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"Criminal Minds star Jeanne Tripplehorn has defended the show from accusations of gratuitous violence and misogyny. Former star Mandy Patinkin recently criticised the long-running CBS crime drama, on which he played Jason Gideon for two years. He said: &amp;quot;I never thought they were going to kill and rape all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality.&amp;quot;   However, Tripplehorn - who joins the show in its ninth season - told TVLine: &amp;quot;At first when I looked at last season&amp;#039;s Criminal Minds, I was a little concerned about the violence, but every reality, news program or crime show is just as bad, and they have entire channels devoted to them.  &amp;quot;I would also note that half of the people that work behind the scenes are women, including both [exec producers] Janine [Sherman Barrois] and Erica [Messer], who are running the ship. And the first episode was written by a woman.&amp;quot; Tripplehorn added that there is &amp;quot;a lot of female energy&amp;quot; on the Criminal Minds set.  &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know if that helps to counteract the violence but it&amp;#039;s pretty equal opportunity in the violence department,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;We kind of cover it all - animals, humans, male, female. It&amp;#039;s all covered.&amp;quot; Paget Brewster - who quit Criminal Minds earlier this year - recently revealed how she was forced to return to the show to see out her contract, after originally being dropped by producers. Criminal Minds returns to CBS tonight at 9/8c. The series airs on Sky Living in the UK. &amp;gt; Criminal Minds casts Twin Peaks star Ray Wise as villain &amp;gt; Criminal Minds casts Josh Stamberg for season eight Watch a video recap of Criminal Minds&amp;#039; seventh season below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a408446/criminal-minds-star-on-criticism-violence-is-equal-opportunity/>