All episodes Season 12 S12E07 2001-11-14 60 min 1990s NBC

Law & Order

Myth of Fingerprints

TV Flash files “Myth of Fingerprints” as hour 260 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 12, episode 7, aired 2001-11-14, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S12E07: listed hour 260 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 7 of 24 in season 12. It aired 2001-11-14 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Formerly Famous” (S12E06). Next is “The Fire This Time” (S12E08). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

Law & Order — Myth of Fingerprints (S12E07)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

A murder investigation uncovers deliberately faulty forensics in the wrongful conviction of two men 12 years earlier in the case that paved the way for Van Buren's promotion.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Myth of Fingerprints sit in the Law & Order guide?

S12E07 is listed hour 260 of 545 — hour 7 of 24 in season 12, season 12 episode 7.

When did Law & Order S12E07 air?

Myth of Fingerprints aired 2001-11-14 and is listed at 60 minutes.

Do I watch in order, or is it modular?

Modular is the point. Cases close. Casts change. Start anywhere in the original 1990–2010 run and you will understand the clang within twenty minutes. Order matters only if you care which partner is standing next to whom.

In the series

Why this series still plays

For the walnut that became a city: street then courtroom, a clang as civic punctuation, and two decades of interchangeable parts that taught TV how to clone a night. Comfort is the feature. The original 1990–2010 cathedral still teaches the form; the revival is the machine refusing to clock out.

Picture a Tuesday when the nation still had a cop show that split like a walnut: first the street, then the courtroom, a clang on the soundtrack that became civic punctuation. Law & Order premiered September 13, 1990, on NBC, created by Dick Wolf, and it did not invent the procedural so much as industrialize it. Prescription for Death is the template in miniature — a hospital night, a dead patient, cops then lawyers, no hug required. On the palate: newsprint, a New York that looks like a location budget with a…

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Filed against

Also in season 12

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