The television network USA tends to be a quieter network that doesn’t really show too much media that rocks the boat; nothing to worry about. This fairly renowned network is home to one of the longest-running crime dramas known to man in Law and Order, more specifically Special Victims Unit where sexually based crimes are considered especially blah blah blah. This show, while being a joke to some celebrities as the ultimate sign of “making it” normally shows what people think actually goes on in all police precincts across the nation, even when some of the things tend to tip-toe around near bigoted imagery and notions.
As the shows ran the air from 8:00pm through 10:00pm, several strong themes kept coming forth that seemed to give a solid layout of the show. In this show, there is a main group of 5 detectives whose cases and themselves are chiefly focused on. The first pair of detectives is two men named John Munch and Fin Tutuola who are a white Jewish man (the only one on the show) and an African-American (only African male on the show)respectively, which brings us to our first running thematic structure.
Throughout the show, there are of course many leads, thoughts and ideas as to how these detectives will solve the crimes they are assigned to. Whenever the “team” tries to make a hive mind to solve their crimes, John and Fin will makes suggestions that are normally, for lack of a better term, rejected right off the bat or are faced with egregious criticism with things like, “Oh come on that doesn’t even make sense” or “I just don’t think that’s the case here”. This is the case about 95% of the time, and is almost always done by their white detective partners. This is a common theme throughout television in general, with the African being a good deal “less educated” or shown as such when with white counterparts or having a follower of a non-dominant religion be shown as a bit outlandish or a neurotic and paranoid person. This actually brings us to the next point about race, but now dealing with the victims and suspects. As a further utilization race, there is no shortage of making both African men and women seem wild and foreign. 
Most of the African-American women that were brought in for questioning or were witnesses needed in the case were shown as being those with very loud and colorful clothing, having large and “all done up” hair dos, and also shown to be close to losing control of themselves.
As we get away from the juicy topic of race we move toward the other two main detectives on this show, one female named Olivia Benson (play by Mariska Hargitay) and a male named Eliot Stabler (played by Christopher Meloni). Olivia is a both a rape child and a rape victim whose past experiences on the show almost seem to have little effect on her actions in this show. An example of how her character has been shaped, simply because she is female, is that she is very caring and compassionate when it comes to dealing with suspects, victims, or even children that were in any way involved with what was going on during the show and would constantly be the “good cop” whenever her and her partner had to deal with suspects or victims. Another thing that was very apparent in regards to Olivia Benson was the fact that she seems to be undermined as a cop due to her being simply female. Her wardrobe over the years began as very conservative with a normal shirt, coat, and blue jeans; average cop attire.
More recently, as in the past 5 years or so, her attire has gone from conservative to near slutty. She is wearing tighter pants that show off her curves, her tops are getting lower and lower to where she can actually stop suspects with her cleavage alone, and the amount of make-up she wears on duty is enough to make any priest or nun fall into a fit on uncontrollable prayer and penance. What this says to me is that the show, and possibly society as a whole, cannot take a female cop seriously unless she is dolled up and portrays herself as simply an object of desire rather than an instrument of justice. While some may think that this may be an oversight into Olivia’s character, one cannot dismiss this when it takes place every single show, and is getting a bit more over-the-top with each episode.
More recently, as in the past 5 years or so, her attire has gone from conservative to near slutty. She is wearing tighter pants that show off her curves, her tops are getting lower and lower to where she can actually stop suspects with her cleavage alone, and the amount of make-up she wears on duty is enough to make any priest or nun fall into a fit on uncontrollable prayer and penance. What this says to me is that the show, and possibly society as a whole, cannot take a female cop seriously unless she is dolled up and portrays herself as simply an object of desire rather than an instrument of justice. While some may think that this may be an oversight into Olivia’s character, one cannot dismiss this when it takes place every single show, and is getting a bit more over-the-top with each episode.
One last point of main observation brings us to the last main character in Eliot Stabler who is the typical big-chested, quick-tempered white male cop. He normally plays counter to Olivia’s “compassionate and loving” good cop, with his own brand of “rough and tough” bad cop. While he is capable and shows being able to be caring for small children who are indeed innocent for the majority of these episodes, he is much more easily seen as the cop that flies off the handle and solves problems with his gorilla fists as opposed to using his words like the rest of the good boys and girls. There are several instances where Stabler gets physically aggressive with the suspects, to where he has his partners calm him down and have him leave the room in order to not have any legal mandates or action taken against him. A few other times that are worth mentioning are that when the cases get a bit too close to home, since Stabler has a few children of his own, and are dealing strictly with pedophiles he gets very upset and takes his frustration out on inanimate objects like a box of tissues that he punches across the room or a locker that he brutalizes with his knuckles leaving it broken and dented. 
This goes on to show that men are seemingly incapable of having any sort of compassion for another living thing and only seem to know how to talk through tactile aggressiveness as Stabler shows all to much throughout the duration of this show.
This goes on to show that men are seemingly incapable of having any sort of compassion for another living thing and only seem to know how to talk through tactile aggressiveness as Stabler shows all to much throughout the duration of this show.
Conclusion
As we come to a close of this analysis of the underbelly of cop dramas, we find that many of the most basic stereotypes running rampant all over each and every character. The women are normally caring and showing that “great” maternal instinct even when the women are the suspects and perpetrators that are being legally dealt with, while the men are always the blow-hards who only seem to understand the language of fisticuffs. The foreign viewpoint is shown to be wild and unpredictable with a slight edge towards insanity and madness while the white and Christian supremacies are just that; supreme. These stereotypes are in every single show, for the most part, and are seemingly getting worse and worse with every episode of many shows. This is a frightening epidemic that stems the onslaught of American Societal discord and can eventually lead to a life where the stereotypes are no longer a label, but an all-encompassing reality by itself.
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