The point still applies. How do you teach him if you dont hold him responsible for this? It will no doubt be a hard lesson to learn but one that he must learn for his own good and the good of society. By the way, I think it was the lawyer that wanted the boy back in school. I dont think the article quoted the dad.
It said the father wanted to post bail. Lawyers don’t post bail, and whoever posts the bail is taking responsibility for the accused. If the father (and/or lawyer) was asking the court to transfer the boy to a juvenile therapeutic facility, no bail would be involved.
There’s definitely a LOT more to this story. But I completely disagree with you that the boy should be punished as a first step in learning self-control and responsibility. That’s like spanking a child for hitting a sibling, when you’ve never told the child not to do this. If he keeps doing it after being taught and corrected, that’s when punishment is appropriate and beneficial. Obviously this boy can’t be given enough freedom to possibly repeat this sort of behavior for several years at the least, but an effort at gentle correction, in a secure environment, should be the first step. For all we know, this boy has seen his father repeatedly slam the pregnant girlfriend across the room without any consequences. I just think we need to be fair about what opportunity this boy has had to develop basic civility.