After a doctor discovers a teenager has an STD, he claims that he was raped by his teacher. Detectives must figure out who is telling the truth when the teacher says he raped her.
Tropes
- Bittersweet Ending: On the bright side, Sarah forgives Shane and seems to be recovering from her rape, Shane avoids going to prison and gets treatment for his urges (YMMV on how much you feel he deserves this though) and the treatment centre that was allowing its charges to be raped is shut down. On the other hand, Shane is severely injured and likely traumatized from being raped at the centre and the episode's final moments have his rapist smugly preparing to use the same "irrepressible impulse" defence Shane used, implying that his case has opened the door for rapists to claim they weren't in control of their actions.
- Extreme Libido: Shane Mills admits he masturbates at least five times a day, in addition to hiring prostitutes.
- False Rape Accusation: Shane accuses his teacher who he raped of raping him after contracting gonorrhea from a prostitute in order to conceal where he got it from.
- Foreshadowing: It's noted during Shane's trial that allowing him to use the extreme libido excuse to soften his punishment would enable pedophiles to do the same. The episode ends with someone using that excuse after raping Shane.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Sarah's husband, a devout Christian, is livid with her when he finds out she aborted her Child by Rape and calls her a murderer. Luckily Stabler manages to convince him to forgive her.
- Halfway Plot Switch: Happens twice. At first the episode seems to be about the uphill battle to prove that Sarah raped Shane, then it turns out she was telling the truth and it turns into a debate about whether Shane was in control of his actions, then Shane gets raped at a sex offenders treatment centre and the plot switches to Casey's efforts to expose the abuse happening at the centre.
- Heel Realization: Shane undergoes one at trial with regards to raping Sarah and offers to go to a treatment centre in the hope of getting his addiction under control so he'll never hurt anyone again.
- It's Personal: Casey becomes deeply invested in catching the guy who raped Shane because the rape occured at a treatment centre that she arranged for him to be sent to. Benson and Stabler actually have to tell her to step back because her aggressive attempts to find the truth risk jeopardising the investigation.
- Karmic Rape: Deconstructed. A staff member at a sex offenders treatment centre rapes the offenders under his supervision knowing that the victims are unlikely to report it because of this trope, as they know no-one will care about sex offenders being abused. Casey is furious when she realises what's going on and tears into the head of the centre for not caring about his charges being abused because he views them as human garbage.
