History TearJerker / LawAndOrder

'''Mrs. Mireles:''' It wasn’t like that!\\

'''Sammy:''' What do you call ''this?!''

* In "Sheltered," it turns out that the criminal abducted his "son" a decade earlier. The man had brainwashed the kid into believing that his family was either dead or no longer loved him. When he's reunited with his mother and sister, he's downright horrified and screams at them to get away from him, not believing that they're his relatives. He spends the remainder of the episode shunning them, and even as his kidnapper is convicted and taken away, he ''still'' wants nothing to do with them. StockholmSyndrome is real and can be incredibly hard to break.

-->'''Swift''': It's not a bad thing, Jack.
-->'''[=McCoy=]''': What?
-->'''Swift''': Having a heart.

* In "Compassion," similar to "Endurance," [=McCoy=] is cross-examining a pediatric oncologist who killed a man who had conned her out of money by claiming he could speak to the dead, and who is going for an InsanityDefense. The woman breaks down and begins babbling uncontrollably and [=McCoy=] is shocked to realize that for once, the insanity was for real, even getting teary eyes from it. Years and years of watching children die despite her best efforts had taken its toll on her, to the point where she began blaming herself for their deaths, and this man scamming her was the final blow. It is much worst when considering that the doctor truly believes every word she is saying, which was enough to convince [=McCoy=] to ask for recess.

* In the opening of "Seeds," a crazed woman is looking for her husband to shoot her, claiming he killed their unborn child and left her. When the husband goes to call the cops, the woman shoots at him, only for the nearest guard to shoot her dead. The look he gives is a mixture of having [[IDidWhatIHadToDo no other choice]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horror realization]]. No one blames the guard, but he's still trying to justify his actions.

* In "Refuge (Part 2)", Abby breaks down in the courtroom after Carlton Radford is convicted, knowing it will help bring down the Russian mobsters who killed her friend, Toni Ricci. She later mails a copy of the verdict slip to Ricci's parents.
* As Rey Curtis prepares to leave the squad to care for his dying wife, Lennie gives him a goodbye hug:

* "Tabula Rasa" had a father who was a ManipulativeBastard that kept his wife and two daughters under lock and key by not allowing them to make friends outside of the home or really do anything without his permission. It eventually comes to light that he abducted his children from their biological mother, who had custody, years earlier and brainwashed them against her; he killed the victim by throwing her in the path of a train because she recognized him from back then. Furthermore, he admits that he never loved his second wife and only married her to give his children a mother. The girls' real mother then is able to find them all, but due to his lies, they hate her and after he goes to prison, the younger daughter, who's still a minor, is ordered to live with her, which upsets the girl as her older sister yells at her mom, "Are you happy now, you bitch?"]] The episode is a true DownerEnding that gives a [[TruthInTelevision realistic]] look at what happens in tragic situations like that.

* In the opening of "Seeds," a crazed woman is looking for her husband to shoot him, claiming he killed their unborn child and left her. When the husband goes to call the cops, the woman shoots at him, only for the nearest guard to shoot her dead. The look he gives is a mixture of having [[IDidWhatIHadToDo no other choice]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horror realization]]. No one blames the guard, but he's still trying to justify his actions.

* The season finale "Aftershock." Claire Kincaid is killed in a car accident while driving Briscoe (who has fallen OffTheWagon) home. The music that plays in the background as Briscoe gets out of the car, goes to check on Claire, and realizes that she didn't make it...]]

* [[ProneToTears Judith Sandler]], a witness and the doer from "Survivor." Already being the daughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Holocaust]] survivors and being traumatized by what her parents went through, which affected her upbringing and being afraid of the world around her, she helped to carry on the pursuit of her father's lost possessions, namely, his coin collection, which he had put in storage before he was captured years earlier. She then was more or less harassed and tricked by Ross and the detectives into searching her apartment. It's later discovered that a Swiss billionaire had already sold the father's coins and that she had killed the victim, who she thought was withholding knowledge about them, for nothing.]]

* "Fluency" has a conman selling saline as flu vaccine during a particularly bad flu season, causing 19 people who got it to die from the flu. While questioning the con man in court, [=McCoy=] brings up the film "The Third Man", which is about a conman who steals and dilutes penicillin with similar consequences. [=McCoy=] talks about a scene where the conman is on a Ferris wheel and points out the faceless dots below and asks someone if they would care if one stopped moving. The conman is broken-voiced and tearing up in the witness box.

