The first season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, an American police procedural television series, was developed by Dick Wolf and René Balcer.

Four actors received star billing in the first season: Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Jamey Sheridan, and Courtney B. Vance.

A DVD box set of Season 1 was released in America on October 21, 2003, and episodes are available for purchase at the US iTunes Store and Amazon Video on Demand.

[3][4] Balcer and Wolf conceived Law & Order: Criminal Intent as a police procedural crime drama that follows a distinct division of the New York City Police Department: the 'Major Case Squad', and its investigations in to high-profile murder cases, such as those involving VIPs, local government officials and employees, and people working in the financial industry and the arts and entertainment world.

[9][10] Thirteen episodes were initially ordered,[3] and were completed by April 2001, so that production would not be halted by a potential strike from the Writers Guild of America.

[15][16] Movie actor Vincent D'Onofrio was offered the lead role of Detective Robert Goren, a hyper-intuitive contemporary Sherlock Holmes-type investigator who used to work for the US Military Police.

[18][19] Goren's partner, former vice squad detective Alexandra Eames,[17] was played by Kathryn Erbe who had just completed a role on Oz as convicted murderer Shirley Bellinger.

"[21] Courtney B. Vance plays Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver, a graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

[7][17] In a recurring role, Leslie Hendrix appeared as Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Elizabeth Rodgers, the same character she had played in the other two series.

[23] Steve Zirnkilton provides a voice-over at the beginning of each episode's opening credits, saying "In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.

[40][41] On May 3, 2007, the French Law & Order: Criminal Intent broadcaster, TF1, began airing Paris enquêtes criminelles, a co-production from TF1 and ALMA, Wolf Films and NBC Universal.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment released it in a 6-disc DVD box set on October 21, 2003, in Region 1, titled Law & Order: Criminal Intent – The First Year.

He also said Sheridan "is similarly nonplussed and under-utilized," but "Vance is terrific [as Carver], who makes defendants wither in the face of his elegantly reasoned cross-examinations.

He makes them believe the theft is related to the mafia, but detectives discover the deception when they trace a tattoo that shows that Atwood spent time in a Canadian prison.

The detectives discover that the investors hired a hitman to teach Foucault a severe lesson, but that he learned of the attack and sent Perez to his hotel room in his place.

The detectives discover she killed her husband and sued the medicine company, then laced other boxes of the same medication around the city in an attempt to cover-up the murder and strengthen her lawsuit.

She is subsequently arrested while setting up her store, after her franchise agreement was nullified due to a morals clause, when her mother was considered a suspect.

While the doctor says he has attempted to locate his wife, the detectives suspect he is lying, especially when they discover he also has a secret lover but they struggle to find any flaws in his alibi.

The Major Case Squad investigate the murder-suicide of a city auditor who appears to have killed his family and then himself; however, an analysis of the crime scene suggests a different scenario.

When Goren and Eames learn that the dead man uncovered a pensions scandal involving retired police officers, the trail leads them to corruption within the force.