"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."

    And so the voice over begins every weekly episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." The TV program offers perhaps the best and most realistic crime stories on the air. I’ve covered sex crimes and interviewed members of Philadelphia’s Special Victims Unit and the TV program rings true to me. I like the show even more than producer Dick Wolf’s original Law & Order and the other spin-offs.

    Dan Florek, who portrays Captain Don Cragen, is the commander of the squad. Florek, who also directed several Law & Order’s, played the character on the original show from its beginnings on NBC in 1990. I was unhappy when they replaced him but he has an even bigger role in the new show.

    The show also transferred over the character of Detective John Munch played by Richard Belzer from NBC’s "Homicide." The other squad members include Mariska Hargitay as Detective Oliva Benson, Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler and Ice-T as Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola. Supporting cast members include Stephanie March as assistant district attorney Alex Cabot, and B.D. Wong as police psychiatrist George Huang.

    The program’s writing, directing and acting are all first rate. The scripts are not only realistic, they are as complicated, twisted and unsatisfactory as real life and real justice can be.

    The shows are always interesting, but they are also sometimes disturbing. I find the programs about children to be particularly disturbing. One Friday night my brother came over and we watched the program after we had dinner and a few beers. Like me, my brother enjoys novels, movies and TV shows about crime and the police.

    That night, Law & Order: SVU’s plot involved the kidnapping, rape and murder of very young girls. As the fathers of daughters (my one to his four), we enjoyed the program, but found the realistic horror done to innocent children unsettling. To me, there is nothing more heinous than a crime against a child.

    Which brings me to Michael Jackson.

    The 44-year-old self-proclaimed "King of Pop" is a strange person, even by entertainment standards. First we saw the spectacle of his dangling his small child off a balcony, with a towel over the child’s head no less. This reckless and stupid act was just the opening act for the recent TV interview and tour of his "Neverland" ranch.

    I could only watch about 15 minutes of the interview, but 27 million viewers braved the whole two-hour special. Aside from his bold-faced claim that he had only two operations on his nose, when clearly his face has been extensively altered, his disclosures of entertaining children were deeply troubling to me.

    From what I saw and heard him say, it seems that the authorities should conduct a criminal investigation into possible child abuse. He should be investigated to determine if he is a fit father to his two small children and whether he has endangered the welfare of children when he held "sleep-overs" with them. I think the parents who allow their children to spend time with him should also be investigated.

    The largest nationwide organization concerned with child abuse prevention has requested that Santa Barbara, California District Attorney investigate Jackson.

    "By his own public actions and statements, Michael Jackson has raised enough red flags for us to be concerned about protecting the welfare of the children with whom he comes in contact, including his own," wrote A. Sidney Johnson III, president and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America.

    "Michael Jackson should not be exempt from the oversight of the child protective service system by virtue of his celebrity."

    In 1993, Jackson was charged with abusing a 12-year-old boy, but that case ended with a reported 20 million dollar settlement. A website (www.thesmokinggun.com) has posted the documents in which the boy alleged that Jackson sexually abused him.

    I used to like Jackson when he was a cute kid and a good entertainer, but clearly today he has some serious mental problems. Michelle Malkin, a syndicated columnist who is always blunt and on target, said in a column about the balcony incident last November that Jackson treated his 9-month-old baby like a headless yo-yo.

    "If I were the mother of the writhing, towel-smothered infant who nearly plunged to his death at the clammy hands of Michael Jackson, I’d have this crotch-grabbing celebrity thrown in jail faster than you can say "Bad," Malkin said.