* The reveal towards the end of "Personae Non Grata" where Chrissy, the young girl that had supposedly flirted with Bob and caused him to murder some supposed interference in their relationship, was DeadAllAlong, murdered by her mother who then used the girl's online identity to mastermind the victim's murder. Bob is willing to take himself in a guilty admission to protect her to the death, until he's shown the truth by the way of Cutter uncovering Chrissy's bones to prove the point. Bob thusly breaks down ''hard'' realizing the person he loved was never actually the one he talked with.

* The reveal towards the end of "Personae Non Grata" where Chrissy, the young girl that had supposedly flirted with Bob and caused him to murder some supposed interference in their relationship, was DeadAllAlong, murdered by her mother who then used the girl's online identity to mastermind the victim's murder. Bob is willing to take himself in a guilty admission to protect her to the death, until he's shown the truth by the way of Cutter uncovering Chrissy's bones]] to prove the point. Bob thusly breaks down ''hard'' realizing the person he loved was never actually the one he talked with.

-->'''Schiff:''' They used to ask, "How can a man put a sheet on his head and lynch somebody?" Usually he can't, by himself.
-->'''Stone:''' But when there's more than one... [[MurderByInaction Four cops let him die.]]
-->'''Schiff:''' [[KarmaHoudini And twelve citizens did it again.]]
-->'''Stone:''' [[CommonNonsenseJury And they voted their indifference.]]

* The ending of "Mayhem." A very socially awkward but endearing man is on trial for a string of brutal murders - he's unable to provide an alibi but both the detectives and prosecutors feel he didn't do it. Eventually, his mother reveals his alibi: he's actually gay, and was seeing his lover when the murders took place. However he didn't tell the police because he didn't want his mother to find out. Ironically, his mother already knew, but had never told him because she didn't want to embarrass him. The obviously relieved detectives go to the prison where he's remanded to get him released - only to find out he was just killed by another prisoner.

* Just the sad case of "Privileged", A down right honest and sweet couple were brutally murdered in their own bed, leaving behind a Daughter who was to be married the next year. The team couldn't find a single person who would have a reason to do so. They learn that the couple were very generous and respectable people, fighting for their employees as well, even the one guy who legitimately hates them feels like they did him a favor. When it comes to the realization that they were killed by mistake, it breaks everyone's heart.
* In the opening of "Seeds," a crazed woman is looking for her husband to shoot, claiming he killed their unborn child and left her. When the husband goes to call the cops, the woman shoots at him, only for the nearest guard to shoot her dead. The look he gives is a mixture of having [[IDidWhatIHadToDo no other choice]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horror realization]]. No one blames the guard, but he's still trying to justify his actions.
** It turns out the woman only thought she was pregnant, but autopsy revealed she was not. The specialist she and her husband have been going to, Dr. Delbert, either lied to them or it was a misdiagnosis. Either way, Dr. Delbert can't be legally held responsible and the husband is furious that the man who he blames for his wife's senseless death will suffer no consequences.
** One family, who are the only witnesses left who can for sure have Dr. Delbert arrested for his fraud, and also want it badly, can't bring themselves to do it. Doing so will reveal the tragic truth about their son's birth. They were unable to find a compatible bone marrow donor for their daughter with leukemia. They tried conceiving a child with the chance of getting the marrow and Dr. Delbert helped. However, [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate since he was using his own sperm]], it was doomed to fail. The son is born, but his marrow is not a match and the daughter dies. The parents don't want their son to know that they only had him for the parts.

* "Savior" has a woman and her son brutally murdered in their sleep and the father, an unemployed alcoholic in debt, arrested for the crime. At his trial, the man broke down in tears over what happened to his family yet in spite of his anguish, still did not confess to the crime. Turns out, he didn't have to as he was innocent; it was the teenaged daughter who also was "attacked" that convinced her boyfriend to kill them to get money from her mother's expense jewelry and due to the troubled relationship between the two women.

* "Jeopardy." Schiff has discovered that an old friend has become a corrupt judge when he learns that he let a guy get off on a triple murder rap once his wealthy mother offered him a large sum of money. After all the usual shenanigans that result in the bad guys being convicted and sent to prison, Jack, Claire, and Adam are in his office celebrating when Adam receives a phone call informing him that the judge has AteHisGun.

