Reading this report from Oregon one has to truly wonder — WTF?

Two fifth-grade students face felony charges for allegedly trashing classrooms at Scenic Middle School on Labor Day.

Central Point police contacted the two 10-year-old boys and their parents Wednesday afternoon after a teacher recognized one of the boys seen in surveillance video.

Police charged both boys with second-degree burglary and first-degree criminal mischief.

I don’t know about you.  But I have come across tons of 10 year old boys in my lifetime and they are known to do many stupid things.  I hate to put this in the category of dumb things that little boys do… But this is a dumb thing that little boys would do.

Here’s more from the story:

Officials noted that the boys were among the youngest suspects seen in a criminal case here.

Children younger than 7 can’t be said to have a criminal state of mind, explained Central Point Detective Brian Day.

Day said that the boys likely didn’t mean to cause the level of harm they did when they slipped over a cement-block wall into a courtyard, then made their way into a group of four science classrooms in the middle school’s B building.

They are suspected of scattering soap, lab chemicals, books, paper and candy around the rooms, including over computers. Profanities were scrawled in marker across various surfaces, including lockers, white boards and teaching materials. Police estimated the “huge mess” caused about $10,000 damage.

“Typically these types of crimes are crimes of opportunity, like grabbing a purse from an unlocked car,” Day said. “It’s not premeditated. They are just kind of messing around at school and something is available and they make some bad decisions.

“It would be more alarming if they had a plan,” he said.

First, this case is a prime candidate for some sort of restorative justice intervention.  Please get these young people out of the clutches of the juvenile legal system and let the entire community work together to figure out an appropriate consequence for their actions.

Second, I find the quote attributed to police officer Day to be flabbergasting:

Children younger than 7 can’t be said to have a criminal state of mind, explained Central Point Detective Brian Day.

I should certainly hope NOT.  When we start getting to the point that we are going to lock up 5 and 6 year olds labeling them as criminal masterminds, I am officially moving to Canada.

I will end with this part of the article:

“We’re not designed to deal with 10-year-olds,” said Joe Ferguson, deputy director of the juvenile division of Jackson County Community Justice. “We try to work with parents and find community resources for them and the family.”

He said the department evaluates all young offenders to gauge their risk of reoffending and tries not to mix low-risk kids with others.

Look, I think that the young boys should be asked to make amends and provide restitution for the damage that they caused.  However, it is critical that this intervention take place in a community-based setting.  The latrogenic effects of the juvenile legal system are well well documented.  This situation cries out for an alternative to a juvenile legal approach for addressing the problem.