Captain Donald "Don" Cragen (born April 1, 1947) was assigned to the New York City Police Department Special Victims Unit.
History
Previously, he was a homicide detective partnered with Max Greevey, and made a captain in 1989, where he worked with Greevey, Mike Logan, Phil Cerreta, and Lennie Briscoe before transferring. Cragen has identified himself as a recovering alcoholic. Cragen originally talked about drinking when discussing his time as Max Greevey's partner. This began the constant theme of detectives and addictions. Captain Cragen officially retired from the Special Victims Unit in 2014. (SVU: "Amaro's One-Eighty")
He left to go on a cruise around the world with his current girlfriend, Eileen Switzer, leaving Olivia Benson in charge of the Special Victims Unit.
Cragen reappeared later to help their reinvestigation into a rape that happened years ago back when Cragen ran the 2-7. (SVU: "Perverted Justice")
His wife, Marge, was a flight attendant until she was killed in an airplane accident. She and Donald have one son, who may have been adopted, and one daughter.
Officer-involved shootings
Appearances
- Law & Order (6 seasons, 69 episodes):
- Season 1: "Prescription for Death" • "Subterranean Homeboy Blues" • "The Reaper's Helper" • "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" • "Happily Ever After" • "Everybody's Favorite Bagman" • "Poison Ivy" • "Indifference" • "Prisoner of Love" • "Out of the Half-Light" • "Life Choice" • "A Death in the Family" • "The Violence of Summer" • "The Torrents of Greed (1)" • "The Torrents of Greed (2)" • "Mushrooms" • "The Secret Sharers" • "The Serpent's Tooth" • "The Troubles" • "Sonata for Solo Organ" • "The Blue Wall"
- Season 2: "Confession" • "The Wages of Love" • "Aria" • "Asylum" • "God Bless the Child" • "Misconception" • "In Memory Of..." • "Out of Control" • "Renunciation" • "Heaven" • "His Hour Upon the Stage" • "Star Struck" • "Severance" • "Blood Is Thicker..." • "Trust" • "Vengeance" • "Sisters of Mercy" • "Cradle to Grave" • "The Fertile Fields" • "Intolerance" • "Silence" • "The Working Stiff"
- Season 3: "Skin Deep" • "Conspiracy" • "Forgiveness" • "The Corporate Veil" • "Wedded Bliss" • "Helpless" • "Self Defense" • "Prince of Darkness" • "Point of View" • "Consultation" • "Extended Family" • "Right to Counsel" • "Night and Fog" • "Promises to Keep" • "Mother Love" • "Jurisdiction" • "Conduct Unbecoming" • "Animal Instinct" • "Virus" • "Securitate" • "Manhood" • "Benevolence"
- Season 5: "Bad Faith"
- Season 10: "Entitled"
- Season 15: "Fixed"
- Exiled: A Law & Order Movie
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (16 seasons, 307 episodes):
- Season 1: "Payback" • "A Single Life" • "...Or Just Look Like One" • "Hysteria" • "Wanderlust" • "Sophomore Jinx" • "Uncivilized" • "Stalked" •"Stocks & Bondage" • "Closure (Part I)" • "Bad Blood" • "Russian Love Poem" • "Disrobed" • "Limitations" • "Entitled" • "The Third Guy" • "Misleader" • "Chat Room" • "Contact" • "Remorse" • "Nocturne" • "Slaves"
- Season 2: "Wrong Is Right" • "Honor" • "Closure (Part II)" • "Legacy" • "Baby Killer" • "Noncompliance" • "Asunder" • "Taken" • "Pixies" • "Consent" • "Abuse" • "Secrets" • "Victims" • "Paranoia" • "Countdown" • "Runaway" • "Folly" • "Manhunt" • "Parasites" • "Pique" • "Scourge"
- Season 3: "Repression" • "Wrath" • "Stolen" • "Rooftop" • "Tangled" • "Redemption" • "Sacrifice" • "Inheritance" • "Care" • "Ridicule" • "Monogamy" • "Protection" • "Prodigy" • "Counterfeit" • "Execution" • "Popular" • "Surveillance" • "Guilt" • "Justice" • "Greed" • "Denial" • "Competence" • "Silence"