-->'''[=McCoy=]''': You know, before it happened...she wanted to quit. I talked her out of it.
-->'''Briscoe''': Yeah, well...I could have kept walking past that bar.
* "Double Blind" has a mentally ill college student kill a janitor. After the dust had settled in finding him and getting him to trial, it's discovered that the kid didn't kill the man because he was mentally ill but rather because he had a tumor, which a doctor who was allegedly studying his brain for research didn't care to actually do; he used the man as a means to an end to look better. By the time is was found, it had become inoperable. Had the man actually did his job, then the murder wouldn't have happened and the young man would have survived. He even confronted the doctor saying "They say I have around a year to live, maybe two if I'm lucky."

** The place where she was found makes it worse: rats can be seen running around piles of garbage.
* In the episode "Ritual," the police investigate the murder of an Egyptian man, and learn that he'd been killed after trying to arrange a clitoridectomy for his American-born niece. Not only does the poor girl have to deal with the knowledge that her dad was the murderer, but she also faces the prospect of having to live with her strict Egyptian mother, who fully intends to subject her to a clitoridectomy for the sake of family tradition. Thankfully, the DA's office intervenes, but the end result still requires her to move out of state and live with relatives that she doesn't know very well.

* In "Sideshow," Jack [=McCoy=] is questioned by someone trying to get him to reveal the name of a confidential informant, and the person questioning him tries to discredit him by bringing up both Claire's death and her relationship with Jack. Jack just stares at the man looking horrified and asks, "Have you no shame, sir?"
* In "Refuge (Part 2)," Abby breaks down in the courtroom after Carlton Radford is convicted, knowing it will help bring down the Russian mobsters who killed her friend, Toni Ricci. She later mails a copy of the verdict slip to Ricci's parents.

* "Armed Forces" begins with a homeless man being murdered. During the investigation, they learn that he was a Vietnam vet [[ShellShockedVeteran who was still haunted by the war and his actions]]. Turns out, a few of the men in his platoon had killed him out of silence, as he wanted to turn in his medals and tell the papers what they all did. Aside from the woman who was flown over to testify about the deaths of her mother and young daughter during the war, the end of the episode has [[LonelyFuneral his funeral where the flag was presented to his elderly Aunt and Uncle and was attended by another friend from the platoon not involved in the murder, two military soldiers and Briscoe and [=McCoy=] as a tape of "Taps" is played.]]

* In "Compassion," similar to "Endurance," [=McCoy=] is cross-examining a pediatric oncologist who killed a man who had conned her out of money by claiming he could speak to the dead, and who is going for an InsanityDefense. The woman breaks down and begins babbling uncontrollably and [=McCoy=] is shocked to realize that for once, the insanity was for real, even getting teary eyes from it. Years and years of watching children die despite her best efforts had taken its toll on her, to the point where she began blaming herself for their deaths, and this man scamming her was the final blow. It is much worst when considering that the Doctor truly believes every word she is saying, which was enough to convince [=McCoy=] to ask for recess.
* "Married With Children" focuses on whether a woman murdered her ex-wife for denying her custody of their daughter; the victim had applied to adopt as a single mother and had sole parental rights, since the state they lived in at the time doesn't allow gay couples to adopt. On the stand, the little girl says the defendant told her the victim is just on a business trip and will be back soon - she's confident that soon, she'll have both her beloved moms back with her. The child's grandmother is in tears, and several others in the courtroom look close to it.

* "License To Kill" has a young teenage boy being severely injured when he's in an SUV that's chased off the road and crashes into a restaurant. His mother breaks down when she's told that the driver, presumably her husband, was killed. The driver is ''not'' her husband, and in fact had kidnapped her son - but her hope soon turns to despair as the detectives find that her husband was one of a hunting party all murdered by the driver. Later in the episode, the boy wakes up in hospital and, after being questioned by the detectives, eagerly asks to see his dad; Green and Fontana leave his mother to explain to him. On top of everything else, the boy dies from complications of his injuries. The vigilante who ran the car off the road gets away scot-free, since the media hailed him as a hero and the jury is firmly on his side.

