Written By Jill Abbinanti
Directed By Fred Berner
A celebrity chef (Cybill Shepherd), fearing she is the next victim of a string of rapes in the Upper West Side when an African-American teenage male follows her home, shoots the unarmed teenager and is then put on a highly controversial trial. Meanwhile, Benson has a hard time overcoming her traumatic ordeal with William Lewis.
Tropes
- Bad Boss: Jolene Castille, a cooking show host, restauranteur, and barely-concealed racist. She disallows her black employees from using the restaurant's bathrooms or serving white diners, she gets visibly upset when Fin touches her arm, and she tries to guilt Rollins about putting a fellow Southerner in jail for what she did. "Down home, they'd be givin' me a medal." What did she do? Shoot a sixteen year old black boy who happened to fit the description of a rapist targeting white women her age. He didn't do it.
- Downer Ending: Like in the real-life George Zimmerman verdict, Jolene Castille is acquitted of murdering an unarmed teenager.
- Patched Together from the Headlines: The episode combines the racism scandal of Paula Deen in 2013 with the 2012 Trayvon Martin shooting.
- Rule of Three: Apparently just being Ripped from the Headlines isn't enough, it has to involve three stories: It combined Treyvon Martin's shooting, Paula Deen's Deep South racism, and the controversial practice of "stop-and-frisk" which disproportionately targets African-American men.
