Ripped from the headlines

Law & Order episodes are often advertised as being "ripped from the headlines." Many people mistake this to mean that they are based on real events. In reality, the slogan refers to the franchise's practice of coming up with stories that are partially inspired by recent headlines. However, with few exceptions, only a fairly small portion of the episode resembles the real incident or incidents that it is inspired by. There might be a few scenes that resemble a well-known headline, while the majority of the episode goes in a different direction, or there could be one character that is based on a famous individual but the circumstances the person encounters are largely made up.

Often the plot of an initial portion of an episode resembles a recognizable aspect of an actual case, such as the 1998 episode of the original series "Tabloid", wherein a woman is killed in a car crash after being chased by a gossip reporter, similarly to Princess Diana's death in August 1997. This "ripped from the headlines" theme is reflected in the opening credits sequence that evolves from newspaper halftones to high-resolution photos. The rest of the plot, however, usually diverges significantly from the actual events that may have inspired the episode.

Promotional advertisements of episodes with close real-life case parallels often use the "ripped from the headlines" phrase, although a textual disclaimer, within the actual episode, emphasizes that the story and characters are fictional. This format lends itself to exploring different outcomes or motives that similar events could have had under other circumstances.

List of Law & Order (franchise) episodes Ripped from the Headlines

Law & Order

Season 1

• 1x01: Prescription for Death - The Libby Zion case.
• 1x02: Subterranean Homeboy Blues - The Bernhard Goetz (aka "The Subway Vigilante") case.
• 1x03: The Reaper's Helper - The Jack Kevorkian (aka "Dr. Death") case.
• 1x04: Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die - The Robert Chambers (aka "Preppie Killer") case.
• 1x05: Happily Ever After - The Charles "Chuck" Stuart case.
• 1x06: Everybody's Favorite Bagman - The 1986 New York Parking Violations Bureau corruption scandal.
• 1x07: By Hooker, By Crook - The Sydney Biddle Barrows (aka The Mayflower Madam) case.
• 1x08: Poison Ivy - The Edmund Perry case.
• 1x09: Indifference - The Joel Steinberg case.
• 1x11: Out of the Half-Light - The Tawana Brawley rape allegation case.
• 1x13: A Death in the Family - The Larry Davis case.
• 1x15-1x16: The Torrents of Greed - Based on the life of John Gotti and the New York Mob.
• 1x17: Mushrooms - Inspired by real-life cases of young children hit by stray bullets in large U.S. cities.
• 1x19: The Serpent's Tooth - The Lyle and Erik Menendez (aka The Menendez Brothers) case.
• 1x20: The Troubles - The Joe Doherty case.
• 1x22: The Blue Wall - The Joe Sanchez case.

Season 2

• 2x01: Confession - The Oreste Fulminante case.
• 2x02: The Wages of Love - The Betty Broderick case.
• 2x05: God Bless the Child - The Alex Dale Morris case.
• 2x07: In Memory Of... - The George Franklin case.
• 2x08: Out of Control - Based on an actual rape case at St. John's University in Collegeville, Jamaica, New York (due to certain restrictions no one in that case could be named).
• 2x09: Renunciation - The Pamela Smart case.
• 2x10: Heaven - Based on the The Happy Land Fire caused by Julio González.
• 2x11: His Hour Upon the Stage - The Roy Radin case.
• 2x12: Star Struck - The cases of Rebecca Schaeffer, Theresa Saldan & Andrea Evans.
• 2x13: Severance - The CBS Murders case.
• 2x16: Vengeance - The Albert DeSalvo (aka "Boston Strangler") case.
• 2x18: The Fertile Fields - The Brooklyn Crown Heights Riot of 1991.
• 2x20: Intolerance - The Wanda Holloway case.

Season 3

• 3x02: Conspiracy - The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X assassinations.
• 3x03: Forgiveness - The Bonnie Garland case.
• 3x11: Extended Family - The Faye Yager case.
• 3x13: Night and Fog - The John Demjanjuk ("Ivan the Terrible") case.
• 3x17: Conduct Unbecoming - Based on the Tailhook Association scandal.