* In "Mother Love", a former honor student turned crack addict has been shot dead. The trail leads first to her dealer/boyfriend, but there is no evidence to link him to it. Stone and Robinette discover that the girl had stolen from her family, including bearer bonds from her grandmother, to support her habit and suspicion falls on her father. Ultimately, they discover that it was her mother who had killed her. Performed by the incomparable Mary Alice (the Oracle in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'').

* The ending of "Mayhem." A very socially awkward but endearing man is on trial for a string of brutal murders - he's unable to provide an alibi but both the detectives and prosecutors feel he didn't do it. Eventually, his mother reveals [[spoiler: his alibi - he's actually gay, and was seeing his lover when the murders took place, however he didn't tell the police because he didn't want his mother to find out. However, his mother already knew, but had never told him because she didn't want to embarrass him. The obviously relieved detectives go to the prison where he's remanded to get him released - only to find out he was just killed by another prisoner.]]

* In the opening of "Seeds," a crazed woman is looking for her husband to shoot, claiming he killed their unborn child and left her. When the husband goes to call the cops, the woman shoots at him, only for the nearest guard shoots her dead. The look he gives is a mixture of having [[IDidWhatIHadToDo no other choice]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horror realization]]. No one blames the guard, but he's still trying to justify his actions.

** One Family, who are the only witnesses left who can for sure have Dr. Delbert arrested for his fraud, and also want it badly, can't bring themselves into doing it. Doing so will reveal the tragic truth about their Son's birth. They were trying to find a compatible bone marrow for their leukemia daughter, but just couldn't find one. They tried conceiving a child with the chance of getting the marrow, and Dr. Delbert helped, however, since he was using his own sperm, it was doomed to fail. The Son is born, no matching marrow, and the daughter dies. The parents don't want their son to know that they only had him for the parts.

* "Savior" has a woman and her son brutally murdered in their sleep and the father, an unemployed alcoholic in debt, arrested for the crime. At his trial, the man broke down in tears over what happened to his family yet in spite of his anguish, still did not confess to the crime. Turns out, he didn't have to [[spoiler: as he was innocent; it was the teenaged daughter who also was "attacked" that convinced her boyfriend to kill them to get money from her mother's expense jewelry and due to the troubled relationship between the two women.]]
** [[spoiler: Also sad is the daughter's reaction when confronted. YMMV, but she seems to have a genuine MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment.]]

** It gets even sadder with the episode's ending. [[spoiler: [[BittersweetEnding The dealer is sent to prison, but Lonnie will be going to juvenile hall for several years.]] Before sentencing, the judge asks for any loved ones to stand. [[HopeSpot Lonnie looks back]], with only [=McCoy=] in attendance and no sign of his mother. Even after what he'd seen, he still thought maybe his mother had some humanity toward him. The final shot sees Lonnie being taken away, crestfallen, and [=McCoy=] looking on with [[NotSoStoic a noticeably saddened expression]].]]

* The season finale "Aftershock." [[spoiler:Claire Kincaid getting killed in a car accident. The music that plays in the background as Briscoe gets out of the car, goes to check on Claire, and realizes that she didn't make it...]]

-->'''[=McCoy=]''': You know, before it happened...[[spoiler:she wanted to quit. I talked her out of it.]]
-->'''Briscoe''': [[spoiler: Yeah, well...I could have kept walking past that bar.]]
* "Double Blind" has a mentally ill college student kill a janitor. After the dust had settled in finding him and getting him to trial, it's discovered that the kid didn't kill the man because he was mentally ill but rather because [[spoiler: he had a tumor, which a doctor who was allegedly studying his brain for research didn't care to actually do; he used the man as a means to an end to look better. By the time is was found, it had become inoperable. Had the man actually did his job, then the murder wouldn't have happened and the young man would have survived. He even confronted the doctor saying "They say I have around a year to live, maybe two if I'm lucky."]]
* The season finale, "Terminal." Adam has been unavailable throughout much of the episode and not quite up to his usual DeadpanSnarker standard when he is around, because his wife is dying in the hospital. The final scene is [[spoiler:him alone in the hospital room with her when he takes her off life support and she finally dies.]] He begins to cry.
* [[ProneToTears Judith Sandler]], a witness [[spoiler: and the doer]] from "Survivor." Already being the daughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Holocaust]] survivors and being traumatized by what her parents went through, which affected her upbringing and being afraid of the world around her, she helped to carry on the pursuit of her father's lost possessions, namely, his coin collection, which he had put in storage before he was captured years earlier. She then was more or less harassed and tricked by Ross and the detectives into searching her apartment. [[spoiler: It's later discovered that a Swiss billionaire had already sold the father's coins and that she had killed the victim, who she thought was withholding knowledge about them, for nothing.]]

