Woman Gets a ‘Law & Order’ Tattoo Only Fans Will Understand: EXCLUSIVE

After 26 years and 27 seasons on the air, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” has assembled one of the most devoted audiences on television, but few have proven their loyalty to Olivia Benson and her unit the way Leighann Carroll has.
Carroll, a 37-year-old Virginia middle school teacher, is in the upper echelon of the fandom and her recent viral TikTok post showed just how much the long-running procedural drama means to her.
The teacher uploaded a video to the social media platform revealing a new tattoo that extends from her left knee, all the way down to her calf, until it reaches her ankle.
The ink reads “itcjssboacehinyctddwitvfamoaeskatsvutatsdd” in the typewriter-esque font Courier.
Confused? Well, any “Law & Order: SVU” fan wouldn’t be, as the letters correspond to the first letters of the voiceover that introduces every episode:
“In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.”
The “dd” at the end of the tattoo represents the show’s famous “dun dun” sound effect.
Carroll proudly displayed her tattoo in the post while the introduction played on a television in the background. The video instantly took off on TikTok and has amassed nearly 7 million views as of Nov. 6.
The inspiration for the tat came across Carroll’s screen a few years ago when she saw a social media post of someone who had designed a friendship bracelet with the same letters, she tells TODAY.com.
She decided to turn the idea into a tattoo and specifically chose the typewriter font to match the “detective vibe” of the show. She isn’t the first to do so: Other “Law and Order” fans have made videos displaying their similar tattoos.
A personal dedication to the series had been brewing in Carroll’s mind years before the bracelet appeared on her feed.
“I’ve been watching it since ’99, literally since it aired, if I’m not mistaken, Sept. 20,” she says. (She’s not wrong.)
She recalls growing up without cable and says one of the few shows she tuned into was “SVU.” She and a childhood friend used to imagine themselves as Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson and Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler.
Carroll connects with Olivia Benson and her commitment to helping victims of sexual assault.
“She cared for everybody, even the episodes where it’s uncomfortable and she has to work with people that are not aligned with her politically,” she notes. “The writers did such a great job of including that victims matter. How you feel about a situation doesn’t matter when it comes to helping others and the victims of especially sexual assault.”
Her other favorite character is Fin Tutuola, played by Ice-T. Carroll appreciates how much he supports his son and is an ally of the LGBTQ+ community.
On Oct. 13, Carroll sent a tattoo artist the letters and the idea to have them run horizontally down her leg like a sentence. Her tattoo artist was perplexed after receiving the message.
“When she asked me what the letters were, I was like, ‘I’m not going to tell you, but I will make a sound.’ And I went, ‘Dun, dun,’” Carroll says. “She was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is ‘Law & Order: SVU’! She knew exactly what it was when I said it, which just goes to show how many fans there are out there.”
In just 10 minutes, a tribute to “SVU” was permanently etched into her skin. She later showed the ink to friends and family, who she says were amused. The vice principal at her school playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head when she saw it.
“I was like, ‘I’m going to go places with this tattoo.’ And look who I’m talking to!” (Her students were especially excited when the video climbed to 6.7 million views, thanks to the term “67” flooding TikTok.)
Carroll was shocked by the response on social media, with the video reaching 1 million views in just one day. “I was like, I guess I found my people,” she says about the TikTok going viral. “All the comments were amazing. I was so happy to see that it was mostly positive.” There were some critics, but she adds that many fans were impressed and laughed at the inside joke.
Although the tattoo is a funny way to express her love for “SVU,” Carroll shares that she has a heavier connection to the ink and the series.
“I think another reason that this show really resonates with me is because one in four women has been sexually assaulted,” she says, a statistic confirmed by an article published on the National Library of Medicine’s website. “Myself included.”
“I’m a weightlifter. I’m not necessarily a small person. I’m 6 foot 1 and I never thought that it would happen to me,” she continues. “I always thought that if I was in that position, I would fight back, or I would put them in their place. And I froze. Olivia’s character tells people that all the time on the show.”
Carroll became emotional while explaining how Olivia’s repeated message that sexual assault victims are not at fault has helped her.
“I have to remember that people are gonna people, and all we can do is survive. Like she tells a lot of the victims on the show, the whole point was that you got out of it. You made it through to the other side. It’s just an unfortunate but good connection to have with that character.”
She also applauds Hargitay for using her platform to speak about sexual assault, particularly the rape kit backlog.
“This is real life,” Carroll says. “These are real (stories). Obviously, you know the little disclaimer in the beginning, but it’s still real situations. These are real events that women, especially, have to go through.”