- Season 4: "Chameleon" • "Deception" • "Vulnerable" • "Lust" • "Disappearing Acts" • "Angels" • "Dolls" • "Waste" • "Juvenile" • "Resilience" • "Damaged" • "Risk" • "Rotten" • "Mercy" • "Pandora" • "Tortured" • "Privilege" • "Desperate" • "Appearances" • "Dominance" • "Fallacy" • "Futility" • "Grief" • "Perfect" • "Soulless"
- Season 5: "Tragedy" • "Manic" • "Mother" • "Loss" • "Serendipity" • "Coerced" • "Choice" • "Abomination" • "Control" • "Shaken" • "Escape" • "Brotherhood" • "Hate" • "Ritual" • "Families" • "Home" • "Mean" • "Careless" • "Sick" • "Lowdown" • "Criminal" • "Painless" • "Bound" • "Poison" • "Head"
- Season 6: "Birthright" • "Debt" • "Obscene" • "Scavenger" • "Outcry" • "Conscience" • "Charisma" • "Doubt" • "Weak" • "Haunted" • "Contagious" • "Identity" • "Quarry" • "Game" • "Hooked" • "Ghost" • "Rage" • "Pure" • "Intoxicated" • "Night" • "Blood" • "Parts" • "Goliath"
- Season 7: "Demons" • "Design" • "911" • "Ripped" • "Strain" • "Raw" • "Starved" • "Rockabye" • "Storm" • "Alien" • "Infected" • "Blast" • "Taboo" • "Manipulated" • "Gone" • "Class" • "Venom" • "Fault" • "Fat" • "Web" • "Influence"
- Season 8: "Informed" • "Clock" • "Recall" • "Uncle" • "Infiltrated" • "Underbelly" • "Cage" • "Choreographed" • "Burned" • "Outsider" • "Loophole" • "Dependent" • "Haystack" • "Philadelphia" • "Sin" • "Responsible" • "Florida" • "Annihilated" • "Pretend" • "Screwed"
- Season 9: "Alternate" • "Avatar" • "Impulsive" • "Savant" • "Harm" • "Svengali" • "Blinded" • "Fight" • "Paternity" • "Snitch" • "Streetwise" • "Signature" • "Unorthodox" • "Inconceivable" • "Undercover" • "Closet" • "Authority" • "Trade" • "Cold"
- Season 10: "Trials" • "Confession" • "Swing" • "Lunacy" • "Retro" • "Babes" • "Wildlife" • "Persona" • "PTSD" • "Smut" • "Stranger" • "Hothouse" • "Snatched" • "Transitions" • "Lead" • "Ballerina" • "Hell" • "Baggage" • "Selfish" • "Crush" • "Liberties" • "Zebras"
- Season 11: "Unstable" • "Sugar" • "Solitary" • "Hammered" • "Hardwired" • "Spooked" • "Users" • "Turmoil" • "Perverted" • "Anchor" • "Quickie" • "Shadow" • "P.C." • "Savior" • "Confidential" • "Witness" • "Disabled" • "Bedtime" • "Conned" • "Beef" • "Torch" • "Ace" • "Wannabe" • "Shattered"
- Season 12: "Locum" • "Bullseye" • "Behave" • "Merchandise" • "Wet" • "Branded" • "Trophy" • "Penetration" • "Rescue" • "Pop" • "Mask" • "Dirty" • "Flight" • "Spectacle" • "Pursuit" • "Bombshell" • "Delinquent"
- Season 13: "Scorched Earth" • "Personal Fouls" • "Blood Brothers" • "Double Strands" • "Missing Pieces" • "Russian Brides" • "Lost Traveler" • "Spiraling Down" • "Theatre Tricks" • "Official Story" • "Father's Shadow" • "Home Invasions" • "Hunting Ground" • "Child's Welfare" • "Justice Denied" • "Valentine's Day" • "Street Revenge" • "Strange Beauty" • "Rhodium Nights"
- Season 14: "Lost Reputation" • "Above Suspicion" • "Acceptable Loss" • "Manhattan Vigil" • "Friending Emily" • "Vanity's Bonfire" • "Dreams Deferred" • "Monster's Legacy" • "Secrets Exhumed" • "Deadly Ambition" • "Legitimate Rape" • "Born Psychopath" • "Girl Dishonored" • "Poisoned Motive" • "Brief Interlude" • "Her Negotiation"
- Season 15: "Surrender Benson" • "Imprisoned Lives" • "Internal Affairs • "Wonderland Story" • "Military Justice" • "Rapist Anonymous" • "Psycho/Therapist" • "Amaro's One-Eighty"
- Season 16: "Perverted Justice"
Trivia
- It was revealed in the episode "Hammered" that he is a recovering alcoholic for more twenty years. This is already hinted in "Slaves" when a shrink asks if he thinks about talking a drink and he says that he thinks about his alcoholism everyday.