-->'''Lennie''': "She was my baby, Rey. What am I gonna do?"
-->'''Rey''': "You're going home with me, partner."

* "Tabula Rasa" had a father who was a ManipulativeBastard that kept his wife and two daughters under lock and key by not allowing them to make friends outside of the home or really do anything without his permission. It eventually comes to light that he [[spoiler: abducted his children from their biological mother, who had custody, years earlier and brainwashed them against her and killed the victim by throwing her in the path of a train because she recognized him from back then. Furthermore, he admits that he never loved his second wife and only married her to give his children a mother. The awe real mother then is able to find them all, but due to his lies, they hate her and after he goes to prison, the younger daughter, who's still a minor, is ordered to live with her, which upsets the girl as her older sister yells at her mom, "Are you happy now, you bitch?"]] The episode is a true DownerEnding that gives a [[TruthInTelevision realistic]] look at what happens in tragic situations like that.

* In "Refuge (Part 2)," Abby breaks down in the courtroom after Carlton Radford is convicted, knowing it will help [[spoiler:bring down the Russian mobsters who killed her friend, Toni Ricci. She later mails a copy of the verdict slip to Ricci's parents.]]

* In "Stiff," a woman has become "locked-in" (fully conscious and aware of everything going on around her, but unable to move, speak or communicate in any way) after being given spiked insulin. After a last-ditch attempt to "unlock" her ''fails'', the woman's daughter, [[spoiler: who is responsible for the crime]], whispers tearfully [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone "I'm so sorry, Mom."]]

* In "Endurance," a mother has been put on trial for murdering her son, who suffered from severe physical and mental health problems which had obviously taken their toll on her. Upon his cross-examination, [=McCoy=] inadvertently prompts the mother to break down on the stand and admit that she had watched him have what she thought was a fatal seizure, unable to bear saving him only to force him to endure the pain and suffering he was forced to live through, and actually attempted to kill herself with her son's pills so that they would both die together before coming to her senses. The woman's tearful breakdown as she insists that she couldn't bear to see her son suffer any more is so affecting that even the hard-assed, seen-it-all-before [=McCoy=] looks shaken by it. [[spoiler: And notably, it marks one of the few times he deliberately enables a technically guilty party to receive a lighter sentence]].

** Even worse, it was revealed that the man had terminal non-hodgkin's lymphoma a year earlier that he wasn't treating, meaning that in addition to his substance abuse he likely would have died before the year was over. They killed the man for nothing.

* In "Compassion," similar to "Endurance," [=McCoy=] is cross examining a pediatric oncologist who killed a man who had conned her out of money by claiming he could speak to the dead, and who is going for an InsanityDefense. The woman breaks down and begins babbling uncontrollably and [=McCoy=] is shocked to realize that for once, the insanity was for real, even getting teary eyes from it. Years and years of watching children die despite her best efforts had taken its toll on her, to the point where she began blaming herself for their deaths, and this man scamming her was the final blow. It is much worst when considering that the Doctor truly believes every word she is saying, which was enough to convince [=McCoy=] to ask for recess.

* The secondary victim in "The Family Hour" comes from a ''very'' screwed up past. She was habitually abused by her father, a powerful politician, and her socialite stepmother, she then abused her younger half-brother, she develops a drinking problem by the time she's 11 due to her father pimping her out to his friends, she ends up marrying an abusive man herself, she ends up killing the stepmother and [[spoiler: ends up being brutally murdered by her father.]]

* The reveal towards the end of "Personae Non Grata" where Chrissy, the young girl that had supposedly flirted with Bob and caused him to murder some supposed interference in their relationship, [[spoiler:was DeadAllAlong, murdered by her mother who then used the girl's online identity to mastermind the victim's murder.]] Bob is willing to take himself in a guilty admission to protect her to the death, until he's shown the truth by the way of Cutter [[spoiler:uncovering Chrissy's bones]] to prove the point. Bob thusly breaks down ''hard'' realizing the person he loved [[spoiler:was never actually the one he talked with.]]

