NBC orders new 'Law & Order' series, 'Hate Crimes'

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- NBC has ordered a new Law & Order spinoff from series creator Dick Wolf subtitled Hate Crimes.

Hate Crimes, which was co-created by Law & Order: SVU showrunner Warren Leight, will be based on New York's real-life Hate Crimes Task Force which fights against discrimination of any kind. The task force is the second oldest bias-based unit in the United States.

Hate Crimes will be first introduced in the upcoming 20th season of SVU before it spins off into its own 13 episodes.

"As with all of my crime shows, I want to depict what's really going on in our cities and shine a light on the wide-ranging victims and show that justice can prevail," Wolf said in a statement.

"Twenty years ago when SVU began, very few people felt comfortable coming forward and reporting these crimes, but when you bring the stories into people's living rooms - with characters as empathetic as Olivia Benson - a real dialogue can begin. That's what I hope we can do with this new show in a world where hate crimes have reached an egregious level," he continued.

Hate Crimes will be the seventh series within the Law & Order franchise. Only SVU remains on the air.