Top 250 Tv Shows Like Criminal Justice
A list of the best tv shows similar to Criminal Justice. If you liked Criminal Justice then you may also like: Midsomer Murders, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, All Rise, America's Most Wanted and many more great tv shows featured on this list.
A knife-scarred victim must identify her assailant beyond a reasonable doubt. Meanwhile the accused is offered a deal if he pleads guilty. Is he as innocent as the victim? Is the justice system guiltier than both?
Criminal Justice
Law & Order
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
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.
America's Most Wanted
Presented by Walsh, the show profiles and assist law enforcement in the apprehension of fugitives wanted for numerous crimes, including murder, rape, kidnapping, child molestation, white-collar crime, organized crime, armed robbery, gang violence, and terrorism, and also many of whom are currently on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
American Crime Story
An anthology series centered around some of history's most famous criminal investigations.
American Justice
Hosted by Bill Kurtis, American Justice looks at groundbreaking criminal cases, presenting viewers with an inside look at the case through the eyes of those directly involved, ranging from law enforcement officers to the victims.
Medical Detectives
Real crimes, disease outbreaks and accidents around the world are solved by experts using scientific laboratory analysis which helps them find previously undetectable evidence. Brilliant scientific work helps convict the guilty and free the innocent.
The Good Wife
Alicia Florrick boldly assumes full responsibility for her family and re-enters the workforce after her husband's very public sex and political corruption scandal lands him in jail.
Goosebumps
Anything can turn spooky in this horror anthology series based on the best-selling books by master of kid horror, R.L. Stine. In every episode, see what happens when regular kids find themselves in scary situations, and how they work to confront and overcome their fears.
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by retired Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show features Sheindlin adjudicating real-life small claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set. All parties involved must sign contracts, agreeing to arbitration under Sheindlin. The series is in first-run syndication and distributed by CBS Television Distribution. Judge Judy, which premiered on September 16, 1996, reportedly revitalized the court show genre. Only two other arbitration-based reality court shows preceded it, The People's Court and Jones and Jury. Sheindlin has been credited with introducing the "tough" adjudicating approach into the judicial genre, which has led to several imitators. The two court shows that outnumber Judge Judy's seasons, The People's Court and Divorce Court, have both lasted via multiple lives of production and shifting arbiters, making Sheindlin's span as a television arbiter the longest.
Justice
Justice is an American legal drama produced by Jerry Bruckheimer that aired on Fox in the USA and CTV in Canada. The series also aired on Warner Channel in Latin America, Nine Network in Australia, and on TV2 In New Zealand. It first was broadcast on Wednesdays at 9:00 but, due to low ratings, it was rescheduled to Mondays at 9:00, in the hope viewers of the hit series Prison Break would stay tuned. On November 13, 2006, the show was put on hiatus, but two days later the network announced it was shifting it to Fridays at 8:00 to replace the canceled Vanished. Fourteen episodes of the series were ordered, of which 13 episodes were produced. Twelve of the episodes of Justice have aired in the United States with the final episode airing in Mexico, the UK and Germany.
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
The inner workings of the judicial system, beginning with the arraignment, and continuing through the prosecutors' complicated process of building a case, investigating leads and preparing witnesses for trial.
Law & Order: UK
Adapted from the hit US series, Law & Order: UK follows a team of police detectives and prosecutors representing the public interest in the criminal justice system.
Major Crimes
Major Crimes explores how the American justice system approaches the art of the deals as law enforcement officers and prosecutors work together to score a conviction. Los Angeles Police Captain Sharon Raydor heads up a special squad within the LAPD that deals with high-profile or particularly sensitive crimes.
Making a Murderer
Filmed over 10 years, this real-life thriller follows a DNA exoneree who, while exposing police corruption, becomes a suspect in a grisly new crime.
Outlaw
Few jobs are guaranteed for a lifetime, and a Supreme Court appointment is one you just don't quit. Unless you're Cyrus Garza. A playboy and a gambler, Justice Garza always adhered to a strict interpretation of the law. Until he realized the system he always believed in was flawed. Now, he's quit the bench and returned to being an attorney. Determined to represent "the little guy," he's using his inside knowledge of the justice system to take on today's biggest legal cases. And making plenty of powerful people unhappy along the way.
Perry Mason
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
Proven Innocent
Madeline Scott, a fierce and uncompromising lawyer with a hunger for justice, runs an underdog criminal defense firm. There is no one who understands the power of setting an innocent person free more than Madeline. At age 18, she was wrongfully convicted, along with her brother, in a sensational murder case. Madeline defends others as she fights to maintain her innocence and searches for the real killer in her own case.
