Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 4)

The detectives go on the trail of a recently paroled rapist responsible for the murder of a prostitute during a raid at a men's club and are called to the scene where he was shot in self defense by his own gun. However, the murder weapon was also used in another crime while he was still in prison, leading the detectives to investigate the victim (Sharon Lawrence) through a trail of previously unsolved cases, a spending spree and another victim.

• Special appearance by Dianne Wiest as DA Nora Lewin.
• Sara Ramirez also guest stars. 

The body of a battered young boy found in a luggage compartment of an airport shuttle bus sends the detectives to his guardian who was discovered to be a pedophile only to find his corpse in bed with his genitals removed. The subsequent investigation leads them to a travel agency specializing in exotic trips for sexual predators.

• Will Arnett guest stars. 

The investigation into the rape of a comatose woman leads to a doctor (Bruce Davison) whose stem cell research is funded by a billionaire with Parkinson's disease who is desperate for a cure.

• Chandra Wilson, Rainn Wilson, and Judy Gold also guest star. 

A cancer patient who was growing marijuana in her apartment is found raped and murdered, sending the detectives on a hunt for two junior-high students (Shane Lyons and Connor Paolo), each blaming the other. The prosecution team is faced with the dilemma of trying the older boy as an adult, despite evidence that he was not mentally capable of being able to carry out the crimes.

• Illeana Douglas Kyle Gallner also guest star. 

When a 15-year old girl (Rachael Bella) is saved from jumping in front of a train, SVU is called in to help her. She falsely accuses an ex-boyfriend of raping her, but when the search turns to her dysfunctional family, surprise discoveries are made. From an overly helpful father (Titus Welliver), mysterious children, an overaffectionate little girl, a bracelet and finally sperm from two men who never raped, SVU discovers that the family is even worse off than they thought.

• Illeana Douglas also guest stars. 

When a six-year-old girl who was critically injured in an apparent robbery gone bad later dies and tests positive for a sexually transmitted disease, detectives investigate the family, the store clerk, and the son of a prominent attorney (Michael Gaston) who had appeared to foil the crime. After evidence turns up that the little girl's older sister (Ari Graynor) was dating the alleged sexual predator, ADA Cabot attempts to eradicate the deal that had been made with the older sister for her testimony.

• Glynnis O'Connor, Erik Palladino, and Dan Lauria also guest star. 

Cocaine being smuggled in baby formulas leads detectives to a good cop gone bad. When they start to get closer to the truth they have to put Detective Elliot Stabler undercover. When things get really heated it ends up putting Stabler's life in danger and he ends up having to make a choice to either kill or be killed.

• Robert John Burke guest stars. 

In their investigation of a prisoner's death, Benson and Tutuola learn that he was assaulted before being incarcerated. They subsequently discover several killings of drug dealers in the precinct where the man was arrested, and that two cops from this precinct had a connection to every case.

• William Mapother guest stars. 

When the body of a baby girl is found inside a cooler, the detectives need to investigate just who she is, and how she got there. They soon learn that the little girl had a genetic disorder known as Tay-Sachs disease, and that her name is Sarah Brown, and she is the only daughter of Andrea and Daniel Brown. When Andrea admits to having killed her daughter, Alex has to put aside her own feelings of sympathy to prosecute Andrea Brown for the murder of her daughter.

• Elizabeth Mitchell, Paul Adelstein, and Judd Hirsch guest star. 

Stabler hunts for a missing 14-year old girl (Alexis Dziena) who may have been abducted by a foreign child pornographer (Lothaire Bluteau). The hunt takes him around the world.

• Zena Grey, William McNamara, and Pam Grier also guest star. 

A Tibetan woman who was tortured in her home country is found murdered, with her foot missing and after an exhaustive search of potential suspects, the killer is a victim of torture himself.

• Margaret Colin and Fred Weller guest star. 

Detectives Benson and Stabler are called to a crime scene – a young woman dressed in a maid's uniform has apparently committed suicide; however, because of the degree of sex-related bruising, they believe she might have been raped and murdered.

• Erik Von Detten, Michael Learned, Mariette Hartley, and Sarah Wayne Callies guest stars. 

After a young boy witnesses the brutal sexual assault and murder of his stepmother, his father (Rob Estes) blocks the efforts of the detectives to question him.

• Sandra Bernhard also guest stars. 

On a field trip, a student tells his teacher about a suit-case he found. The teacher immediately contacts NYPD to call the bomb squad out. The police find a body of a little girl inside the suit-case. The case is then handed over to Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson. They discover that the girl was on the beauty pageant circuit. One of the suspects tells the detectives how he came across a way to kill the girl. A pornography maker (Brian Kerwin) is put on trial for giving instructions on how to kill via a child porn story on his company's website.

• John Cullum also guest stars. 

A quadruple homicide with sexual overtones is just the start of an intense rampage of killings that brings a homicide detective into the mix. As the entire squad races against time to prevent further victims, the evidence leads Tutuola to a building superintendent (Frank Langella), his two sons (Ian Somerhalder and Jason Ritter) and a cross to bear.

• Erik Palladino also guest stars. 

Benson and Stabler try to prove self-defense when a rape victim (Katherine Moennig) kills her attacker. Events take an unusual turn when they learn that the victim is a transsexual. In the end, Benson and Cabot get a call regarding the victim and head to the hospital where they learn she has been gang raped.

• Michael Lerner and Chad Lindberg guest star.
• Fred Thompson also guest stars as D.A. Arthur Branch. 

A dead girl is found outside a bar. The death, however, is ruled a suicide because the victim's boyfriend (Paul Leyden) continually raped her, but the victim's father (Joe Morton) eventually snaps, vowing revenge against his daughter's rapist.

• D.J. Cotrona also guest stars. 

A murdered 14-year-old girl leads the detectives to a prominent physician (Gale Harold) who specialises in reproductive therapy.

• Barbara Barrie, Robert John Burke, Kimberly J. Brown and Laura Harring guest star. 

A rape victim, Chloe Dutton (Peyton List), is brought into the hospital one night with a bar stamp on her hand, and when Benson tries to interview her, she insists that she wasn't raped after all and that she was drunk; then she refuses to accept Benson's help. A short time later, the nurse announces that the rapist snatched Chloe from the hospital. Chloe is later found deceased and one of the suspects involved in her death (Logan Marshall-Green) turns out to be a sociopath with a history of murder.

• Ann Dowd and Siobhan Fallon Hogan guest star.
• Inspired by the Jesse Pomeroy case.