It's possible for a child to be left without parents depending on who you choose to convict in some cases, specifically on the homicide desk. However there's no children who are abandoned by choice, as far as I remember.
Unsure that any are literally depicted. However, a character uses the term "Occam's Razor" to describe a situation, and another character rebuttes him with his own "Rusty's Razor" comment.
You could interpret what happens to Cole at the end of the game this way, as he insists to help Jack up to safety from the water in the LA River tunnels before he could have a turn, leaving him with little to no time to save himself.
Although not outright stalking, The player has to tail several suspects on a few occasions. This usually doesn’t last too long and the player character immediately stops after getting the information they need for the case.
Flashbacks show WW2 soldiers using morphine to cope with the horrors of war. Most of the vice cases revolve around people dying of a morphine overdose.
In the final traffic case, a 15-year-old girl is said to have suffered 15-year-old girl is said to have statutory rape. The girl in question is clearly traumatised. The culprit is caught and imprisoned. In a Homicide case, a man is said to have been kissing a dead woman’s body. He gets a well deserved punch to the face and sent to jail.
During a flashback cutscene in the final case, several women and children in a makeshift hospital burn alive when they are attacked with a flamethrower, and are shot to "put them out of their misery".
Not only are there cases and street crimes where persons commit suicide this way, but it is possible for the player character to kill some characters in hand to hand combat by throwing them/punching them over the roof of a building.
It should also be noted that there is fall damage in this game, which can result in a player character's death/game over.
The entire game is about cops and the main character is written as if he's an honourable and good cop. However the game is also very critical of cops, many cops in-game are shown as corrupt and bigoted, and are shown abusing their power.
In an optional street crime, the criminal kills himself by jumping from a building. In one of the Vice cases, a character kills himself by jumping out of a window.
This game takes place in the 1940’s, a time period where racism and sexism is considered normal and the game does not shy away from these details. Several racial slurs towards different races are used, mostly towards Jews and black people. The Ad Vice partner in particular is extremely racist and misogynistic and an all around d**k.
The victim In the traffic case “A marriage made in heaven” is hit by a car. The player can also hit people with their car in gameplay but is penalised for doing so.