* In "Pledge" a boy and his nanny are murdered. The cops at first think it was linked to the parents business. Nope. Turns out a vengeful man wanted to take something the mother loved because when they were in college, she rejected him entry into a fraternity and he didn't get to hang out with the "girl of his dreams" and in his head never got to be with her. Yes, really. He murdered a child and a nanny because he was angry at woman from over 20 years ago. The lady he was pining for? Died 8 years ago from being shot by her drug addled boyfriend. So not only was the murder pointless, the woman he wanted wasn't even alive!

[[folder]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Meta]]
* Creator/JerryOrbach's death on December 28, 2004 is completely sad. Orbach had been fighting cancer for more than 10 years. Before he died, his character Lennie Briscoe was written out having him being retired and after Orbach's death, Lennie was killed-offscreen as well.

* In "Compassion," similar to "Endurance," [=McCoy=] is cross examining a pediatric oncologist who killed a man who had conned her out of money by claiming he could speak to the dead, and who is going for an InsanityDefense. The woman breaks down and begins babbling uncontrollably and [=McCoy=] is shocked to realize that for once, the insanity was for real. Years and years of watching children die despite her best efforts had taken its toll on her, and this man scamming her was the final blow.

* Any episode involving children, obviously, but one early episode, "Cradle To Grave" featured a baby freezing to death in his crib. In addition to the NeverMyFault mentality being thrown around endlessly in the episode (mainly from the mother and the landlord), it's heartbreaking to see a victim that young, [[AdultFear especially for anyone who is a parent.]]

* In the opening of episode "Seeds," A crazed woman is looking for her husband to shoot, claiming he killed their unborn child and left her. When the husband goes to call the cops, the Woman shoots at him, only for the nearest guard shoots her dead. The look he gives is a mixture of having [[IDidWhatIHadToDo no other choice]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horror realization]]. No one blames the guard, but he's still trying to justify his actions.

* The ending of "Heaven", when the judge reads off the names of all fifty-three people killed in the arson of a latinx club, cutting to shots of grieving family members in between.

* In the season 3 episode ''Mother Love'', a former honor student turned crack addict has been shot dead. The trail leads first to her dealer/boyfriend, but there is no evidence to link him to it. Stone and Robinette discover that the girl had stolen from her family, including bearer bonds from her grandmother, to support her habit and suspicion falls on her father. Ultimately, they discover that it was her mother who had killed her. Performed by the incomparable Mary Alice (the Oracle in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'').

* The ending of "Manhood", when three cops are acquitted of murder, despite them willingly leaving their fellow police officer to die [[RefuseToRescueTheDisliked just because he was gay.]]

* The ending of Season 4's "Mayhem". A very socially awkward but endearing man is on trial for a string of brutal murders - he's unable to provide an alibi but both the detectives and prosecutors feel he didn't do it. Eventually, his mother reveals [[spoiler: his alibi - he's actually gay, and was seeing his lover when the murders took place, however he didn't tell the police because he didn't want his mother to find out. However, his mother already knew, but had never told him because she didn't want to embarrass him. The obviously relieved detectives go to the prison where he's remanded to get him released - only to find out he was just killed by another prisoner.]]

* In the opening of episode ''Seeds'', A crazed woman is looking for her husband to shoot, claiming he killed their unborn child and left her. When the husband goes to call the cops, the Woman shoots at him, only for the nearest guard shoots her dead. The look he gives is a mixture of having [[IDidWhatIHadToDo no other choice]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horror realization]]. No one blames the guard, but he's still trying to justify his actions.

* In the Season 6 episode "Savages", we see [=McCoy=] prosecuting embezzler Paul Sandig for killing a police officer, which is a capital offense. Eventually, with his guilt beyond doubt, Sandig finally breaks down, expressing remorse and tearfully begging for his life. The guy may have been guilty of murder, but it's still pitiful to see.

* In the Season 6 episode "Slave", a young boy named Lonnie is involved in the AccidentalMurder of a woman. The episode reveals that Lonnie [[MadeASlave was sold off]] by [[AbusiveParents his mother]] to a drug dealer to pay off her drug habit. However, the boy [[UndyingLoyalty is so loyal to his mother]] that he can't imagine her giving him up (he thought she was just letting him hang out with the dealer) and refuses to testify against the dealer. [[GoodIsNotNice In one of the harshest actions in the series]], [=McCoy=] and Kincaid show Lonnie his mother from behind dark glass, [[WhatYouAreInTheDark where she speaks dismissively of him]] and [[NeverMyFault justifies her abuse of him]]. You can visibly see Lonnie's tears [[BrokenPedestal as he realizes how someone he loved has used him]].