Shark
Notorious Los Angeles defense attorney Sebastian Stark becomes disillusioned with his career after his successful defense of a wife-abuser results in the wife's death. After more than a month trying to come to grips with his situation, he is invited by the Los Angeles district attorney to become a public prosecutor so he can apply his unorthodox-but-effective talents to putting guilty people away instead of putting them back on the street.
Trial & Error
A bright-eyed New York lawyer takes his first big case defending an eccentric poetry professor accused of murdering his wife.
When They See Us
Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park.
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law features ex-superhero Harvey T. Birdman of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio as an attorney working for a law firm alongside other cartoon stars from 1960s and 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Similarly, Harvey's clients are also primarily composed of characters taken from Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the same era. Many of Birdman's nemeses featured in his former cartoon series also became attorneys, often representing the opposing side of a given case.
Matlock
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock. The show, produced by The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions, Viacom Productions and Paramount Television originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC; and from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC. The show's format is similar to that of CBS's Perry Mason, with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dramatic courtroom scenes. One difference, however, was that whereas Mason usually exculpated his clients at a pretrial hearing, Matlock usually secured an acquittal at trial, from the jury.
World in Action
World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often unorthodox, some said left-wing, approach. Cabinet ministers fell victim to its probings. Numerous innocent victims of the British criminal justice system, including the Birmingham Six, were released from jail. Honouring the programme in its fiftieth anniversary awards, the Political Studies Association, said: "World in Action thrived on unveiling corruption and highlighting underhand dealings. World in Action came to be seen as hard-hitting investigative journalism at its best." In its heyday World in Action drew audiences of up to 23 million in Britain alone, equivalent to almost half the population.
Arrest and Trial
Arrest and Trial is a 90-minute American crime/legal drama series that ran during the 1963-1964 season on ABC, airing Sundays from 8:30-10 p.m. Eastern.
Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial
Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial, is a BBC documentary film series consisting of three one-hour films that re-enact the Nuremberg War Trials of Albert Speer, Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess. They were broadcast on BBC Two in 2006 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the trials.
Reasonable Doubts
Reasonable Doubts is a police drama broadcast in the United States by NBC that ran from 1991 to 1993.
The Line
The Line is a Canadian television drama series, which debuted on Movie Central and The Movie Network on March 16, 2009. Created by George F. Walker and Dani Romain, the series is being produced by The Nightingale Company, and shot by Richmond Street Films. The program was originally announced under the working title The Weight.
True Justice
Elijah Kane leads a hardcore undercover team of Seattle based cops who take on the local criminal element with a high-octane style of enforcement.
The Escape Artist
A chilling and bloody legal thriller that explores the line between law and justice. Will Burton, a talented junior barrister of peerless intellect and winning charm, specialises in spiriting people out of tight legal corners. He is in high demand as he has never lost a case. But when his talents acquit the notorious prime suspect in an horrific murder trial, that brilliance comes back to bite him with unexpected and chilling results, not to mention a shocking twist.
The Sculptress
When author Rosalind Leigh is assigned to write a book about the life of Olive Martin, a woman sentenced to life in prison for killing her mother and sister, she develops a relationship with Olive and is soon convinced of her innocence. With the help of restaurant owner and former policeman Hal Hawksley, she sets out to prove it and undo what she sees as a miscarriage of justice.
The Witness for the Prosecution
The hunt is on to find the murderer of a wealthy glamorous heiress who is found dead in her London townhouse. Based on the short story by Agatha Christie.
Apple Tree Yard
What starts out as a simple, reckless mid-life affair between a genetic scientist named Yvonne and a Westminster paper pusher takes an intriguing turn when she realizes he’s a spook – then suddenly gets very dark indeed. A provocative study of obsession, longing and just how far down a criminal path desire can take you.
Is O.J. Innocent? The Missing Evidence
After examining evidence both old and new, the team questions O.J.’s role in the crimes. Was he involved in these murders…or was another person was responsible? Dr. Henry Lee, a forensics expert from the original investigation, discusses the confounding details and problems with the preliminary evidence collection from the crime scene, and what impact that may have had on the trial.
Tokyo Trial
In the wake of World War II, 11 Allied judges are tasked with weighing the fates of Japanese war criminals in a tense international trial.
The Trial: A Murder in the Family
In a pioneering series that reveals the inner workings of the legal system, a fictional murder case is tried in a real court, by eminent legal professionals and a jury of 12 members of the public.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
This series takes viewers inside the world of true crime investigation through high-profile criminal cases of the past century that were ultimately solved by advances in forensic science or technology.
The Jury Speaks
Reexamining some of the most high-profile and controversial cases in history through the eyes of the people who served on the original jury. Each episode delves into a new case including Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, George Zimmerman and Robert Durst, as jurors uncover what really happened inside the courtroom.
