Law & Order/Season 12
Law & Order (1990–2010, 2022-) is a long-running police procedural and courtroom drama television series, created by Dick Wolf.
Who Let The Dogs Out [12.01]
[edit]- Serena: I just got off with animal control. The dog was put down.
- McCoy: The Quinns' trial was the only thing keeping it alive.
- Lewin: Abused, tortured, and now destroyed.
- Serena: Almost makes you wish you could reverse the sentences.
Armed Forces [12.02]
[edit]- Tinsdale: [about the war crime he committed in Vietnam] I had a split second to make a decision. I don't like the way it turned out, but I did the job they told me to do.
- McCoy: I think there were mitigating factors.
- Serena: Based on what they did, or who they are?
- McCoy: They were kids. Kids armed to the teeth and put in a place where, most of the time, they couldn't tell who was for them and who was against them. We need to be careful how we judge.
For Love or Money [12.03]
[edit]- Green: You got an alibi for last night night?
- Gallo: Penelope Cruz.
- Green: Penelope Cruz?
- Gallo: Yeah. I was home sleepin', she was in my dreams.
- Green: Found this under the front seat of her car.
- Briscoe: A parking stub from A&M.
- Green: The lot where Ronnie Buck was killed.
- Lorraine: You didn't find that in my car, you put it there!
- Briscoe: I knew those fake parking stubs would come in handy some day.
- Melissa: How could you have killed him?
- Lorraine: The man was a thug! Every time I turned around he was there with his hand out.
- Melissa: I'm not talking about Buck, I'm talking about Allan. I thought you loved him!
- Lorraine: Sweetheart, you didn't have to sleep with him. Let's just drop this whole subject, okay? That part of our lives is over with!
- Melissa: You're wrong.
- Lorraine: What are you talking about?!
- Melissa: Look at the dock, mother.
- [McCoy and a sound technician are standing there, recording their conversation]
- Lorraine: You little bitch!
- Melissa: I had a good teacher.
Soldier of Fortune [12.04]
[edit]- Briscoe: [holds up Gasana's machete, which he used to kill someone] It's a jungle out there, huh?
- McCoy: Don't pretend your hands are clean, Mr. Girard. Not unless you're willing to risk losing them.
Possession [12.05]
[edit]- Dr. Rodgers: [on what blade made the stab wounds] Probably pinking shears.
- Briscoe: I'm not even going to ask what pinking is.
- McCoy: $362 a month for a 3-bedroom apartment? I'd kill for it.
Formerly Famous [12.06]
[edit]- Green: Vega hasn't had a gig in 10 years and he socked away millions of dollars. Maybe I should get a manager.
- Briscoe: Singing in a karaoke bar doesn't count.
- Vega: Grand jury is just another audience.
Myth of Fingerprints [12.07]
[edit]- Van Buren: Closing that case got me noticed, Lennie. And I used to hear the whispers and the chatter behind my back. "She got it 'cause she's black, she got it 'cause she's a woman." And I never listened to that crap because I knew I had earned it.
- Briscoe: You made lieutenant because you're a great cop. All the drսg collars you made, all the killers you put behind bars. This one case isn't gonna undo all of that.
- Van Buren: I'm not so sure, Lennie. I'm not so sure.
- Van Buren: I want to know why you did it. Those were people's lives you were playing with,
- Russo: You know, I don't recall you crying so hard when you made first grade off this case.
- Van Buren: I never knew you lied!
- Russo: Oh, please! You people come in, you give me the evidence. You tell me, "See what you can come up with, Lisa." And I gave you exactly what you wanted. And you know what? You are the worst kind of hypocrite. And are you really gonna sit there and tell me that you don't blur the boundaries? Go home and look in the mirror, Anita. And when you do, you ask yourself is it right that I'm in here and you're not?
The Fire This Time [12.08]
[edit]- Quigley: We're losing our wetlands, our wilderness! Every day, we are paving over nature!
- Briscoe: Aw, you think Manhattan's a wasteland? Wait 'til you see Riker's Island.
- Rochet: I don't regret anything I do, Mr. McCoy. I hope you never do. [leaves]
- McCoy: Letting that man walk out the door is a start.
3 Dawg Night [12.09]
[edit]- [G-Train's fans are protesting his trial]
- Serena: Do they really think he's innocent?
- McCoy: I don't think they care.