- It is odd he is still a Captain after more than twenty years. He should have been promoted to deputy inspector. However, in the 2001 SVU episode "Paranoia", while discussing NYPD/IAB politics impeding the episode's investigation, he comments to the Chief of Detectives, "Twelve years as captain, I can't get promoted", implying that NYPD/IAB politics impeded his own career.
- After his partner Max Greevey was killed, the case of Steven Talmadge went cold, but Cragen still visited the family every year. With the help of his detectives, he finally solved the case and found Steven, renamed Tyler Blake, but was sympathetic to the family that had raised him for his whole life and that he wanted to stay with. As a result of his sympathies, Cabot became the family's lawyer for the custody battle. (SVU: "Stolen")
- At the time of his retirement, Cragen was one of the longest running Law & Order characters, appearing in both Law and Order and SVU's entire run.
- Cragen had been suspended three times from the SVU. The first was in Season 9's premiere, after the events of the Season 8 finale "Screwed", where it was revealed the many illegal actions of his detectives. The second time was in Season 11, during the Nikki Sherman investigation, as a result of Stabler's actions. The third time was in Season 14, when he was being tried for the death of a prostitute, when it was revealed that he was framed, he was temporarily placed until he returned several episodes later.
- Cragen is the first of four Law & Order characters to be moved from the show to another spinoff. The others are Lennie Briscoe, Mike Logan, and Connie Rubirosa. For Cragen, he was moved from Law & Order to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Main Characters | |
Senior Detectives: Elliot Stabler • John Munch • Odafin Tutuola • Olivia Benson • Amanda Rollins Junior Detectives: Olivia Benson • Monique Jeffries • Odafin Tutuola • Chester Lake • Amanda Rollins • Nick Amaro • Dominick Carisi, Jr. • Katriona Tamin • Joe Velasco • Grace Muncy Squad Supervisors: John Munch • Olivia Benson • Odafin Tutuola Commanding Officers: Donald Cragen • Olivia Benson • Christian Garland Assistant District Attorneys: Alexandra Cabot • Casey Novak • Kim Greylek • Rafael Barba • Peter Stone • Dominick Carisi, Jr. Others: Melinda Warner • George Huang |
Law & Order - Main Characters | |
Senior Detectives: Max Greevey • Phil Cerreta • Lennie Briscoe • Joe Fontana • Ed Green • Cyrus Lupo • Kevin Bernard • Frank Cosgrove • Jalen Shaw Junior Detectives: Mike Logan • Rey Curtis • Ed Green • Nick Falco • Nina Cassady • Cyrus Lupo • Kevin Bernard • Frank Cosgrove • Jalen Shaw • Vincent Riley Commanding Officers: Captain Donald Cragen • Lieutenant Anita Van Buren • Lieutenant Kate Dixon Executive Assistant District Attorneys: Benjamin Stone • Jack McCoy • Michael Cutter • Nolan Price Assistant District Attorneys: Paul Robinette • Claire Kincaid • Jamie Ross • Abbie Carmichael • Serena Southerlyn • Alexandra Borgia • Connie Rubirosa • Samantha Maroun District Attorneys: Adam Schiff • Nora Lewin • Arthur Branch • Jack McCoy • Nicholas Baxter |