True Conviction
The real-life stories of how homicides are solved on the street and won in the courtroom. Host Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, a decorated Brooklyn prosecutor, takes you inside the fight for justice for victims and their loved ones.
Dietland
Plum Kettle, ghost-writer for the editor of one of New York’s hottest fashion magazines, struggles with self-image and sets out on a wildly complicated road to self-acceptance. At the same time, everyone is buzzing over news reports about men, accused of sexual abuse and assault, who are disappearing and meeting untimely, violent deaths.
We the People with Gloria Allred
We the People with Gloria Allred is an American nontraditional/dramatized court show that debuted in first-run syndication on September 12, 2011. The series is presented by famed celebrity lawyer/attorney Gloria Allred, who also serves as co-producer with series creator Byron Allen through his production company Entertainment Studios, LLC. John Cramer does the narration of the judge's final verdict.
The Last Defense
This docu-series explores and exposes flaws in the American justice system through emotional, in-depth examinations of the death row cases of Darlie Routier and Julius Jones.
Defending the Guilty
Will Packham is an idealistic pupil barrister - or idealistic for now. Can Will hold onto his principles and prove he has what it takes?
The Luminaries
The 19th-century tale of love, murder and revenge as men and women travel across the world to make their fortunes on the wild West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
A unique look inside the mind of an infamous serial killer with this cinematic self-portrait crafted from statements made by Ted Bundy, including present-day interviews, archival footage and audio recordings from death row.
Mark of a Killer
All serial killers commit murder to satisfy their grand fantasies, but the murderers featured in this true-crime docuseries take it one step further, committing heinous acts that allow them to extend their fantasies and relive the excitement of their crimes again and again.
Very Scary People
A chronicle of the twisted lives of some of the most frightening, diabolical characters in recent history. Each two-hour episode traces the heinous, criminal acts of these elusive miscreants and the eventual road to justice.
The Victim
A grieving mother is accused of identifying online the man she believes killed her son. But is he really a notorious child murderer or a tragic victim of mistaken identity?
Quiz
The story of Charles Ingram, a former British army major who caused a major scandal in the early 2000s after being caught cheating his way to winning £1 million on the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Ingram, his wife Diana and an accomplice, Tecwen Whittock, who was sitting in the audience, initially pulled off the on-screen heist before being caught and standing trial.
Murder Trial
Murder, mystery, and a search for justice. A compelling insight into the work of the police and prosecutors bringing suspects to trial at Glasgow’s High Court.
The Innocence Files
The personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the Innocence Project and organizations within the Innocence Network have worked to highlight and overturn.
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich
Stories from survivors fuel this docuseries examining how convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein used his wealth and power to carry out his abuses.
Accused: Guilty or Innocent?
An intimate account of what happens when someone is formally charged with a crime and sent to trial – all solely from the perspective of the accused, their legal team and family members.
Trial by Media
In this true crime docuseries, some of the most dramatic trials of all time are examined with an emphasis on how the media may have impacted verdicts.
Law & Order: Organized Crime
Detective Elliot Stabler returns to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss. Stabler journeys to find absolution and rebuild his life, while leading a new elite task force that is taking apart the city’s most powerful criminal syndicates one by one.
Mayor of Kingstown
In a small Michigan town where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry, the McClusky family are the power brokers between the police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians in a city completely dependent on prisons and the prisoners they contain.
Police: Suspect No.1
Exploring the intricacies of producing irrefutable evidence, conducting interviews and finding ways to make the guilty confess.
Justice with Judge Mablean
Judge Mablean Ephriam, who presided over "Divorce Court" from 1999-2006 as the first star of the revived version of the show, returns to the courtroom genre with his half-hour series that deals with life and the law. The former Los Angeles-based prosecutor takes on the typical cases that are found on TV court shows. The arbitrator says that her show "will be life because everything we do, it involves the law."
The Miramar Murders: The State vs. Pablo Ibar
In July 1994, Pablo Ibar is arrested, accused of a triple murder in Miami. A crime that shook the foundations of the whole community given that the whole thing was recorded on a home security camera. Although he defends his innocence throughout, Pablo is condemned to death and will spend more than 20 years in prison... until Florida Supreme Court confirms the lack of proof against him and orders a retrial. Back in the starting box, the District Attorney’s office once again asks for the death sentence while the Ibar family sets about finding the money to pay for a trial that will cost more than a million dollars. This is his last chance.
Accused: A Mother on Trial
Ashley Ard has been dubbed ‘The Most Hated Woman in Alaska’ after being accused of killing her newborn baby. She pleads not guilty, and her lawyer draws attention to her ex-husband.
