‘Law and Order: SVU’ 16×18 – A case to change rape culture, but not for the better

In the last episode, Carisi’s sister’s boyfriend is involved in a he said/she said with his parole office as he accuses her of rape.

In this week’s show, titled “Devastating Story”, a young college student accuses a hockey team of raping her but as the case unfolds they find that maybe it’s all a ploy.

Fact vs. Fiction
Benson sees a rape victim, named Jane, being aired on a TV show, America’s Worst Crimes, that talks about crime that happen on Hudson campus. She decided to go to the TV show rather then police should have been a red flag for the police, but they would rather go through the motions to figure out that there is something off with this story.

Guest star Rob Morrow (TVs Numbers) guest stars as Skip Peterson the host of the show. He uses the story to help get him ratings for his show and to get his name on a movement. Looks like ratings are more important then the truth.

A Movement
After the episode airs, the campus is full of protestors and people encouraging Jane (whose real name is Heather’s) attack and her speaking out against the people that assaulted her.

The police play into the media frenzy using them to try and get through to the suspects.

While the message is strong and something that should be addressed, Heather’s methods were not the best. The teacher goes too far with what happened and twists some of the things of the story to make Heather think that she was raped.

Played
As the investigation goes on, the SVU quickly see that there is something off with Heather and her story. It changes and the fact that Skip is starting to get information is another red flag.

Things start unraveling as one of the suspects has a solid alibi and SVU finally sees that maybe Heather is not telling the truth.

Professor Dillon is the one that is wrong with this whole case. She is the one the fabricated Heather’s story and played not only Heather but the SVU and the media. And for what reason? To just bring awareness for campus sexual assault.

In the next episode, an epidemic of measles takes place and some mothers are accused of endangering children while the case hits close to come for Benson as Noah comes down with something.

What did you think of the show?