* "Jeopardy". Schiff has discovered that an old friend has become a corrupt judge when he learns that he let a guy get off on a triple murder rap once his wealthy mother offered him a large sum of money. After all the usual shenanigans that result in the bad guys being convicted and sent to prison, Jack, Claire, and Adam are in his office celebrating when Adam receives a phone call informing him that the judge has AteHisGun.
* The season 6 finale "Aftershock". [[spoiler:Claire Kincaid getting killed in a car accident. The music that plays in the background as Briscoe gets out of the car, goes to check on Claire, and realizes that she didn't make it...]]

* In the episode following "Aftershock", "Causa Mortis", has the case of a HappilyMarried schoolteacher who was abducted at gunpoint and found murdered. At the killer's trial, there was a recording of the poor woman's last moments alive as she begged the man not to kill her, telling her how much she loved her husband and showing him pictures of her children while her widower and young daughter weep openly in court. At the end of the episode, there was a moment where both Briscoe and [=McCoy=] share the feelings they have over their own mutual guilt over what happened, as well as each man wanting the other one ''not'' to have guilt:

* The Season 7 finale, "Terminal." Adam has been unavailable throughout much of the episode and not quite up to his usual DeadpanSnarker standard when he is around, because his wife is dying in the hospital. The final scene is [[spoiler:him alone in the hospital room with her when he takes her off life support and she finally dies.]] He begins to cry.
* [[ProneToTears Judith Sandler]], a witness [[spoiler: and the doer]] from "Survivor". Already being the daughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Holocaust]] survivors and being traumatized by what her parents went through, which affected her upbringing and being afraid of the world around her, she helped to carry on the pursuit of her father's lost possessions, namely, his coin collection, which he had put in storage before he was captured years earlier. She then was more or less harassed and tricked by Ross and the detectives into searching her apartment. [[spoiler: It's later discovered that a Swiss billionaire had already sold the father's coins and that she had killed the victim, who she thought was withholding knowledge about them, for nothing.]]

* Lennie Briscoe in Season 8. His daughter gets arrested for drug possession and is forced to testify against her dealer, and after his acquittal she ends up murdered. He goes to the crime scene and has to be restrained from cradling her body by his partner. To see this gruff, world-weary homicide detective on the verge of sobbing just makes you ache.

* In the Season 8 episode "Ritual", the police investigate the murder of an Egyptian man, and learn that he'd been killed after trying to arrange a clitoridectomy for his American-born niece. Not only does the poor girl have to deal with the knowledge that her dad was the murderer, but she also faces the prospect of having to live with her strict Egyptian mother, who fully intends to subject her to a clitoridectomy for the sake of family tradition. Thankfully, the DA's office intervenes, but the end result still requires her to move out of state and live with relatives that she doesn't know very well.
* In the the Season 8 episode "Under the Influence", [=McCoy=] is trying a banker named Bernard Dressler for killing several people while driving drunk. [=McCoy=] is [[KnightTemplar going further than usual]] in his pursuit of justice, trying to give Dressler the death penalty. Everyone is telling him to [[WhatTheHellHero back off]], because Jack lost his lover to a drunk driver. Then Dressler breaks down and begs for forgiveness, and [[HeelRealization Jack realizes]] what he's doing. A defendant in tears and Jack pausing over a sheet of paper shouldn't be that evocative...

* In ''Sideshow'', Jack [=McCoy=] is questioned by someone trying to get him to reveal the name of a confidential informant, and the person questioning him tries to discredit him by bringing up both Claire's death and her relationship with Jack. Jack just stares at the man looking horrified and asks, "Have you no shame, sir?"
* In the season 9 episode ''Refuge, Part 2'', Abby breaks down in the courtroom after Carlton Radford is convicted, knowing it will help [[spoiler:bring down the Russian mobsters who killed her friend, Toni Ricci. She later mails a copy of the verdict slip to Ricci's parents.]]