- Serena: In a weird way, the dismissal hurt Collins more than the indictment. When his fans found out he wasn't the killer, his CD dropped 10 places in the charts.
- McCoy: At this rate, he might have to go out and actually shoot somebody.
Prejudice [12.10]
[edit]- Freeman: I know first-hand what it is to be discriminated against. But as long as we treat it as a social problem instead of as an illness, we lose all chance of treating it.
- McCoy: No, sir. As long as we provide an excuse, we lose all chance of punishing it.
- McCoy: We live in a world where people commit unspeakable violent acts against other people. Terrorists, racists, anyone who kills out of hate. Do we hold them accountable, or do we excuse their acts and sit them down for a chat to tell them that it's wrong? In the world the defense would create, murderers would never be held responsible. In that world, right and wrong would lose all meaning. Killers would become victims. The only one who would benefit from the defendant being found mentally ill is the defendant. Not society. Certainly not the victim. Not Thomas Reddick or his family, or anyone else with his skin color. To excuse Ray Burrows because of his prejudice only promotes racism. What happened to Thomas Reddick is a crime of hate. To call it anything else is to deny justice.
- Lewin: I wonder if Burrows will still have a problem with minorities once he gets to prison and finds out he is one.
The Collar [12.11]
[edit]- Father Paul: People go to confession to seek forgiveness, to express regret for whatever it is that they've done. I don't know of any priest who would absolve a murderer without that, or without their agreeing to come forward to accept whatever punishment he or she might deserve.
- McCoy: Well, this kid is letting an innocent man do his time for him, and he tried to kill the priest to keep him quiet.
- Father Paul: The Grady case.
- McCoy: A patient threatens his shrink, a client threatens his lawyer, any confidentiality there is gone.
- Father Paul: Religion and the law don't always speak the same language. That being said, on these facts I wouldn't have much trouble revealing what he told me.
- McCoy: So what's stopping this priest?
- Father Paul: He must still have hope. Hope that he can get this kid to come forward and save his soul. My guess is, as long as this priest has that hope, you're not going to get him to talk.
- McCoy: So my job is to take his hope away from him.
- Father Paul: Don't worry, Jack, I'll still put in a good word for you.
- Bishop Durning: If Father Evans refuses to testify, the court could hold him in contempt. If he violates his conscience or the precepts of the Church, there may also be consequences. In either case, it's no place to be. Find another way, Mr. McCoy. For all our sakes.
Undercovered [12.12]
[edit]- Briscoe: Guy goes out for a stroll, ends up at his own wake.
- [Briscoe and Green pull Reggie away from a homeless shelter]
- Reggie: Hey! I'm gonna lose my spot!
- Briscoe: Don't worry - we serve pancakes at our house too.
- Reggie: You got syrup?
DR 1-102 [12.13]
[edit]- Lewin: I just came by to tell you I put you back on the trial schedule.
- Southerlyn: I appreciate that.
- Lewin: And I can appreciate what you did. But, you know, if you wanted to save people, you should've become a doctor.
Missing [12.14]
[edit]- Green: Looks she said the hell with her stuff and just took off.
- Briscoe: I don't blame her. Isn't moving one of the 7 major traumas? Death, divorce, colonoscopy?
- [McCoy finds out that Mrs. Weldon killed Lisa and framed her husband]
- McCoy: Your husband underestimated you, Mrs. Weldon.
- Mrs. Weldon: Like he said, he's not a perfect man. He's made mistakes.
Access Nation [12.15]
[edit]- Briscoe: [reading a movie poster] "Les Artistes d'Armour. A painter shows how passion is the highest form of art."
- Green: Sounds like a date movie.
- Briscoe: Sounds like I'm home watching the Knicks game.
- Dr. Skoda: Your shrink was trying to predict antisocial behavior by looking at her subjects' early childhood experience.
- Green: Did she predict someone would grow up and murder their therapist?
- Dr. Skoda: You'd have to get into her session notes. That's where any clues would be.
- Briscoe: What kind of clues?
- Dr. Skoda: First thing I'd look for would be some sort of physical abuse, possibly sexual. And because the nature of your murder was particularly vicious, I'd focus on someone who felt betrayed by their therapist.
- Briscoe: At 150 an hour, that would be practically everybody, wouldn't it?
- McCoy: If people have to choose, they'll trade safety for privacy every time.
- Lewin: That's the problem, though. If you trade one for the other, you could end up losing both.
