Why is it that...

[Morino Yukino]

Why is it that there is not a single case where either the victim or the killer is under 18? I think Middle or High school student that kills someone (like a classmate) would make for an interesting case. Closest so far is the episode 3 Days with Hattori Heiji where the 20 year old girl kills the 18 year 3rd year high schooler.

[Spimer]

Maybe it's got to do with Gosho's style or some guidelines by his editors: maybe they want to keep it "safe" and showing someone very young dying on-screen or killing someone else could raise controversy. You never know: Japanese may be more sensible to that than other stuff.

[kkslider5552000]

Shonen series. Massively popular. Murder mystery series.

I don't have to say anything else.

[kentasaiba]

Conan is NOT Kindaichi.

[Nemomon]

I'm missing that cases with the younger people killing (or be killed), too. It is like Gosho would try to tell us that young people aren't killing, but just the adults. Which of course is a lie.

[Wakarimashita]

You see Minako, a kid, hanged in episode 85.

[Nemomon]

One swallow doesn’t make a summer. Especially almost 600 episodes ago.

EDIT: But I think a couple of episodes of kids being killed perhaps could persuade Conan that he's just a 7 yo child and pretty much an easy target for someone who just wants to kill someone. Not always the killers must have a reason to kill...

[14341210]

What I noticed was that in majority of the cases, morality plays a role. Maybe the inclusion of kids would diminish this, a key idea of the franchise. Because children and teenagers often have screwed, developing, or lacking altogether in any kind of morals. Some kids simply don't understand right from wrong.

Detective Conan is a heavily justice-themed show, so I think going this route would lead to obscurity, grey areas, and simply put, make it more mature (as opposed to being all-ages). Also, the cases would feel pointless as they can't deliver any messages of right and wrong. That's why they have juvenile courts. Kids simply cannot grasp the actions of what they're doing, so no one would be at fault.