A murderer's shooting spree in Central Park prompts Briscoe and his new partner, Detective Ed Green, to trace the murder weapon's origin; McCoy makes it his mission to punish the killer and the gun manufacturer.
Briscoe and Green believe a 10-year-old is responsible for a child's death, and McCoy wants her isolated to stop any future fatalities.
As Briscoe and Green investigate the shooting of a judge, suspicion quickly points to her husband as the person who ordered the hit, but McCoy's case is hindered when she refuses to implicate her husband during the trial.
The murder of a drug-laden teen presents the detectives with a host of suspects from her wealthy family.
After the murder of a lawyer, McCoy finds himself on the opposite side of the courtroom from his former colleague, Jamie Ross, when she defends a man who claims to have key evidence that could put to death a man McCoy believes was wrongly convicted.
A frustrating investigation of a purse-snatching victim who was fatally shot leads to tension between Briscoe and Green over age and racial innuendos. Briscoe notices his partner has developed a dangerous habit.
The investigation that follows the discovery of a comatose woman in her apartment leads to an unusual case involving murder and a possible frame-up, despite the prosecution having key DNA evidence to the contrary.
A taxi driver finds that his passenger is dead, leading the detectives to a case involving an insurance scam and Holocaust victims.
A patient is found beaten to death in a hospital lounge — and the resulting case involves infidelity, Alzheimer's disease and a ladies' man.
After sanitation workers find a teenage boy's body, the investigation leads to a school bully who displays an avid interest in martial-arts weapons, and whose father bought the murder weapon.
The investigation of a schizophrenic woman's death leads to a case involving a homeless man and his right to refuse medication. It is revealed that the schizophrenic woman and the homeless man were lovers. The woman told the man to kill her if he loved her. She also loved him. He refused to take his medication because he wanted to die because of guilt. He pleads guilty to manslaughter in the first degree along with medication in the psychiatric facility.
Bloodstains in an apartment that belonged to a young couple with a baby leads to the separated parents, each of whom claims that the other has the infant. The baby is later found dead.
Briscoe and Green investigate the shooting of a best-selling mystery writer and the death of her accountant, with a love triangle involving the author's consulting FBI agent (Tom Berenger) as a possible motive for the crime.
The detectives of Special Victims Unit team with the 27th Precinct to investigate a salesman's murder, leading them to a politically influential family. When the case goes to court, McCoy finds the matriarch to be a formidable opponent.
After the bodies of two teens are found, the detectives trace their identities and learn that one of them had a sister who was traveling with the girls.
The murder of a stockbroker points to a coworker and supervisor (Michael Gross (actor)) involved with organized crime when a hired hit man kills the prime suspect.
The murder of a young white man in Harlem sparks outrage when it is discovered that two police officers intentionally dropped him off in a known crime prone neighborhood.
The investigation into a helicopter bombing points to a victim's wife and her unconventional financial adviser (Michael McKean).
The body of a teacher, suspected of having an affair, is found in a car trunk and the investigation involves husband and father-in-law, both of whom are psychiatrists.
A wealthy woman, who is a patron of the arts, is found dead in her apartment and the ensuing investigation leads to a suspect whose violence was spurred by a painting similar to the crime scene.
The discovery of a strangled prostitute's body leads to a case involving illegal immigrants and a family grappling with internet addiction.
Detectives Briscoe and Green probe the strangulation of a college coed who moonlighted as a stripper, and while they believe a pair of drug-dealing skinheads committed the murder, they struggle to determine the motive of the strip club owner who paid them for the hit. However, as they work their way up the ladder of complicity, the cops learn that the slaying is keyed to an insider trading scam that forces McCoy to connect a former porn star with a businessman.
The detectives' investigation into why a wealthy woman is comatose involves her husband, daughter, and doctor (John Slattery).
The death of an elderly man trying to find who was responsible for the torture killing of his son in Chile in 1973 leads to a former high-ranking Chilean Army officer who is in New York receiving cancer treatments at a Manhattan hospital.
