tv shows about crime and law

As any detective can tell you, investigating missing property or deaths is comparatively easy compared to elusive missing people. However in New York City, there is a special unit of the FBI that is designed to find them. Using the vast resources of their bureau, the team, lead by Agent Jack Malone, race against time in the tight 72 hour window after a disappearance while hope for a recovery is still typically possible.

A superstar magician Cameron Black whose career is ruined by scandal has only one place to turn to practice his art of deception, illusion, and influence, the FBI where he'll become the world's first consulting illusionist, helping the government solve crimes that defy explanation, and trap criminals and spies by using deception.

Officer Carter Shaw and his team go undercover - sometimes too deep, among the criminals of modern-day Los Angeles.

The FBI examines various crimes all somehow relating to the kidnapping of Sara, U.S. senator Jeffrey Collins's second wife, from Atlanta. First FBI special agent Graham Kelton is in charge, who proved his value in a previous kidnapping case but was traumatized for life by its ending, costing the life of his own son Nathan, takes charge, but quickly finds he's not just dealing with ransom-thieves but facing a complex conspiratorial web involving the senator's crucial political role, notably in judge Wallace Rainer's presidential nomination to the Supreme Court, his first wife Jessica Nevins, their teenage children Max and Marcy, and probably even Nathan's kidnapper-murderer. After Graham's murder in the line of duty, well-connected Special Agent Danny Lucas, dropped from the top, proves as competent and tenacious but faces new, mysterious complications.

Former CIA operative is lured back to his old life when the NYPD needs his help to stop a serial killer. Dr. Dylan Reinhart (Alan Cumming) is a gifted author and university professor living a quiet life teaching psychopathic behavior to packed classes of adoring students. But when top NYPD detective Lizzie Needham (Bojana Novakovic) appeals to him to help her catch a serial murderer who is using Dylan's first book as a tutorial, Dylan is compelled by the case, comes out of retirement and taps into his old skill set. Though Dylan and Lizzie initially clash, when it comes to catching killers, they realize they will make an ideal team if they both trust their instincts. Based on the James Patterson book.

A veteran F.B.I. agent is assigned a new partner, unaware that the partner was recruited to investigate the veteran's activities.

In the Los Angeles office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent Don Eppes and his team investigate critical and baffling crimes with a special edge. That advantage is Don's brother, Charles Eppes, a brilliant universalist mathematician who uses the science of mathematics with its complex equations to ferret out the most tricky criminals. With this team, the forces of evil learn their number is up.

Switching between eras, Alcatraz focuses on the Alcatraz prison, which was shut down in 1963 due to unsafe conditions for its prisoners and guards. The show's premise is that both the prisoners and the guards disappeared in 1963 and have abruptly reappeared in modern-day San Francisco, where they are being tracked down by a government agency.

Lilly Rush is a Philadelphia police detective working for the department's homicide squad and being assigned "cold cases": crimes that were committed many years before and have not been solved. Lilly must try to re-think the crime scenes and interview other people involved with the victims to find a link to solving the cases.

Malcolm Bright, one of the best criminal psychologists around, uses his twisted genius to help the NYPD solve crimes.

Dr. Daniel Pierce is an eccentric neuropsychiatrist who uses his unique outlook to help the federal government solve complex criminal cases.

Detective Jack Hale works for the San Francisco Police Department Deviant Crimes Division, which means he investigates unusual crimes. He has a special insight into criminals because his father is a serial killer. His partner is Danielle Carter. His boss is Lt. Cavanaugh.

In this psychological thriller, rookie FBI Agent Rebecca Locke joins the Bureau's Los Angeles Violent Crimes Unit, unaware that she's been hand-picked for the dangerous job by its imposing leader, Supervisory Special Agent Virgil "Web" Webster. Web is among the few who know that Rebecca was abducted and held captive as a young girl, a traumatic experience that affords her a unique insight into the mindset of villain and victim alike.

CBS's successful CSI franchise gets transplanted to the Big Apple. Cases involving sewer rats as witnesses, a victim whose head was slammed in a pizzeria oven, and murders of commodities traders, and--of course--a Red Sox fan. CSI: NY is a bleaker, grimmer version of its Las Vegas and Miami cousins. The team is made up of a pleasantly New Yawk but indistinct cast of characters. The teams leader Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise), is a former Marine from Chicago. Mac is a veteran of the NYPD who lost his wife on 9/11, and as such must work to rebuild his personal life while supervising his team. He is organized, efficient, dedicated, and very proper in his management style. His second in command for the first 6 seasons is Detective Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes), Stella is half-Greek, half-Italian, and entirely New York City. She helped Mac through the impact of his wife's death and has been by his side ever since. She is a savvy investigator, yet she often speaks before she thinks. Stella leaves New York to head a crime lab in New Orleans and is replaced by Detective Jo Danville (Sela Ward). Jo is a former FBI criminalist and an experienced psychological profiler. She and Mac quickly form a strong friendship and an even stronger working rapport. Jo is still haunted by her ousting from the FBI after blowing the whistle on improper lab procedure, so she works to regain her professional reputation. Joining them is younger CSIs Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo), Aiden Burn (Vanessa Ferlito, who has since left the show), Aiden's replacement Lindsay Monroe (Anna Belknap) and medical examiner turned CSI Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper). Rounding out the cast is the teams legal muscle Homicide Detective Don Flack (Eddie Cahill), Medical Examiner Sid Hammerback, M.D. (Robert Joy) and lab tech Adam Ross (A. J. Buckley).

A government scientist and his tough attractive FBI handler try to save people from deadly scientific experiments, poisoners, rare diseases, and environmental hazards.

Robert McCall is "The Equalizer", a private detective with a lot of contacts who is available for hire if you have a problem that you don't know how to solve. His no-nonsense attitude, compassion, and experience with dealing with a wide variety of situations makes him a powerful and useful detective.

A billionaire software-genius named Harold Finch creates a Machine for the government that is designed to detect acts of terror before they can happen, by monitoring the entire world through every cell-phone, email and surveillance camera. Finch discovered that the machine sees everything, potential terrorist acts and violent crimes that involve ordinary people. When the government considered violent crimes between normal people "irrelevant", Finch built a back door into the system that gives him the social security number of a person involved in a future violent crime so he could act. Partnered with John Reese, an ex-CIA agent, the two work in secret to prevent violent crimes before they can happen. Eventually their activities lead to being hunted by the New York Police Department, CIA Agents in pursuit of Reese who was listed as dead, a computer hacker named Root who wants access to the Machine, and government officials who want to keep all knowledge of the Machine a complete secret.

Top-lawyer Ron Trott runs his own prestigious L.A. law firm, which offers first-rate criminal defense, charging top-dollar to the wealthy, guilty or innocent or civil party, or occasionally accepts a case for the publicity or for a friend. He has an elaborate team, mainly comprised of specialists, from detectives and ex-public prosecutor Luther Graves to various paralegals such as a specialist in jury-selection and psychology. However Trott has a bright right-hand, charming Tom Nicholson, who is likely to become at least as good a pleader, provided he can control one weakness Ron seems immune for: human feelings such as sympathy, sincere disgust or compassion can cloud the cool competitive killer-instinct to win at any cost to earn a king's ransom.