Directed Constantine Makris
Written by Richard Sweren
Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green investigate the murder of a young boy, Aaron Polanski, who was found on a construction site with his trousers pulled down around his ankles and a AAA battery in his mouth. The medical examiner determines the boy died from a blow to the head but was not sexually assaulted. The police find two eyewitnesses to the crime, Tara Padden and Jenny Brandt - 13 and 10 years-old - but they soon begin to suspect the girls are lying. In fact, they come to believe they likely lured Aaron and killed him. Jenny seems to be the one who actually did the killing and after reviewing the facts, including Dr. Skoda's report, ADA McCoy wants the girl committed to a state mental hospital. The girl's lawyer counters with her own expert, Dr. Elizabeth Olivet, arguing the girl can be treated outside of an institution.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Not physically, but of the Useless Bystander Parent variety. Jenny's mother has a steady stream of men coming into their apartment, has sex with them in her presence, talks to her like she's a same-age girlfriend rather than her ten-year-old child, and honestly doesn't get why this is not acceptable.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's never clear if in addition to witnessing her mother's promiscuity, Jenny was also abused by any of her boyfriends. She staunchly denies it, but it's a likely reason for her hatred of males.
- And That's Terrible: Just in case you were thinking that maybe Strawman Has a Point (Olivet, in this case) about Jenny not belonging in a state hospital, Jenny is shown starting on her killing ways immediately after being freed.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Dr. Skoda, knowing this, asked Jenny if she ever hurt any animals. She did—she tells him about the cat she killed.
- Death of a Child: The real beginning of the plot is the dead body of young Aaron Polanski.
- Dumb Is Good: The thirteen-year-old Tara, who has been held back a few grades, covered up the murder but is portrayed much more sympathetically than the evil, irredeemable Jenny.
- Enfant Terrible: The murderous and sadistic Jenny. Tara also helped to cover it up, but to a much lesser extent.
- Karma Houdini: Jenny avoids being instutionalized and is implied to go right back to killing afterwards.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Aaron Polanski's mother is alive after his death.
- Patched Together from the Headlines: Loosely based on the murder of Jamie Bulger
(the killers are gender-flipped) and on Mary Bell. - Primal Scene: Jenny has seen her mother and her mother's boyfriends having sex, which leads to her belief that it's okay to murder little boys.
- Sex in a Shared Room: Jenny's mother has sex with "boyfriends" in front of her ten-year-old daughter, Jenny.
- The Sociopath: Jenny has every single symptom of being one (coldness, ruthless, lack of emotion), and almost every single cause for being one (somewhat Abusive Parents, frontal lobe damage in her early life).
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Aside from being a murderer at only 10, Jenny's babysitter mentions, "She knows more about sex than I do.".
- Useless Bystander Parent: Jenny's mother refers to her as her "best friend", even after she's murdered a little boy. She says this while whining and pleading not to have Jenny taken away from her and put into an issue institution, clearly caring more about wanting her around rather than getting her the help that she desperately needs.