Season 4

• 4x01: Sweeps - Based on a 1988 episode of Geraldo.
• 4x03: Discord - The Mike Tyson rape case.
• 4x05: Black Tie - The Sunny von Bülow case.
• 4x07: Apocrypha - The Charles Manson case.
• 4x08: American Dream - Ron Levin case.
• 4x14: Censure - The Sol Wachtler case.
• 4x16: Big Bang - The Ted Kaczynski (aka "The Unabomber") case.
• 4x17: Mayhem - David Berkowitz (aka The Son of Sam) case and The Lorena Bobbitt case.
• 4x18: Wager - The James R. Jordan, Sr. murder.
• 4x19: Sanctuary - The Brooklyn Crown Heights and Rodney King 1992 Los Angeles riots.
• 4x20: Nurture - The Katie Beers case.
• 4x21: Doubles - The Tonya Harding case.

Season 5

• 5x01: Second Opinion - Based on the controversy surrounding the use of laetrile to treat cancer.
• 5x03: Blue Bamboo - Inspired by the Japanese use of comfort women during World War II.
• 5x04: Family Values - The Amy Fisher (aka the "Long Island Lolita") case.
• 5x05: White Rabbit - The Sara Jane Olson/Kathleen Soliah and Katherine Ann Power cases as well as the Weathermen underground anti-war movement.
• 5x06: Competence - The 1984 murder of Eleanor Bumpur.
• 5x07: Precious - Based on real cases of Münchausen syndrome by proxy.
• 5x08: Virtue - The Anita Hill scandal.
• 5x09: Scoundrels - The Charles Keating and Ivan Boesky scandals.
• 5x10: House Counsel - The Bruce Cutler case.
• 5x12: Progeny - The Paul Jennings Hill case.
• 5x13: Rage - The Colin case.
• 5x14: Performance - The Spur Posse case.
• 5x15: Seed - The Dr. Cecil Jacobson case.
• 5x17: Act of God - Inspired by insurance cases involving claims of an act of God.
• 5x18: Privileged - The Paul Cox case.
• 5x19: Cruel and Unusual - Based off the case of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Massachusetts.
• 5x20: Bad Faith - The James Porter case.
• 5x21: Purple Heart - The Anthony Riggs case.
• 5x22: Switch - The Karisa Santiago case.
• 5x23: Pride - The Dan White case.

Season 6

• 6x01: Bitter Fruit - The Ellie Nesler case.
• 6x05: Hot Pursuit - The Patty Hearst case.
• 6x06: Paranoia - The Gina Grant case.
• 6x07: Humiliation - Based on the Divine Brown incident.
• 6x08: Angel - The Susan Smith case.
• 6x10: Remand - The Kitty Genovese case.
• 6x11: Corpus Delicti - The Helen Brach case.
• 6x13: Charm City - The Colin Ferguson case, The Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 and the Daegu subway fire in China.
• 6x16: Savior - The John List (aka "The Bogeyman of Westfield") case.
• 6x18: Atonement - The Linda Sobek case.
• 6x22: Homesick - The Olivia Riner case.

Season 7

• 7x01: Causa Mortis - The murder of New Jersey schoolteacher Kathleen Weinstein in Toms River.
• 7x05: Corruption - Based on the 1967 through 1972 thefts of heroin from the Department Property Clerk's office of the New York City Police Department.
• 7x07: Deadbeat - The Jeffery Nichols case.
• 7x09: Entrapment - The Qubilah Shabazz case.
• 7x11: Menace - The Deletha Word case.
• 7x13: Matrimony - The Anna Nicole Smith inheritance case.
• 7x17: Showtime - The O. J. Simpson murder case.
• 7x18: Mad Dog - The Megan Kanka case.
• 7x20: We Like Mike - The murder of Ennis Cosby in 1997, in Los Angeles.
• 7x23: Terminal - The Angel Diaz case.

Season 8

• 8x01: Thrill - The Thomas Koskovich and Jayson Vreeland case.
• 8x02: Denial - The Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson case.
• 8x03: Navy Blues - The 1997 sex scandal involving the U.S. Air Force and Lt. Kelly Flinn.
• 8x04: Harvest - Inspired by a piece on 60 Minutes about people being shot in Los Angeles drive-bys.
• 8x05: Baby, It's You - Murder of JonBenét Ramsey.
• 8x16: Divorce - Based on the divorce of Joseph P. Kennedy II and Sheila Brewster Rauch.
• 8x17: Carrier - The Nushawn Williams case.
• 8x19: Disappeared - The Ted Kaczynski (aka "The Unabomber") case.
• 8x20: Burden - The Dr. Jack Kevorkian case.
• 8x21: Bad Girl - The Karla Faye Tucker case.
• 8x22: Damaged - The Glen Ridge High School rape case.
• 8x23: Tabloid - The deaths of Diana Spencer and Dodi Fayed.