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Briscoe and Green investigate a school shooting, in which four students are killed and a dozen others are wounded. It soon becomes apparent that more than one child fits the profile and the evidence, but an e-mail sent by one of the students skewers the investigation towards one particular youth with a violent history. McCoy goes head to head with Jamie Ross, who is acting as the teen's defense attorney, and who argues that the e-mail is inadmissible because it is privileged.moreless
  • A sixteen years old boy shoots four other children at his school and faces the life without parole should the case go to trial.

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    This episode is why I like and appreciate the Law and Order. It doesn't show black and white, it gives an insight into most of the aspects that build up the story. It is unarguable the kid deserves punishment yet who can say what is really in his head, how he felt in his sixteen years when bullied at school and no one to help him. I'm far from excusing him however I agree here with Jamie Ross that something should be done to stop this ghastly shooting spree now coming already to Europe. And I don't think the security measures at the entrance of each and every school are just the whole of the appropriate answer.
    This episode shows what an impact the crime had - we watch the family of the shooter but at one moment the prosecutors stand in front of the families of victims and these rightfully expect the State is going to protect them and especially their children, that everything will be done to prevent this from reoccurring. And the father of the shooter is well aware of that, his testimony in the D.A.'s office and then at the trial belongs to one of the most moving moments of the series.
    Together with the Teenage wasteland episode we have been shown in this season this society is somewhat sick and the justice system can severely punish the perpetrators but it can't heal it.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (2)

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    • When talking to the prosecutors, the parents of the shooting suspect mention that McCoy and Carmichael got an 18-year-old boy sentenced to death for the beating death of a delivery man. This is a reference to the case in an earlier episode, Teenage Wasteland

    • After they cuff Earl, we can see that his handcuffs are only half on during the chase.

  • QUOTES (9)

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    • Jamie Ross: Someone better remind her of her ethical obligations as a prosecutor. Abbie Carmichael: You mean the one that says I should put someone on trial who I think is guilty? Jamie Ross: No, the one that says you need evidence to do it. Abbie Carmichael: I just told you our evidence.

    • (McCoy, Briscoe, and Green get into an argument about the detectives doing their jobs properly.) Abbie Carmichael: Gentlemen, if we could just lower the level of testosterone ... a little bit.

    • Abbie Carmichael: How can releasing a kid we know committed a crime be right?!

    • Nora Lewin: With what's waiting for him, it might have been kinder to give him the needle. Abbie Carmichael: Either works for me.

    • Abbie Carmichael: We all went to high school. We all had problems. None of us picked up a gun and killed someone.

    • Patricia Semple: You think you can look at your child and know he's capable of doing this? Abbie Carmichael: I think it depends how hard you're looking, Mrs. Semple.

    • Paul: I thought Henry was only joking. Ed Green: Oh yeah? What did you think was going to come out of that gun he showed you, a little flag that says "Bang"?

    • (Talking about the suspect's right to privacy.) Abbie Carmichael: What about the rights of children not to be shot when they go to school?

    • Lennie Briscoe: One of my ex-wives called this morning to bust my chops. Ed Green: Which one? Lennie Briscoe: I forget.

  • NOTES (0)

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  • ALLUSIONS (2)

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    • This episode is ripped from the headlines of a rash of high-profile school shootings that occurred in the late 1990s.

    • Lennie Briscoe: Crouching tiger, hidden student. Briscoe was referring to the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. A woman had described the shooter as looking like a ninja; the movie was famous for its gravity-defying ninja scenes.

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