The True Test

The Choir of the boarding school used in the transition scenes that Wood's character belonged to was Maryland's Official Boy Choir, The Maryland State Boychoir. Wood and other cast members were fitted for robes to match the already established actual robes of the choir rather than make and redress an entire choir of extras.

Judge Aandahl says the Larchfield school has land grant exclusions which somehow make them exempt from reporting crimes, and therefore them not reporting the firebombing of the headmaster's car was not a crime, which is incorrect for a number of reasons. A school having a land grant refers to the Morrill & Grant Land Acts of 1862 & 1890, which established the sale of federal land for the use of higher-education schools creating land-grant colleges and federal grants to fund these schools. Though a school being a land grant college does not in any way give it special exclusions when it comes to the law.

Normally there is no legal requirement to report a crime that occurs on private property, but there are exceptions. Cases of arson are one of those, in Maryland it is a crime to not report a dangerous fire, additionally insurance companies are required by law to report all cases of arson as well as suspected arson cases. Even if the firebombing of the car didn't meet the legal requirements for a dangerous fire (though it almost certainly does), the insurance company's failure to report the arson is a crime.

Featured in Homicide: Life on the Street: The Documentary (1997)