A wide variety of crimes plague modern society, despite how hard we collectively try to abolish them for good. Although, certain offenses — sexual assault, child abuse, and the like — are especially gruesome and frustratingly prevalent, meaning they require a special team of individuals to investigate them and bring those responsible to justice. Those are the kinds of public servants that “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” highlights each and every week, giving audiences a look at what their job entails and the types of struggles they face, albeit in a dramatized setting.

“Law & Order: SVU” has become a small screen staple over the past 20-plus years that it has occupied NBC’s programming lineup. People can’t get enough of Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), who recently returned from a hiatus away from the show. As a result, the series has extended long past the 500 episode mark and is currently enjoying its 23rd season, and given how popular it remains, we’re unlikely to see “SVU” disappear from the small screen for quite a while.

There’s something cathartic about seeing Benson and Stabler put the worst of the worst behind bars, but “SVU” isn’t exactly all sunshine and rainbows. In fact, it can sometimes be a rather depressing watch — particularly the installments where death looms large over the story.

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