Behave (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)

"Behave" is the third episode of the twelfth season of the police procedural Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the 251st episode overall. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on September 29, 2010. The episode, which was inspired by rape kit backlogs, follows Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) helping a repeat rape victim (Jennifer Love Hewitt) stand up to her attacker, and finding the evidence to put him away. Meanwhile, the rapist (James Le Gros) could possibly walk because the evidence against him has been misplaced, poorly stored and even accidentally destroyed.

The episode was written by long-time Law & Order: SVU writer, Jonathan Greene and was directed by Helen Shaver. It was inspired by the backlog of rape kits across the United States and the story of California rape victim, Helena Lazaro, whose evidence went unprocessed for years. Skeet Ulrich made a special guest appearance in this episode as his Law & Order: LA character, Detective Rex Winters, who was on Vicki's rape case when she lived in Los Angeles. Law & Order: LA originally premiered on NBC directly after this episode.

"Behave" was given generally positive reviews from critics, especially Hewitt's portrayal of Vicki Sayers, and according to the Nielsen ratings from TV by the Numbers, the episode's original broadcast was watched by 9.47 million total viewers and received a 2.8 rating / 8% share in the 18–49 age demographic, making it the second most watched program on NBC of the night, under the premiere episode of Law & Order: LA.