In the criminal justice system, sexually based crimes such as rape, torture, pedophilia and child-abuse are dealt with in New York City, by a special unit of the police department known as the Special Victims Unit. Its members include Detective Olivia Benson, herself the child of a rape, Detective Elliot Stabler, a family man trying to protect his family from the horrors of the world, Detective John Munch, a cynical ex-Baltimore homicide detective beginning a new life in New York, Detective Fin Tutuola, a streetwise cop from the Hood, and Captain Donald Cragen, their boss. The crimes they deal with are painful, emotional, disturbing, horrific and scarring - and every day there's more of the same... These are their stories.