Robert "Bobby" Goren is a fictional character featured in the NBC-USA Network police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio.

Goren is a detective investigator first grade for the Major Case Squad in the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

As created by executive producer René Balcer, Goren is an intense, extremely intelligent, and imposing man, but is also unpredictable and sometimes volatile.

A highly intelligent, emotionally intuitive man, Goren has a talent for forming complex psychological profiles and understanding the "why" of even the most unusual crimes.

[4] Goren is estranged from his older brother, Frank (Tony Goldwyn), a drug addict who also has a gambling problem and is depicted as being sometimes homeless.

[6] Frances' husband, whom Goren had believed to be his father (see "Mark Ford Brady" section below), gambled frequently on horse races and was a serial adulterer.

[8] In the episode "Endgame", serial killer Mark Ford Brady (Roy Scheider), anxious to delay his scheduled execution, arranges for Goren and Eames to interview him about victims not yet attributed to him.

[11] Goren also learned how to use his physicality to intimidate and unsettle people while interrogating them, the most famous example being his habit – introduced in the pilot episode, "One"[12] – of cocking his head at odd angles in order to maintain eye contact with someone who is trying to avoid his gaze.

One of his most significant relationships throughout the show is with Nicole Wallace (Olivia d'Abo), a brilliant con artist and serial killer who is first introduced in the episode "Anti-Thesis".

[6] In the episode "Untethered", Goren, on his own, goes undercover at an abusive prison where his nephew Donny (Trevor Morgan) is incarcerated; he is then suspended and sent for a psychological fitness evaluation.

[5] While waiting for his reinstatement, Goren decides to go undercover to take down a high-level drug dealer, but does not inform Eames of this decision, causing tension between them.

When Ross is subsequently murdered, Goren and Eames team up with Detectives Zack Nichols (Jeff Goldblum) and Serena Stevens (Saffron Burrows) to find his killer.

[15] While it was not explained how or why they were reinstated to the police force, it is clear that one of the conditions is Goren's regular sessions with a psychiatrist, Doctor Paula Gyson (Julia Ormond).