The following is an unofficial list of episodes of Law & Order that have been ripped from the headlines.
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Ep# | Episode Title | Real Life Incident(s)/Case(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | Bitter Fruit | The Ellie Nesler case. |
3 | Savages | Based on New York's controversial capital punishment law. |
4 | Jeopardy | The Harry Aleman (a.k.a. "The Hook") case and the related suicide of Judge Frank J. Wilson. |
5 | Hot Pursuit | |
6 | Paranoia |
|
7 | Humiliation | The Hugh Grant/Divine Brown incident. |
8 | Angel | The Susan Smith case. |
10 | Remand | The Kitty Genovese case. |
11 | Corpus Delicti | The Helen Brach case. |
12 | Trophy | The Atlanta child murders case involving Wayne Williams. |
13 | Charm City | |
15 | Encore |
|
16 | Savior | The John List (a.k.a. "The Boogeyman of Westfield") case. |
18 | Atonement | The Linda Sobek case. |
21 | Pro Se | |
22 | Homesick | The Olivia Riner case. |
23 | Aftershock | The Kitty Genovese case. |
Season 7
Ep# | Episode Title | Real Life Incident(s)/Case(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | Causa Mortis | The Kathleen Weinstein case. |
2 | I.D. | The 1962 People v. Ortiz case |
5 | Corruption |
|
7 | Deadbeat | The Jeffery Nichols case. |
9 | Entrapment | The Qubilah Shabazz case. |
11 | Menace | The Deletha Word case. |
13 | Matrimony | The Anna Nicole Smith inheritance case. |
15 | D-Girl | |
16 | Turnaround | |
17 | Showtime | |
18 | Mad Dog |
|
19 | Double Down | The John Leo Brady/Donald Boblit case. |
20 | We Like Mike | The Ennis Cosby case. |
23 | Terminal | The Angel Diaz case. |
Season 8
Ep# | Episode Title | Real Life Incident(s)/Case(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | Thrill | The Thomas Koskovich/Jayson Vreeland case. |
2 | Denial | |
3 | Navy Blues | Based on the 1997 sex scandal involving the U.S. Air Force and Lt. Kelly Flinn. |
4 | Harvest | Inspired by a piece on 60 Minutes about people being shot in Los Angeles during drive-bys. |
5 | Nullification |
|
6 | Baby, It's You | The JonBenét Ramsey case. |
7 | Blood | Based on the life of Anatole Broyard. |
10 | Ritual | Based on the heightened concern over female genital mutilation. |
11 | Under the Influence |
|
13 | Castoff |
|
15 | Faccia a Faccia | |
16 | Divorce | The divorce of Joseph P. Kennedy II and Sheila Brewster Rauch. |
17 | Carrier | The Nushawn Williams case. |
19 | Disappeared | The Ted Kaczynski (a.k.a. "The Unabomber") case. |
20 | Burden | The Jack Kevorkian (a.k.a. "Dr. Death") case. |
21 | Bad Girl | The Karla Faye Tucker case. |
22 | Damaged | The Glen Ridge High School rape case. |
23 | Tabloid | The deaths of Diana Spencer and Dodi Fayed caused by Henri Paul. |
Season 9
Season 10
Season 11
Season 12
Ep# | Episode Title | Real Life Incident(s)/Case(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | Who Let the Dogs Out? | The Diane Whipple case. |
2 | Armed Forces |
|
3 | For Love or Money | The Debra Hartmann case. |
4 | Soldier of Fortune | The South African De Beers corporation diamond conflicts. |
6 | Formerly Famous | The Bonnie Lee Bakley case. |
7 | Myth of Fingerprints | The Joyce Gilchrist scandal. |
8 | The Fire This Time | The Earth Liberation Front. |
9 | 3 Dawg Night | The shooting at Club New York involving Sean Combs (a.k.a. "Puff Daddy)". |
10 | Prejudice | The James Byrd, Jr. case. |
11 | The Collar | Based on issues arising from confessional privilege in the U.S. |
14 | Missing | The Chandra Levy case. |
16 | Born Again | The Candace Newmaker case. |
18 | Equal Rights | The Enron scandal. |
21 | Foul Play | The Danny Almonte age scandal. |
22 | Attorney Client | The Craig Rabinowitz case. |
24 | Patriot |
|
Season 13
Season 14
Ep# | Episode Title | Real Life Incident(s)/Case(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | Bodies | The Robert Garrow case and the related "Buried Bodies" legal ethics case. |
2 | Bounty | |
3 | Patient Zero | The Dr. Richard J. Schmidt case. |
4 | Shrunk | The murder of Lana Clarkson committed by Phil Spector. |
5 | Blaze | The Station nightclub fire. |
7 | Floater | The Justice Victor I. Barron case. |
8 | Embedded | Based on the 2003 Geraldo Rivera controversy during the Iraq War. |
11 | Darwinian | The Gregory Glen Biggs case. |
12 | Payback | The trial of Mafia don Vincent Gigante. |
14 | City Hall | The assassination of James E. Davis. |
17 | Hands Free | The Robert Durst case. |
18 | Evil Breeds | The John Demjanjuk case. |
19 | Nowhere Man | The murder of Baltimore federal prosecutor Jonathan P. Luna. |
20 | Everybody Loves Raimondo's | The Louis Barone/Albert Circelli, Jr. murder case. |
21 | Vendetta |
|
22 | Gaijin | |
24 | C.O.D. | Ripped from the pages of Strangers on a Train and its film adaptation. |
Season 15
Season 16
Season 17
Season 18
Season 19
Ep# | Episode Title | Real Life Incident(s)/Case(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | Rumble |
|
3 | Lost Boys |
|
4 | Falling |
|
5 | Knock Off | Based on a New York Times report on untrained judges and abuses of justice in upstate New York. |
6 | Sweetie | The JT LeRoy literary hoax. |
7 | Zero |
|
8 | Chattel |
|
9 | By Perjury |
|
10 | Pledge | Based on Bruce Edwards Ivins' reported obsession with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. |
12 | Illegitimate | Based on the story of Jack Rodney Worthington II. |
13 | Crimebusters |
|
14 | Rapture | Based on services like Raptureletters.com. |
15 | Bailout |
|
16 | Take-Out | The Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case. |
17 | Anchors Away |
|
18 | Promote This! | The Luis Ramirez murder case. |
21 | Skate or Die |
|
22 | The Drowned and the Saved |
Season 20
See Also
- List of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Ripped from the Headline episodes
- List of Law & Order: Criminal Intent Ripped from the Headline episodes
- List of Law & Order: Trial By Jury Ripped from the Headline episodes
- List of Law & Order: LA Ripped from the Headline episodes
- List of Law & Order True Crime Ripped from the Headline episodes
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