Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (often shortened to Law & Order: SVU or SVU) is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Dick Wolf for NBC. The first spin-off of Law & Order, expanding it into the Law & Order franchise, it stars Mariska Hargitay as Detective (ultimately promoted to Captain) Olivia Benson, now the commanding officer of the Special Victims Unit after originally having been Stabler's partner in a fictionalized version of the New York City Police Department, and Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler (until Meloni left the series in 2011 after 12 seasons). Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows the detectives of the Special Victims Unit as they investigate and prosecute sex-based crimes. Some of the episodes are loosely based on real crimes that have received media attention.

The series, produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, premiered on September 20, 1999. The series has received 108 award nominations, winning 59 awards. Hargitay was the first and only regular cast member on any Law & Order series to win an Emmy Award when she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006.

After the premiere of its 21st season in September 2019, the series became the longest-running primetime live-action series on American television. Since the end of the original run of the main Law & Order series in 2010, SVU is the only live-action primetime series having debuted in the 1990s to remain in continuous production. The 23rd season premiered on September 23, 2021, during which the show aired its milestone 500th episode. As of May 15, 2025, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has aired 573 original episodes, well surpassing the episode count of the original Law & Order series. In terms of all-time episode count for a primetime scripted series, SVU now ranks fourth behind The Simpsons (with 785 episodes), Gunsmoke (with 635 episodes), and Lassie (with 591 episodes). The 25th season premiered on January 18, 2024, and on March 21, 2024, NBC announced that it had renewed the series for its 26th season, which premiered on October 3, 2024. In May 2025, the series was renewed for a 27th season, which premiered on September 25, 2025.

The two longest-running regular characters in live-action scripted television history both achieved that record on SVU. Richard Belzer's John Munch character began his 21st consecutive season as a main character, first on Homicide: Life on the Street and then on SVU, in the show's 14th season in fall 2012, breaking the 20-season record held by two cast members of Gunsmoke and remaining through SVU's 15th season before departing as a regular. In fall 2021, Mariska Hargitay began her 23rd season as Olivia Benson, in turn breaking Belzer's record.

In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Based out of the NYPD New York City Police Department's 16th precinct in Manhattan, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit delves into the dark side of the New York underworld as the detectives of a new elite squad, the Special Victims Unit (SVU for short), investigate and prosecute various sexually oriented crimes, including rape, child sexual abuse, human trafficking and domestic violence. They also investigate the abuses of children, the disabled and elderly victims of non-sexual crimes who require specialist handling, all while trying to balance the effects of the investigation on their own lives as they try not to let the dark side of these crimes affect them.

Its stories also touch on the political and societal issues associated with gender identity, sexual preferences, and equality rights. While the victim is often murdered, this is not always the case, and victims frequently play prominent roles in episodes. The unit also works with the Manhattan District Attorney's office as they prosecute cases and seek justice for SVU's victims and survivors with precision and a passion to win and bring closure to the intense investigations. The series often uses stories that are "ripped from the headlines" or based on real crimes. Such episodes take a real crime and fictionalize it by changing some details.

Originally, the show focused around the detective pairing of Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). Stabler is a seasoned veteran of the unit who has seen it all and tries his best to protect his family from the horrors he has seen in his career. Meanwhile, Benson's difficult past as the child of a rape victim is the reason she joined the unit. Backing them up are Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer) and his first partner, Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters). Munch is a transfer from Baltimore's homicide unit, who brings his acerbic wit, conspiracy theories, and street-honed investigative skills; Cassidy is young and eager to learn from his fellow detectives.