This episode appears to be based on two separate cases:
- The 1994/1997 Megan Kanka case. Seven-year-old Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas, after he lured her into his house; Timmendequas had previously been convicted of child molestation. The murder attracted national attention and subsequently led to the introduction of "Megan's Law", which requires law enforcement to disclose details relating to the location of registered sex offenders. In 1997, Timmendequas was convicted of Kanka's murder. He was initially sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life without parole after New Jersey abolished capital punishment in 2007.
- The 1997 Shatoya Currie (a.k.a. "Girl X") case, whose name at the time was not released. In 1997, a 9-year-old, known as Girl X, was raped, poisoned and dumped in a Cabrini-Green stairwell. Her assailant, Patrick Sykes -who will spend the rest of his life in a federal prison in Pontiac.
James Murtaugh has played six different characters over the course of the series:
- Episode 1.4 Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1990) - Christianson.
- Episode 3.11 Extended Family (1993) - Dr. Jenner.
- Episode 6.2 Rebels (1995) - Dr. Farnsworth.
- Episode 7.8 Family Business (1996) - David Solomon.
- Episode 8.24 Monster (1998) - Newton.
- Episode 19.5 Knock Off (2008) - Judge Samuel Sorotsky.
Lennie's daughter Cathy Briscoe was born on June 23, 1971, and she was murdered on March 4, 1998. Per IMDb, the actress who played her, Jennifer Estlin, was actually born on November 21, 1964.
William Hill has portrayed seven different characters throughout the course of the series:
- Episode 2.11 His Hour Upon the Stage (1991) - Hopkins.
- Episode 2.19 The Fertile Fields (1992) - Hopkins.
- Episode 3.12 Right to Counsel (1993) - Milgrim.
- Episode 4.7 Apocrypha (1993) - Hines.
- Episode 7.9 Entrapment (1997) - Eddie Page.
- Episode 8.24 Monster (1998) - Kusevitsky.
- Episode 10.12 Mother's Milk (2000) - Beltran's Lawyer.
- Episode 12.5 Possession (2001) - Havel's Lawyer.
- Episode 19.4 Falling (2008) - Eddie O'Connor.
Thom Sesma has played four different characters over the course of the series:
- Episode 3.4 The Corporate Veil (1992) - Dr. Blum.
- Episode 4.21 Doubles (1994) - Tom Boden.
- Episode 8.24 Monster (1998) - Mark Considine.
- Episode 14.1 Bodies (2003) - Detective Ed Goldstein.