defense are filing jointly to dismiss all charges against Vega. Judge Petrovsky granted the motion to set aside the conviction of Vega in the interests of justice and, thus, he is free to go, with the court’s apologies. ENTERTAINMENT COMPONENT This episode does a thorough job of illuminating the various forensic techniques and legal components that are important to and must be considered by the detectives working on a case. However, this is a television show and, thus, an element of entertainment is present and inevitably skews the depiction accuracy of forensic science as a whole. Firstly, when Detective Benson is at the initial crime scene with Rebecca’s body, she examines the victim’s

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