Opinion: SVU sends wrong messages regarding how victims shouldbe treated by cops

[fireflame]

SVU has often been praised for exposing sexual abuses, rapes, and harassment. But I believe the show sends a few wrong messages grading how to treat victim.

1. Victims are often pressured to sue the offender. While it is understandable to want to punish the offender to avoid new victims and make justice, this should not come at the cost of jeopardizing the well being of the victim. In various instances, the show has victims subtly coerced into going to court even though it is jeopardizing their whole career, in a country with a very poor healthcare system.
2. The cops sometimes do way too much "projection" on victims, projecting their own beliefs or system of values
3. There are way too many episodes depicting teenage victims as clueless girls who don't use their brains. This sounds like a form of victim blaming , implying rape victims lacked maturity.University episodes come e to mind.

I have other criticisms about the series, not related to cops, but I feel some behaviors displayed by cops in the series are not healthy for victims.

 

[Cocolina]

This is about the TV show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit I guess

 

[808s & Villainy]

SVU has been praised? I assumed the series and all its iterations were low grade background noise TV

 

[skillzilla81]

But how is Rollins still a cop, tho?

 

[Sonicfan1373]

1. I do agree with this point to a degree based on certain episodes. However, in other cases I believe some of the push is meant to jolt the victim into understanding that there is a team that believes in them and is willing to protect them so that they feel comfortable to go up against their abusers in court. There have also been plenty of cases where the victim declines to move forward and so the detectives have to look for other victims to go forward with their case.

2. I believe that this is done intentionally, in order to create a show that does not depict cops as being completely objective bearers of justice. Much like in reality, the cops on the show have their own biases which can sometimes interfere with their work.

3. Again part of this comes from point 2 where the cops are projecting their own views, which again, unfortunately, is how real police are like. On the other hand, the brains of teenagers and young adults are still developing, and showing miss judgement on the part of the victim is not really victim blaming as it is showing how the perpetrators took advantage of these younger individuals who are still not fully developed.

I would say the show overall demonstrates that victims should be believed and treated with compassion and every complaint is worth investigating (this is what I largerly get from the character of Olivia Benson). At the same time, it does not try to idealize police work. It shows that cops have their own views and beliefs that can get in the way of their work (in some cases to horrible consequences) and that they also make mistakes.

 

[bangai-o]

People still watch tv?

 

[lacer]

speaking as someone who has literally watched every SVU episode to date, i'm not sure anyone should attempt to glean any meaningful message from a show that recently had the leading District Attorney murder an infant

 

[Lonewulfeus]

In the beginning of the series the cops definitely implied going to jail meant being raped as an interrogation technique, bit tone deaf for a show ostensibly raising awareness of sexual assault etc.