* In "Stiff", a woman has become "locked-in" (fully conscious and aware of everything going on around her, but unable to move, speak or communicate in any way) after being given spiked insulin. After a last-ditch attempt to "unlock" her ''fails'', the woman's daughter, [[spoiler: who is responsible for the crime]], whispers tearfully [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone "I'm so sorry, Mom."]]
* Denise Grobman, the victim from "DNR", who was left mortally wounded by an assassin hired by her husband, who was jealous of her burgeoning career as a judge. She is in strong denial over him trying to kill her and severely depressed over being left a paraplegic who cannot care for herself. At the trial to determine if she was competent to make a decision on her life, she suffers a breakdown on the stand:

* In the Season 10 "Endurance", a mother has been put on trial for murdering her son, who suffered from severe physical and mental health problems which had obviously taken their toll on her. Upon his cross-examination, [=McCoy=] inadvertently prompts the mother to break down on the stand and admit that she had watched him have what she thought was a fatal seizure, unable to bear saving him only to force him to endure the pain and suffering he was forced to live through, and actually attempted to kill herself with her son's pills so that they would both die together before coming to her senses. The woman's tearful breakdown as she insists that she couldn't bear to see her son suffer any more is so affecting that even the hard-assed, seen-it-all-before [=McCoy=] looks shaken by it. [[spoiler: And notably, it marks one of the few times he deliberately enables a technically guilty party to receive a lighter sentence]].

* "Armed Forces" begins with a homeless man being murdered. During the investigation, they learn that he was a Vietnam vet [[ShellShockedVeteran who was still haunted by the war and his actions.]] Turns out, a few of the men in his platoon had killed him out of silence, as he wanted to turn in his medals and tell the papers what they all did. Aside from the woman who was flown over to testify about the deaths of her mother and young daughter during the war, the end of the episode has [[LonelyFuneral his funeral where the flag was presented to his elderly Aunt and Uncle and was attended by another friend from the platoon not involved in the murder, two military soldiers and Briscoe and [=McCoy=] as a tape of "Taps" is played.]]

* In "Sheltered", it turns out that the criminal abducted his "son" a decade earlier. The man had brainwashed the kid into believing that his family was either dead or no longer loved him. When he's reunited with his mother and sister, he's downright horrified and screams at them to get away from him, not believing that they're his relatives. He spends the remainder of the episode shunning them, and even as his kidnapper is convicted and taken away, he ''still'' wants nothing to do with them. StockholmSyndrome is real and can be incredibly hard to break.

* In "Compassion", similar to "Endurance", [=McCoy=] is cross examining a pediatric oncologist who killed a man who had conned her out of money by claiming he could speak to the dead, and who is going for an InsanityDefense. The woman breaks down and begins babbling uncontrollably and [=McCoy=] is shocked to realize that for once, the insanity was for real. Years and years of watching children die despite her best efforts had taken its toll on her, and this man scamming her was the final blow.

* In "Sport of Kings", the perp bought a race horse for ''$3 million dollars'', and subsequently had its jockey murdered. Where did all that money come from? Robbing his own company blind and stripping hundreds of workers of their retirement pension funds from under their noses, and the horse wasn't even the only thing he bought. The worker that found out about it, a man easily in his sixties or seventies, is utterly devastated at the betrayal.

* Joe Fontana's mistake in "Ghosts", where a homicide case from ten years ago made him assume it was the father that raped and killed his daughter. It ruined the man's life even after he was acquitted, and the case of the episode picks it back up and forces Fontana to realize [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he was effectively the root cause of the man's misery with his assumptions.]] He tries to apologize to the widowed father at the end with a hand extended.. and the man just slowly closes the door in Joe's face, not even saying anything. The look on Joe's face before the episode fade-out sells how badly he knows he messed up.

* The victim from "Captive", Tory Quinlann, suffers from a hellish existence. [[DeusAngstMachina He was originally from an abusive home, only to then be kidnapped, sexually molested by his captor, forced to abduct another young boy, killed the boy instead of leaving this "stable" home and because he saw the boy as a competitor, then finally convicted of the murder.]]

* Season 20's "Dignity" has a woman explain to the jury of how her terminal child was born and eventually died in her arms. The jury, Connie, and an officer are seen wiping away tears.
* Season 20's "Fed" has Anita attending the funeral of Rey's wife who wanted to be buried in New York. It's already sad but gets worse when they talk about their last conversations with Briscoe before his death.