Following a school shooting in which four people were killed, Briscoe and Green are called in to investigate. They rule out several suspects, but then the student council president receives a threat ostensibly from the shooter. The school psychologist suggests that a student named Henry Semple could be behind the threat. Henry is arrested, and ballistics confirm he was responsible. His wealthy parents appoint former [=ADA=] Jamie Ross as Henry's lawyer. She tells [=McCoy=] that she's worried the case could set a dangerous precedent for trying minors as adults.

Ross files a motion to suppress all evidence against Henry on the grounds that the school psychologist broke patient confidentiality by naming him as a suspect. But when the prosecutors learn Henry had told classmates he was planning a shooting, the case is able to proceed. Henry's parents want him declared unfit to stand trial and sent to a secure hospital. Although [=McCoy=] and Carmichael aren't prepared to risk him being released in a few years' time, they agree to a psychiatric examination of Henry. Skoda concludes that Henry clearly knows what he did was wrong.

[=McCoy=] says that despite the risk of Henry being acquitted, there are no legal grounds for an insanity defense. Henry's desperate father reveals that, after the shooting, Henry told him what he'd done. Henry has also seriously injured his siblings in the past. Mr. Semple testifies against Henry at trial, and tells the court that he is convinced his son will murder again. Henry is convicted and receives multiple life sentences for first degree murder. Lewin says that under the circumstances, it might have been kinder to Henry if he were old enough to have been sentenced to the death penalty.

!!!This episode contains examples of:
* TheAlibi: Both of the first two kids suspected of carrying out the massacre turn out to have airtight alibis, which the detectives and the school rather embarrassingly fail to check up on beforehand.
** Howard Earl was visiting his mother in jail and signed the visitors log a few minutes before the shooting.
** Colleen Jacobs ''transferred to another school a week before the shooting'', but the school has no clue about this even though her mother called them and sent letters. The detectives briefly argue that she may have gone back to her old school for revenge, but she was in a therapy session at her new school during the shooting.
* AxesAtSchool: The episode focuses on the aftermath of a school shooting.
* TheBGrade: The ColdOpen of the episode has two teachers talking about how one parent is pressuring them to change the one B her daughter got so it won't ruin her 4.0 GPA and the girl will have a better chance of getting into Princeton.
* TheBusCameBack: Jamie Ross makes an appearance in this episode.
* ContinuityNod: The events of the episode "[[{{Recap/LawAndOrderS11E12TeenageWasteland}} Teenage Wasteland]]" are referenced during a meeting between the prosecutors and Henry's parents. Henry's mother is terrified that the same fate awaits Henry, but both her husband and [=McCoy=] tell her that Henry can't receive the death penalty since he's under the age of eighteen, which was the reason they knew in that previous episode that no one else in the group faced a possibility of the death penalty.
* DeathOfAChild: Four children are killed in the shooting.
* DownerEnding: Four children are dead.
* EmoTeen: Some of the suspects fit this profile.
* InsanityDefense: Subverted. Henry's parents want one, but in light of the medical and psychiatric evidence of the case, there's no legal basis to allow it.
* JerkJock: The local jocks remain offscreen but are definitely jerks. Several of them once pissed all over a drawing that Henry made in art class (and was quite proud of) before forcing him to put it in his backpack.
* KickTheDog: Carmichael is particularly rude to Henry's mother, seemingly on the basis of thinking that a mother should know their child is capable of murder; she flat-out tells Henry's mother to her face that her child is lucky not to be facing the death penalty.
* ManlyTears: Mr. Semple cries when he reveals his son told him the truth.
* PetTheDog: Henry's parents are obviously a bit awkward with [=McCoy=] since he's prosecuting their son, but [=McCoy=] nonetheless does take a moment to reassure Henry's mother that they aren't trying to put her son to death.
* RaisedByGrandparents: The detectives' first suspect, Howard Earl, lives with his grandmother because his AddledAddict mother is in jail for attempted murder and no one knows who his dad is.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Based on many real-life school shootings, including the Columbine massacre, which is referenced in the episode.
* SadisticChoice: Henry's father has to choose between testifying against his son knowing it will send him to jail for life, or keeping quiet and taking the risk that Henry is acquitted and thus given the opportunity to hurt someone else. He tearfully chooses the former.
* SocialMediaBeforeReason: Kevin decided to film the entire shooting and sell the footage to the press, rather than warn anyone about Henry or even try to escape once the shooting happened.
* TheSociopath: Henry, whose only real concern about the matter seems to be that he didn't kill enough people.
* TeensAreMonsters: Henry's school has such a severe problem with bullying that at least two other students besides him have threatened shootings.
* TestosteronePoisoning: Carmichael references this when [=McCoy=] and the detectives start arguing over mistakes made in the handling of the case.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Henry, who's only just turned 16, killed four people and wounded many others. He has also deliberately harmed at least one of his siblings before.