"He's 7 years old. Do you believe he has the mental capacity to understand what he did? Just asking."
Do you believe he doesn't have the capacity to understand? If he doesn't have the capacity, why don't more 7 year olds kill? In fact, why don't 5 year olds, they have even less capacity to understand.
The fact is, he has enough reasoning ability to know he did something terribly wrong. At this point, he is a lost soul. I firmly believe he will be nothing but a burden on society for the rest of his days.
Death penalty? I don't know. Lock him away forever? Well, seems humane, but what kind of life is that? Prison doesn't rehabilitate, it hardens.
I don't have the answer, but I do believe this child is damaged beyond repair and should never be allowed to run free in society.
I agree with you. This kid is damaged goods and has been for awhile now. I've heard some scary things come out of a kid's mouth at 6 years old--full of rage, hate, and defiance--when my oldest son was attending public school. You hate to write a child off, but some seem beyond repair. I'm also like you, I don't know what you do about it.