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“ | I found him fascinating... highly intelligent in some ways, amoral, without conscience or scruple. I wanted to know what made him tick. | „ |
~ Draper explaining why she became obsessed with Jacob Lowenstein |
Joyce Draper is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Fixed". She is a therapist who murders child killer Jacob Lowenstein to stop him from harming another child.
She was portrayed by Tracy Thorne.
Early life[]
Draper is a social worker who counsels inmates in New York City's Sing Sing Penitentiary, treating them in individual and group therapy sessions and advising parole boards on whether her patients fit the criteria for early release. She is motivated by a sincere belief that criminals can be rehabilitated, even though her husband, Ron, dislikes that she works with such dangerous people.
Shortly before the events of the episode, Draper began treating inmate Jacob Lowenstein, who, 15 years earlier, was convicted of neglecting and physically and sexually abusing his five-year-old daughter Didi so severely that she died of the injuries he and his wife and accomplice Carla inflicted. Lowenstein manipulated her into believing that he had changed, so she recommended him for early parole.
When she conducted a final session with Lowenstein a few weeks before his release, however, she was horrified to discover that he was planning to marry a woman with two young children, which would violate his parole condition that he have no contact with minors. During the session, he denied any responsibility for Didi's death and leered that he would be a "good daddy" to his fiancée's children, and Draper finally saw him for who he was. Deeply disillusioned, she quit her job the following week.
Determined to stop Lowenstein from hurting any more children, Draper stalked Lowenstein at his new home and job until she learned his routine. One day, she followed him in her car as he walked his fiancée's children to school and, once the children were safely inside, she ran him over. Lowenstein was so severely injured that his leg had to be amputated.
"Fixed"[]
NYPD Homicide Detectives Joe Fontana and Ed Green investigate Lowenstein's assault as an attempted murder and question Draper, who claims she had no contact with Lowenstein after he was released and feigns surprise that he had violated his parole. After Lowenstein dies from a pulmonary embolism, Fontana and Green find inconsistencies in her alibi and examine her car, which has Lowenstein's DNA on the bumper. Lieutenant Anita Van Buren interrogates Draper, who denies killing him.
Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn talks with Draper's supervisor and therapist, who shows her the tape of Lowenstein's last session. She then speaks to a nurse who had treated his fiancée's daughter for a broken wrist - an injury that he was suspected of inflicting upon her - who tells her that Draper had asked about the girl while checking in on Lowenstein. Deducing that this was the final straw that drove Draper to run Lowenstein over, Executive District Attorney Jack McCoy has Fontana and Green arrest her for murder.
During the trial, McCoy and Southerlyn show the jury the tape of Draper's last session with Lowenstein, hoping that they will see from her obvious repulsion that she wanted to kill him all along. Nevertheless, McCoy tries to make a deal with Draper to accept a plea bargain, but she refuses to plead guilty. She testifies in her own defense that she followed up on Lowenstein to make sure he was not a threat to his new family, and that she had nothing to do with his death. While cross-examining her, however, McCoy asks her why she did not just call the police if she were so concerned, a question that leaves her speechless.
In the end, however, the jury finds Draper not guilty; it is implied that they know she killed Lowenstein but decline to punish her because they believe he got what he deserved.
External links[]
- Joyce Draper on the Law & Order Wiki