History LawAndOrderSVU / TropesAToF

** In "Trophy" a man is targetted by the SVU as an accomplice to rape and murder. The truth is the man, Jason, had been brutally beaten and violated by the real culprit who was his former cellmate for five years. The SVU shows no sympathy for Jason and act completely indifferent to the evidence of Jason's rape prompting his laywer to show the evidence ''again'' to argue Jason is not an accomplice but a victim. Jason is a nervous wreck through out the whole episode and the mere sight of his rapist nearly causes him to have a panic attack but all he receives from the SVU is Stabler threatening to deliver him back to his rapist. This stands out even more when a woman who was raped by the same criminal shows up and Benson goes the extra mile to show her support and offers therapy groups to the victim.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: "Making A Rapist", where Shawn Roberts was mistakenly identified as having raped Melanie 16 years prior and imprisoned, and was raped while in prison. He was exonerated but found himself ill-adjusted. While he got along with Melanie's daughter Ashley, he ended up raping and killing her in a drunken rage after trying to confess his love for her. Melanie even agonizes over testifying as if she were right this time, it would acknowledge that she held a bit of responsibility in setting off the chain of events that turned a once-innocent man into a killer and led to the demise of her daughter.

** In Season 3's "Repression", a young woman "recalls" that [[ParentalIncest her father sexually abused her]] in her youth after [[FakeMemories a psychiatrist "recovers" memories of the abuse]]. In typical SVU fashion, [[FromBadToWorse it goes downhill from there]], with the father being vilified as a monster by everyone, including the SVU department and his own family, culminating in the [[SelfMadeOrphan father being shot by his other daughter]] [[KnightTemplarBigBrother in a misguided attempt to protect her sister from him]]. Only then does the truth come to light, which is that the girl is actually a virgin, meaning no abuse could have taken place at all. They are able to use this to get the psychiatrist arrested for malpractice.

* DropTheHammer: "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Hammered]]".

** Defied and deconstructed in "Parole Violations". Carisi's sister's fiancé is raped at gunpoint by his parole officer. The trope does come into play when the officer's supervisor treats it like a joke and the victim's girlfriend blames him for "cheating" on her (until Olivia sets her straight). However, the police take the case seriously (with no IdiotOfTheWeek unlike the above episode), it's clear that the victim's life is being ruined by the experience, and when the officer tries to explain herself in the end, she gives obviously lame excuses and comes across as wholly unsympathetic to the audience. The double standard is invoked here to show that the case is a hard sell, but it is clear that the writers intend the viewers to reject it.

** Tensley Evans from "Producer's Backend" is a self-destructive drunk whose go-to response to getting out of trouble is a FalseRapeAccusation, first to the officer who arrested her for drunk driving and later to her therapist to get out of going back to rehab. When it is revealed that she committed statutory rape on a fifteen-year-old boy, while the officers take it seriously, Tensley sees nothing wrong with her actions and the victim treats it as the greatest moment of his life. It is here that the episode suddenly pivots to her being a TroubledAbuser as the only explanation for why she sees nothing wrong with having sex with teenagers. Compare this to Evan from "Nocturne", who goes from being a victim to a stone-cold abuser when it was discovered that he himself had molested a child while under the teacher's care, and, who also unlike Tensley, went to jail for it.

* TheDissenterIsAlwaysRight: Whenever the majority of the detectives are convinced they have an open-and-shut case, except for one person who thinks something doesn't quite add up, you can almost always bet hard money that person will be proven right before the episode is out.

** Tensley Evans from "Producer's Backend" is a self-destructive drunk whose go-to response to getting out of trouble is a FalseRapeAccusation, first to the officer who arrested her for drunk driving and later to her therapist to get out of going back to rehab. When it is revealed that she committed statutory rape on a fifteen-year-old boy, while the officers take it seriously, Tensley sees nothing wrong with her actions and the victim treats it as the greatest moment of his life. It is here that the episode suddenly pivots to her being a TroubledAbuser as the only explanation for why she sees nothing wrong with having sex with teenagers. Compare this to Evan from “Nocturne”, who goes from being a victim to a stone-cold abuser when it was discovered that he himself had molested a child while under the teacher's care, and, who also unlike Tensley, went to jail for it.

** So, it's SafeSaneAndConsensual, {{polyamory}} and CasualKink versus monster and AMatchMadeInStockholm. The husband claims the first option, but that might just be FromACertainPointOfView or even BlatantLies. As for Elena, she never gets a voice in the matter. The kidnapping theory is implied to be the correct one, but if it's actually verified then that happens ''after'' the episode is over.

** ''Or'' because they have kidnapped Ilena and held her against her will until StockholmSyndrome set in.

** In "Glasgowman's Wrath", 13-year-old Perry stabs a cat to death, claiming that Glasgowman (a parody of Slender Man) told her to do it.
** In "Born Psychopath", 10-year-old Henry drowns his neighbor's dog in the bathtub.
** In "Conscience", when investigating the claims of a 13-year-old boy named Jake that he was abused at a wilderness survival camp, the other boys reveal that he was actually the one who bullied them. One of the things he did was kill a gopher and leave it in another boy's bed.

