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== Background information and notes ==
 
== Background information and notes ==
  +
*'''Goof''': When Benson and Stabler are walking Randall Haber out of Jackson Manor, the circle of the handcuffs can be seen clasped between Benson and Haber's hands. The cuffs are not actually around his wrists.
''Background information and notes''
 
  +
*'''Goof''': When Stabler takes the duct tape off of Adam's mouth, it is evident that there was a second piece of duct tape on the back so that it was not actually sticky.
 
 
{{episode|Title=Coerced|Series=Law & Order: Special Victims Unit|Serieslink=SVU|Season=5|Previous=[[Serendipity]]|Next=[[Choice]]}}
 
{{episode|Title=Coerced|Series=Law & Order: Special Victims Unit|Serieslink=SVU|Season=5|Previous=[[Serendipity]]|Next=[[Choice]]}}
 
 
[[Category:SVU episodes]]
 
[[Category:SVU episodes]]

Revision as of 00:14, 20 April 2011

"Coerced"
SVU, Episode 5.06
Production number: E4409
First aired: 28 October 2003
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Stabler Benson Coerced
Written By
Jonathan Greene

Directed By
Jean de Segonzac


Plot

5-year-old Adam Forbes is abducted by a schizophrenic man, Kevin Walker, who believes that Adam is his son. Walker stabs and kills a man to prevent losing the boy he believes is his son. Stabler gets into hot water when he deliberately pushes Kevin to the point of a psychotic break, putting his future career at risk--since, from this point on, any defense attorney for anyone arrested by Stabler can charge that he once coerced a mentally ill man to make a confession, implying that he might coerce a false confession from anyone he arrests. This would mean that he would be useless as an investigative detective, forcing him to resign or take a desk job. Without telling her what Stabler did (because, as an officer of the court, she might be forced to enter it onto the record,) Cragen convinces Novak to save Stabler's skin by accepting a plea deal for Kevin, so that no one will be forced to testify about what Stabler did during a trial. However, when the judge announces that Kevin will be sent to a psychiatric facility, Kevin is frantic, claiming that a woman named Martha was killed there. Novak, having gone out on a limb to help Stabler, is none too pleased, and demands that Stabler find out what Kevin was talking about. He digs deeper to prove Kevin's claims are true. Eventually they discover that the facility Kevin is talking about (a for-profit facility) is commiting fraud, profitting by neglecting its patients, and that because of their actions, Martha died of heat stroke. The facility fraudulently claims she committed suicide. Moreover, they deliberately cut off Kevin's medication and discharged him, to prevent the possibility of his testifying about what he saw (obviously, Kevin's kidnapping of the boy, and the murder he committed, are a direct result of these actions.) Stabler and Benson visit the facility and find the patients are horrendously neglected (the 'nurse' dispensing their medication cannot even speak English.) The head of the facility is arrested; Kevin, back on his medication and getting help and doing much better, is brought in as the star witness against him. Facing charges for the murder of both the woman who died of heat stroke and the man Kevin stabbed, the head of the facility accepts a plea of 15 to life. At the end, Stabler visits the recovering Kevin and reveals that Kevin's picture of his son was thrown out, but Stabler has brought him a camera and his family to visit, allowing Kevin to finally be reunited with his son.

Cast

Main cast

Guest cast

References

References

Quotes

Quotes

Background information and notes

  • Goof: When Benson and Stabler are walking Randall Haber out of Jackson Manor, the circle of the handcuffs can be seen clasped between Benson and Haber's hands. The cuffs are not actually around his wrists.
  • Goof: When Stabler takes the duct tape off of Adam's mouth, it is evident that there was a second piece of duct tape on the back so that it was not actually sticky.
Previous episode:
"Serendipity"
"Coerced"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 5
Next episode:
"Choice"
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