'Riding the Lightning': A review of the Realism of the Criminal Justice System as Depicted by Criminal Minds

By: Lily Baeza Date: 10/27/2026

Agents Gideon, Hotchner, Morgan, and Reid of the BAU. Photo courtesy of Paramount Plus Streaming.

Crime is in! Well, at least that's what we're led to think. In a study conducted by YouGov, 57% of Americans say they consumed true-crime content in 2024. With the large percentage of people consuming content related to the criminal justice system, it is plausible to assume that these TV shows are how society gets its information about the criminal justice system. These shows are meant to be dramatic, action-packed, and plot-driven, and so realism and correct criminal procedure are not a top priority. But while it can be easy to focus on what is wrong, I want to highlight what these shows got right.

The show I chose is Criminal Minds, and the episode highlighted in this blog post is from season 1, episode 14, titled 'Riding the Lightning.' The episode clearly states that the BAU is visiting Florida State Penitentiary to interview two inmates on death row, Sarah Jean and Jacob Dawes. This episode was released in January 2006, so while the show never explicitly states the year, I will use 2006. In 2006, in the state of Florida, the death penalty could be imposed if the defendant was found guilty of first-degree murder, felony murder, and/or death resulting from capital drug trafficking felonies. In this episode, Sarah Jean confessed to killing her son Riley, while Jacob was found guilty of the deaths of 13 teenage girls; so, according to Florida death penalty statutes, the punishment fits the crime.

Both Sarah Jean and Jacob will be killed by electrocution. While the primary method of execution is lethal injection, according to Florida statutes, "a person convicted and sentenced to death for a capital crime has one opportunity to elect that his or her death sentence be executed by electrocution." While it is not explicitly stated that the pair elected to be executed via electrocution (and electrocution makes a much better TV death than lethal injection would), it still would have been possible to be killed in this manner in 2006.

Sarah Jean in Criminal Minds Season 1, Episode 14. Photo courtesy of IMDb.

An appeals attorney also makes an appearance in multiple prison scenes with the BAU. An appeals attorney, "evaluates trial court decisions and establishes whether there are valid grounds for an appeal." As written in the Florida Bar News in October 2000, every death row inmate now receives a lawyer for post-conviction appeals and death sentence reviews. As the Florida Constitution states, the court must hear direct appeals in all death sentences, and the "mandatory review of both the validity of the judgment and the propriety of the death sentence is ‘automatic’ and does not depend upon acquiescence of the death-sentenced defendant." This is to ensure that the death penalty meets constitutional standards of punishment (ex: that it does not go against the 8th amendment as cruel and unusual punishment).

It would be correct that both Sarah Jean and Jacob have an appeals attorney in this episode, especially since a major plot point is that the lawyer is trying to get a stay of execution for Sarah Jean on the premise that it is highly improbable that she killed any of the teenage girls or her son Riley. A stay of execution is a, "court order that temporarily suspends the enforcement of a judgment, order, or sentence and is most often used in criminal cases involving capital punishment" (e.g., the death penalty).

During the episode, a statement of innocence is found to have been written by Sarah Jean and mailed to her mother. While she never explicitly affirms any involvement in the murders, she implies she is guilty by association, being involved with Jacob and being forced to lure girls to their home. Agent Gideon posits that this letter affirms Sarah Jean is not fit the profile of a killer capable of these murders and thus is not guilty. But the appeals lawyer states that the letter is not enough and they need hard evidence (ex: proof that Riley is alive, which would prove Sarah Jean did not kill him, as she confessed she did).

BAU agents Jareau and Garcia search for evidence to free Sarah Jean while her appeals attorney (back left)

and the warden of the prison (back right) discuss her case. Photo courtesy of IMDb.

During the climax of the final few minutes of the episode, we see the team rushing to find Riley, who at this point is proven to be alive. During this time, the appeals attorney is on the phone with the Governor of Florida to plead for a stay of execution due to newly discovered evidence. The Governor does have the executive authority to issue a stay of execution in cases that claim insanity, pregnancy, or executive clemency. But appellate courts and federal/ local Supreme Courts can also issue a stay of execution in cases involving habeas corpus, civil rights violations, the presentation of new evidence, or violations of constitutional rights. In this case, I believe the courts would have to grant the stay of execution based on the new evidence that Riley is indeed alive. Still, the appeals attorney could have been asking the governor for clemency based on the fact that Sarah Jean was a mother protecting her son.

Overall, this was an emotional episode about how a mother will go to any lengths to protect her son, even sacrificing her own life. This episode did get a lot right when it comes to the legal procedure for inmates on death row and was definitely just as dramatic and down to the wire as the criminal legal system can be.