Gabrielle Vega is the daughter of Javier Vega. Her father was a heroin addict who murdered a young woman when he was 19. She visited him sometime during his imprisonment and upon founding out he had a daughter, he began to get clean and wrote to Gabrielle everyday.
Gabrielle loves her father and supported him during his murder trial of Rebecca Wheeler, a white student at the college Javier Vega teaches.
Soon the squad discovered Vega was framed but he had already lost his reputation, his career and started using again. Gabrielle filed a lawsuit against the police department and Captain Cragen individually (who was suspected of bias due to Cragen being the arresting officer when Vega was 19), for $12,000,000. Later, she comes back to SVU and Cragen for help when she finds a letter by her father, thinking he will commit suicide. (SVU: "Criminal")