"Love in the First Degree" is a song by English girl group Bananarama from their fourth studio album, Wow!

The lyric, composed by Siobhan Fahey and built upon by SAW and Bananarama members Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward, describes a dream in which they find themselves being tried in court for love.

[citation needed] Producer Pete Waterman variously claimed he came up with the idea for the song while in the bath, and after waking up one morning with the tune in his head;.

[3] The record sleeves for "Love in the First Degree" and "I Can't Help It", were switched with each other, for UK, and North American markets.

By the time "Love in the First Degree" was released in the United States, Fahey had already announced her departure from Bananarama.

The music video for "Love in the First Degree", directed by Andy Morahan,[4] features the group performing the song in a jail cell, alternately dressed in black outfits and prison uniforms.

Paul Simper of Number One stated that "Love in the First Degree" "simply continues to send their high-camp disco train whistling down the track".

[2] A review in Pan-European magazine Music & Media deemed the song a "bouncy, cheerful disco".

(1989) as Bananarama's highest-charting single in the UK; On the 24 October 1987 chart, the B-Side "Mr. Sleaze" was added to the listing, making it a double-sided hit.