* DeathBySex: WAY too many times to count, but considering the fact that it's the main characters' job to investigate sex crimes, it's a JustifiedTrope.
** Sometimes subverted by the show. A notable DoubleSubversion happens in one episode that begins with a couple having an extra-marital affair and the married partner of one arriving. The other flees through a window and discovers the actual VictimOfTheWeek, who is dead in the apartment below. Then it's discovered that she wasn't raped, but that she was staged like the victims of a 1970s serial killer / rapist that is still at large.

** It's not uncommon for the SVU team to threaten perps with the death penalty to get them to take a deal and confess to a crime, even though New York has banned capital punishment since 2008 (Season 10). The threat is all the more empty given the New York's last execution was in ''1963''.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: The 2011 episode "Flight" seems to be obviously based on the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, but in fact predated the incident by several months.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Glen, the older foster brother of a murder victim in the season 3 episode "Care", seems like he might be autistic. He is intellectually disabled, has self-injurious stims when stressed, doesn't make eye contact, and has a special interest in the VideoGame/SwordQuest video game (which turns out to help the detectives figure out that the real perp is female, like the final boss in the game). But an actual diagnosis is never given. (There is some suggestion that it may be trauma-induced rather than a genetic disorder like autism.)
** Gabriel Duvall, a perp from the season 6 episode "Night". He has obsessive-compulsive tendencies, but the closest we get to a name for his condition is "oddball genius". Subverted in the Trial by Jury crossover episode, "Day," deals with Gabriel's trial, and the possibility of him having Asperger's syndrome is discussed at length.
** Lewis Hodda, a perp from the season 14 episode "Manhattan Vigil" and the season 17 episode "Depravity Standard". He seems detached, agitated, and has unusual speech patterns. Dr. Huang describes him as "scarred" from an abusive childhood, claiming that the abuse made him highly suggestible when threatened violence, but Huang never puts a name to whatever condition the guy might have.
** Holden March, his parents mention the possibility of him being [[HollywoodAutism on the spectrum]], but a former boss of his thought he had OCD.

* TheDollEpisode: "Dolls", naturally.

* BrokenAesop: "Birthright" centered around a mother kidnapping the daughter of another couple convinced she was her own daughter that had gone missing, and it was discovered she ''was'' the child's biological mother: the two had gone to the same fertility clinic and the doctor used the first woman's eggs in the second. Casey was conflicted about the ensuing custody battle and Elliot related her the JudgmentOfSolomon tale. Casey called the girl to testify and grilled her about the confusion over her parents until she began to cry, and the biological mother called the trial off, unwilling to put her through such an ordeal. The point of the Judgment of Solomon story is that Solomon ruled in favor of the mother who surrendered, because her unwillingness to let the child come to harm proved she loved it more and thus was the real mother. This implies that the first woman loves the child more than the couple and she should get custody, but instead she pleads guilty to custodial interference and moves out of state while the couple retains custody.

* {{Corpsing}}: In "Popular", Olivia's lips noticeably twitch when delivering a cheesy pun based on student body. An outtake shows Mariska Hargitay couldn't make it through without breaking down giggling.

** Amanda Rollins fondly mentions in Season 14 that her sister gives her stuff, suggesting a friendly relationship than later episodes would imply. (Then again, she seems to have a rosy view of that relationship and Kim in general, at least until Kim finally pushes her too far, so it's unclear.)

* AdultFear: The show centers on RippedFromTheHeadlines plots, doesn't hesitate to whip out the truly alarming statistics on domestic abuse, sexual assault, incest, and child molestation. In one particularly upsetting-for-grownups episode ("Conscience"), a little boy goes missing at a birthday party and is found dead shortly afterward. The security tape from the party shows him holding a balloon as he walks out of the camera's viewpoint-- only for the balloon to roll by it without the boy only seconds later. The big kicker? He was killed by ''another child''. An adult might have a healthy suspicion of other adults around their kids, but who would ever question another kid at a birthday party?
** "Raw" centers around a shooting at an elementary school that kills one child and injures two others. The boy who was killed had recently been adopted; his parents thought they were saving him from the messy foster care system. [[spoiler: Ends up subverted in this case; the parents adopted the boy specifically so that they could have him killed for the insurance money.]]
*** Played straight with the other kids, especially the two who were injured. Not only is your kid terrorized (and in two cases wounded) by a sniper on their own school playground, but it turns out that it was the parents of another child who arranged for it to happen.

** Olivia Benson actually had a normal relationship with her mother early on.
** Aside from his introduction, Fin is casually wearing suits while on duty during his first season. And speaking of his introduction attire, they are bright colored instead of being dark and muted like the ones Fin has been wearing since.