American Detective with Lt. Joe Kenda
In American Detective, Kenda trades in his own case files to bring viewers astounding investigations from across the country, with each episode featuring a different homicide detective whose tireless efforts helped put a killer behind bars and bring justice for the victim.
The Lincoln Lawyer
Sidelined after an accident, hotshot Los Angeles lawyer Mickey Haller restarts his career - and his trademark Lincoln - when he takes on a murder case.
Confronting a Serial Killer
The timely story of the unprecedented relationship between acclaimed New York Times best-selling author and memoirist Jillian Lauren and the most prolific serial killer in American history, Samuel Little, and her race against time to identify his victims before it's too late. As she slips deeper into his sordid world, Jillian realizes that she may become, psychologically, Little's last victim.
Cruel Doubt
A college student and two friends are accused of murdering one's stepfather and injuring his mother whom refuses to believe her son had anything to do with the attack.
The Staircase
An exploration of the life of Michael Peterson, his sprawling North Carolina family, and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.
Black Bird
As Jimmy Keene begins a 10-year prison sentence, he gets an incredible offer: If he can elicit a confession from suspected killer Larry Hall, Jimmy will be freed. Completing this mission becomes the challenge of a lifetime.
Reasonable Doubt
In this legal drama, you’ll judge Jax Stewart for her questionable ethics and wild interpretations of the law… until you’re the one in trouble. Then you’ll see her for what she is: the most brilliant and fearless defense attorney in Los Angeles who bucks the justice system at every chance she gets.
The Murders at Starved Rock
This documentary series explores the 1960 brutal murders of three women in Starved Rock State Park in LaSalle County, Illinois, and the decades of questions and doubts that have haunted the son of the prosecutor in the case, as the man found guilty seeks to clear his name after sixty years in prison.
You Don't Know Me
Accused of murder, Hero shouldn't stand a chance in court. He swears he's innocent. But in the end, all that matters is this: do you believe him?
Ken and Barbie Killers: The Lost Murder Tapes
Three schoolgirl murders. Two killers hiding in plain sight. Six video tapes that horrify the world and lead to one of the most controversial murder trials in modern history: one that left a nation shamed, victims denied justice, and a serial killer roaming free in Canada today. Over the course four parts, THE KEN AND BARBIE KILLERS: THE LOST MURDER TAPES follows the extraordinary twists and turns of the case and trial of glamour couple Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, the "demonic duo of dark kink", who quickly became the most notorious killers in Canadian history.
Accused
In this crime anthology series, viewers discover how an ordinary person got caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another, until it’s too late to turn back. Told from the defendant’s point of view, each episode opens in a courtroom on the accused without knowing their crime or how they ended up on trial.
First Blood
“First Blood" examines some of America’s most notorious serial killers through the prism of their first known kills to reveal what drove them to the moment when violent fantasy and curiosity became a devastating reality.
Court Night Live
Court Night Live brings live trials to the people as civil court cases from across the country are litigated from courtrooms in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Tampa.
Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama
Dramatic recreation of the sensational 'Wagatha Christie' trial, the digital-age whodunnit based on the real-life events of Rebekah Vardy's bid to sue Coleen Rooney
Depp V Heard
The story of the tumultuous defamation trial between superstar Johnny Depp and his former wife Amber Heard.
Tribunal Justice
Justice Junction brings together a dynamic trio of judges who delve into genuine and captivating cases, sparking lively debates and spirited deliberations. Their diverse perspectives often lead to fascinating disagreements, resulting in a thrilling and unpredictable final ruling.
The Long Shadow
Dramatizing one of the most infamously notorious and shocking serial killer cases in the world, the hunt for Peter Sutcliffe, commonly dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, between October 1975 and January 1981, South Yorkshire police undertook the biggest manhunt in British criminal history. The search for Sutcliffe lasted five years, involved over a thousand officers and changed the way the British police worked forever.
Wrongly Accused
Investigative reporter Louise Shorter hosts this true crime series looking at both sides of some of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Louise and experts look at what went wrong and how it was put right.
Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler
A true-crime series examining the most shocking murder investigations and toughest trials in Texas history - all told with Kelly's unique insight and unparalleled access. As Chief of Special Crimes in the busiest courthouse in the Lone Star state, Kelly Siegler battled to get killers into courtrooms to face their formidable defense attorneys. With her own firsthand accounts, alongside investigators and victims' families, Kelly reveals what really happened beyond the newspaper headlines to bring Texas-style justice.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office
One of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.
The Jury: Murder Trial
How much can we trust our justice system? This landmark experiment follows the restaging of a real-life murder trial in front of two juries of ordinary people. Will they reach the same verdict?
Midsomer Murders
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.