Born Again [12.16]
[edit]- Lurie: These are good kids.
- Briscoe: So were Leopold and Loeb.
- Janet Weston: [after being exposed as the murderer] Do you have any idea what it's like to come home and have your little girl say, "Go away"? For everything to be such a struggle? To never get any sleep? I spent every penny I had on private schools and doctors. They all had advice, but none of them understood. I thought that I'd have a little girl who'd love her mom. I'm 42 years old! I was entitled to a life.
- McCoy: She was eleven. What was she entitled to?
Girl Most Likely [12.17]
[edit]- Briscoe: He told us he was out running, he just didn't mention it was from the crime scene.
- Alicia: I got on the floor with her. She wasn't breathing. She was just lying there with this soft look on her face, and I remember thinking, 'This must be the way she looks when she's asleep...'
Equal Rights [12.18]
[edit]- [A defendant uses battered woman syndrome as a defense to murdering her husband]
- Lewin: What choices does a woman in that situation really have?
- Serena: If someone hit me, I would leave, and if I couldn't, I'd hit them back.
- Lewin: Well, not everyone takes Tae Bo.
- McCoy: You were tired of being his punching bag.
- Leslie: Yes. Anybody would be.
- McCoy: And the way to get all that to stop was to stay. To stay, and get him. [Leslie says nothing] Only that's not self-defense, is it?
Slaughter [12.19]
[edit]- Briscoe: [while handcuffing a murder suspect] Just once, I'd like to make one of you bastards break the news to the parents!
- Talbot: I run a business, Mr. McCoy. Everyone loves a perfect product, but if it's too expensive or inconvenient, no one buys it. The airlines could hand-search every passenger on every flight, but the delays would put them out of business. Cars could be made as safe as tanks, but how many people could afford a car that costs as much as a house? Risk-return analysis isn't reckless. It's responsible business.
- McCoy: So is keeping your customers alive.
Dazzled [12.20]
[edit]- Green: That's the trouble with you AA types. You see an alcoholic behind every bush.
- Briscoe: Which is where they are.
- Briscoe: Home alone's a movie, not an alibi.
Foul Play [12.21]
[edit]- Serena: :[meeting Jack at a basketball court where he is playing with other attorneys] What's the score?
- McCoy: Legal Aid's up by six. All free-throws. You know defense attorneys. They like to complain they've been fouled every chance they get.
Attorney Client [12.22]
[edit]- Griggs: I want a lawyer.
- Briscoe: All right. Just try not to shoot this one.
- Briscoe: [while interrogating Jensen] We'd offer call a lawyer for you, except that you are one.
Oxymoron [12.23]
[edit]- Briscoe: You were dealing out of the same club, and you were seen arguing about money. In our neck of the woods, that's called a drug deal gone bad.
- Sheila: That's insane!
- Briscoe: Uh, if I were you, that defense never works.
- Nicky: [to his son, Tommy, who has just testified against him] Better watch your back, Tommy.
- [Bailiffs lead a frightened Tommy away]
- Serena: Some people pass down pocket watches.
- McCoy: Tradition.
Patriot [12.24]
[edit]- Briscoe: Hey, take a look, partner. There's supposed to be two towers standing over there.
- Green: Look, man, I know, but it's that kind of thing that gets me pulled over on the turnpike every other month. You forget, I lived in the Middle East. Not every guy wearing a kufi is the enemy.
- McCoy: We all fear the threat of terrorism and the simple fact is that our lives have changed. But what we do with that fear will ultimately define who we are. Do we let it overwhelm us, until we become so consumed with dread of what might be that we no longer give thought to what should be? Or what we stand for? Being afraid can't justify murder. Nor can calling yourself a patriot. People in this country are innocent until proven guilty. We've sent men off to die in order to protect that right. Don't let's be the first generation to succumb to fear. Not when so many who came before us stood their ground. When Frank Miller took on the role of judge, jury and executioner, his actions diminished us all. When in our name, he took it upon himself to kill a man, we all lost a measure of our humanity. But this jury has a chance to get it back. Because this jury has a chance to answer the question. How much of ourselves as a country are we willing to surrender to terrorism?
- Lewin: A minority may have given in to their fears for a moment. But you were right, Jack. They came to their senses. I think the American dream is still safe.
- McCoy: [paraphrasing Emma Lazarus] Give us your tired, your poor, your terrorists.
