For many years, television shows based on crime and police drama have been highly popularized by a large number of viewers. One widely known franchise is “Law & Order”, created by Dick Wolf in the early 1990’s. The most popular series created by Wolf is “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” which still continues today and has garnered many awards and recognitions. “Law & Order: SVU” is particularly powerful in showing the gruesome effects of sexually based crimes on every episode. The show captures, at its core, how these crimes affect the many distinct cultures existing in New York City. In one recent episode, for example, the Trayvon Martin case that took place in Florida was portrayed in a New York setting, with a devious sexual twist.
With it’s basis being in New York City, the show hits New Yorkers close to home. Whether it’s a kidnap of a child or an assault on a young woman, the premise of each episode boils the emotions of every viewer. By basing episodes on real life events, “Law & Order: SVU” shows how important it is for people to understand the substantial effects of crime not only in New York City, but also across the country. The episode based on the Trayvon Martin case is a perfect example of this because the case brought a heightened debate on the issue of race as it pertains to crime.
According to Warren Leight, the show runner of “Law & Order: SVU”, “Clearly race is the issue that does not go away”. He addresses the stereotypical matter of African Americans involvement in crimes, whether it’s a robbery or a rape. In New York City, minorities commit a majority of crimes, so when people watch the news or read a newspaper about a recent offense, many automatically assume a black man committed it. The Trayvon Martin based episode gives substantial attention to this fact and allows for both sides of the story to be heard.
From the perspectives of minorities, or in this case African Americans, criminal cases should not be solely judged on a person’s race or ethnicity; just because a person is not white doesn’t mean they have a higher possibility of becoming a criminal. In the “Law & Order: SVU” episode, a wealthy woman walking to her home in the Upper West Side shoots a young black man wearing a dark hood in the fear that he was about to attack or rob her. Without even knowing the purpose behind the young man’s motives, the bulk of the public, more specifically the white community, automatically assumes he had ill intentions. This, in turn, causes a large emotional response from the black community because they understand how prejudiced the white community is in regards to crime.
The New York Times has a New York City Homicide Map posted on its website that shows the number of homicides per year and the percentage of homicides committed by specific races and ethnicities. The Map has recorded that black people performed 62 percent of homicides in 2011 while white people performed only eight percent. Because of these heavy statistics, a large bias exists in the white community. “Law & Order: SVU” does an exceptional job in delivering a powerful message in each episode, and in this episode in particular because not only does it relate to crime biases in New York City, but also throughout the country.
Although the Trayvon Martin case took place in Florida, it garnered the attention of the entire country, especially the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or the NAACP for short. After George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin, the NAACP strongly voiced their opinion on the case and the issue of race in crime. The members criticized the American government on their faults in not properly addressing the clear biases against black people and their assumed involvements in crimes and misconducts.
The issue that many people find problematic is the clear fact that colored people do commit most crimes. New York City has various neighborhoods that hold high records of criminal activities, such as Harlem and Bed-Stuy, and one important factor to consider is the fact that these areas have concentrated numbers of minorities living in them. Unfortunately this causes people to become fearful of entering these areas and creates this negative stereotype that the colored people living there are most likely criminals.
“Law & Order: SVU”’s attempt to address a very sensitive issue has challenged viewers to think more deeply into how these racial biases affect the New York City community. Watching this episode, I couldn’t help but think about how many other episodes had colored perpetrators. The show doesn’t intend to deepen this stereotypical mindset; it aims to dissect the problem and understand the reason behind why people have such strong biases. The Trayvon Martin based episode captures, in its essence, the reactions of different parties to high profile crime scenarios and how these reactions affect the general public.
The white population’s perspective, in contrast to the minorities’, is that if a colored person becomes the suspect, then they most likely committed the crime. They don’t give much thought into the case itself because their racial prejudices cloud their thinking. This “Law & Order: SVU” episode shows this exactly, especially when the older white female victim defends herself against the assumed black perpetrator and says she did so because he was black.
As New York City continues in its struggle to lower the crime rate throughout the boroughs, it faces the stronger battle of racial prejudices. The real question everybody should be asking themselves is, how can different individuals in such a diverse community coexist without judging each other based on race or ethnicity? This battle won’t end quickly or easily, but how we fight through it will truly show our characters as New Yorkers and as humans.
Works Cited
“Law & Order: SVU Airs Trayvon Martin/Paula Deen/Stop and Frisk/Government Shutdown Episode.” New York Observer. 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
“Murder: New York City.” New York Times. n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
