Characterization
Series creator Dick Wolf has a daughter named Olivia and a son named Elliot, for whom he named the two lead detectives in the series. Wolf conceived Benson as a detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, which investigates sex crimes. She is partnered with Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). She is tough, empathetic, and gets emotionally involved in cases. Executive producer and head writer Neal Baer has explained that she is "the empathetic, passionate voice for these victims", in contrast to Stabler, who embodies "the rage we feel, the 'How can this happen?' feeling". Of their partnership, Baer assessed that: "They both represent the feelings that we feel simultaneously when we hear about these cases. That's why they work so well together."
Her standard sidearm is a Glock 19 9 mm
In the episode "Paranoia", Benson described how, despite the difficulty she faced in dealing with a 2-year-old female rape victim on her second case, Karen Smythe, who trained her, praised her for displaying a talent in dealing with victims. Benson herself is a child of her mother's rape. The man who raped her later committed suicide. Benson's mother Serena (Elizabeth Ashley), an English professor, was an abusive alcoholic who emotionally abused Olivia. In the season two episode "Taken", Serena Benson dies falling down a flight of subway stairs outside the entrance to a bar. In a later episode, "Intoxicated", she mentions being engaged briefly when she was 16 to one of her mother's students; when her mother found out, she broke the bottle of vodka she was drinking, and went after Olivia with the jagged edge of the bottle. Olivia fought back, kicked her mother twice, hard, and then ran out of the house. Benson is a graduate of Siena College. While there, she held a membership in a sorority. In addition to English, Benson speaks Italian, some Spanish and French and is able to read the Miranda warnings in at least two other languages. She owns a black 1965 Ford Mustang convertible, but rarely drives it ("Perverted," season 11).
Olivia was born on December 13, 1967. She has a younger half brother named Simon Marsden. Simon, whom she found by illegally running her DNA through the system, was thought to be a rapist. However, his name was cleared in the episode "Florida", where it was revealed that he was framed by Captain Julia Millfield (Kim Delaney).
In the season 12 episode "Trophy", Benson's life is further complicated when she is named the legal guardian of a young boy named Calvin Arliss (Charlie Tahan). Calvin's mother, Vivian (Maria Bello) abandons Calvin and flees when Olivia's investigation uncovers that Vivian (also a child of rape) may have killed her mother's rapist. The last thing that Vivian does is name Olivia as Calvin's legal guardian. Calvin lives with Olivia for a while, causing her both delight and stress when Calvin gets into fights at school. In "Rescue" Olivia finds Vivian and her lover Sara have relapsed back into drug use. Sara confesses to murdering Vivian's rapist father and is then shot dead. At the end of the episode, Benson's parental rights are revoked by Vivian who sends Calvin to live with his grandparents. Both Calvin and Olivia are devastated by the separation. In season 13 she is seen with Calvin and his grandparents during or right before Halloween.
In the season 13 episode "Child's Welfare", Simon (Michael Weston) reveals to Benson that she has a niece and step-nephew named Olivia and Ty, and that he is getting married to a woman named Tracy. When the children are later taken by the city due to Simon's criminal background, Benson calls Defense Attorney Beyard Ellis (Andre Braugher), with whom she has become good friends, to help Simon and Tracy get the children back. When a judge denies the Marsdens their children back, Simon later kidnaps them. Ellis deals to have Simon serve a 60-day sentence, knocking his charge down from kidnapping to a misdemeanor, custodial interference. One of the conditions of the reduced charges is he must give up his custody petition and agree to only visit his daughter in a supervised setting for the next three years. Simon is reluctant but Benson tells him it's better than his daughter visiting him in jail.
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