Randy Chase is found murdered at the Haven community centre which he ran. The Haven aims to keep local kids away from drugs and crime, and Chase was highly respected in the local community. Briscoe and Curtis initially look into why Chase accepted money from a prominent gang leader. This line of investigation leads to the discovery that the victim may have bribed an Ivy League professor to give a failing student an A grade on the final exam. The student, Jerome Warren, had been mentored by Chase to help him get into the school. He's charged with murder when forensic evidence against him is found.
Carmichael discovers that Jerome is nowhere near academically ready for college, and Chase had spent the gang leader's money on buying term papers for Jerome to cheat. She, McCoy and Schiff conclude that Chase couldn't afford to help Jerome any further, so Jerome killed him. But the community overwhelmingly supports Jerome; he is a role model for local young people, and everyone wants Chase's good works to continue. Chase's business partner even lies to implicate a drug dealer in order to get Jerome off the hook.
In court, the defence claims that Chase got Jerome into the school via an affirmative action scheme and then used him as a fundraising tool for Haven, putting him under intense pressure to succeed. Jerome states that Chase encouraged him to cheat, but when Jerome could no longer cope, he decided to quit and attend a local college instead. Chase accused Jerome of betraying the community; they argued, and Jerome hit Chase with a baseball bat, killing him. Under questioning from McCoy, Jerome breaks down on the stand. McCoy believes him and offers a plea for manslaughter. Jerome accepts this against his lawyer's advice, admitting that what he did was wrong. McCoy feels that Jerome and Chase ultimately both had good intentions.
This episode contains examples of:
- The Ace: Jerome is initially presented as this. Subverted when it's revealed that not only was he failing his undergraduate studies but barely graduated high school (although it seems he really does have an exceptional natural talent for chemistry.)
- Bland-Name Product: Jerome's school, Hanford, seems to be named after the real life Harvard and Stanford Universities.
- Blatant Lies: Lemaine's story about witnessing Kendry at the scene of the murder falls into this category.
- Book Dumb: Deconstructed. Jerome is very intelligent, but his woefully under-funded school hasn't provided him with the level of education he'd need to get into a prestigious college; they gave him the bare minimum he needed to graduate and that was it. Over time it becomes clear that Jerome's academic struggles were never his own fault; they were all products of his environment that he got stuck dealing with.
- Double-Meaning Title: Refers to both the Haven community center, and Jerome wanting a "haven" from the expectations placed upon him.
- Downer Ending: Chase is dead and Jerome, who could have done well on his own merits if given the right support, will be going to jail for at least six years. Furthermore, the local community has lost two important role models and it's possible that the Haven will no longer be able to continue supporting young people.
- Every Man Has His Price: Double subverted. Chase initially turned down a local drug dealer's offer to pay him to go away, but he later agreed to the terms to get the money he needed to pay for Jerome's answers.
- Exact Words: When McCoy calls out the defense attorney for trying to call a witness that he knows is lying, the defense attorney's response is, "I have no direct knowledge of a lie." The judge immediately calls this out as a "lawyer's answer" and precludes the witness from testifying.
- Frame-Up: Lemaine tries to frame Lionel Kendry for the murder.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the episode focuses on the investigation into Chase's murder and the second half on the case against Jerome.
- Irony: A dead body near a sign which says "Today is the first day of the rest of your life".
- Loophole Abuse: Jerome's attorney wants to call a witness who testifies that he saw someone else on the scene at the time of the murder, even though his story directly contradicts the physical evidence. When questioned about this, Jerome's attorney states that he has "no direct knowledge of a lie". This does not fool anyone in the room, and the judge rules that the witness can't testify unless additional evidence supporting his testimony is found.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Hanford's dean of admissions testifies that affirmative action programs don't work and only serve to admit students who are not suited to university. McCoy highlights the guy's racist admissions policies, proving that Hanford has repeatedly turned down Black applicants with stellar grade point averages and that studies show Black students at Ivy League colleges perform at least as well as their white classmates.
- Reformed Criminal: Both Chase and Jerome used to be gang members.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Loosely based on the then-recent trial of George Kobayashi, who was charged with fraud for helping dozens of graduate students cheat on entrance exams.
- Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Subverted. The detectives assume this must be the case, but they can't find anyone (even among the local gangs) with a grudge against Chase. Even Jerome, who ultimately killed him, didn't really have anything against him.
- Token Minority: Jerome's defense is that he was held up as this to such an extent he could no longer cope with the pressure. Curtis, Van Buren, and Carmichael have all been accused of getting their jobs through affirmative action, and they agree that this was an unfair position to put Jerome in.
