I read this story yesterday and have to admit that I cried. I cried out of sadness but also because this made me so angry.

Quoting from the story:

A teenager who was charged with manslaughter and had escaped from a mental health facility while awaiting a final resolution on the case was fatally shot Monday night in Mattapan, officials said yesterday.

Police said Jeremy Price, 18, was shot on Astoria Street about 8:30 p.m. Price was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he died of his wounds, police said.

At first blush, this appears to be another story of a young man who is shot on the streets of one of our cities in America. In just these few words, we are made aware of several details that on their own would be tragic. The young man was mentally disabled. He was charged with manslaughter. He was shot dead by an unknown assailant. These are the facts offered.

The story continues:

Price was charged with manslaughter in the 2007 killing of 41-year-old Michael Hansbury, a father from Mattapan, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley confirmed yesterday. Price, who had an IQ at the level of mental retardation, was 15 when he allegedly punched Hansbury after being encouraged to strike him by friends.

Hansbury fell into a coma after hitting his head and died a week later.

Asked about the circumstances surrounding Price’s death, spokespersons for Conley and the Police Department would say only that the investigation is active. No arrests have been made.

Heartbreaking. A 15 year old is dared by his friends to punch a stranger who is then killed. Then he himself is killed by an anonymous assailant. Terrible.

Still more from the story:

Price made news in May when he escaped from Tewksbury State Hospital, where he was being held while his manslaughter case was pending. He was apprehended two days later when a cousin, Jessica Lewis, persuaded him to go to her Dorchester home so he could turn himself in.

Price had also escaped from a New Hampshire facility after his arrest and was barred from another program in West Springfield because of his history of fleeing.

Suffolk Juvenile Court Judge Leslie E. Harris dismissed the manslaughter case against Price in July because he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial, the judge said in a telephone interview last night.

Harris said Price was released to the state Department of Children and Families until he turned 18 in late August. Price was released to family members after he turned 18, Harris said. The judge said he thought Price was staying with family in Fall River.

“I really hoped he would stay out of Boston and get himself established,’’ Harris said.

My only comment here is to highlight the fact that he was “released to the state Department of Children and Families until he turned 18 in late August.” I think that our failure as a society to find a way to provide ongoing compassionate support for the mentally ill is CRIMINAL.

Finally:

Lael Chester, executive director of the Boston-based Citizens for Juvenile Justice, an advocacy group for overhauling juvenile justice in the state, said the Price case illustrates the need for early intervention services for children who are mentally disabled.

“What was going on [with Price] in first grade? What was going on in second grade?’’ Chester asked. “Some of these things had to have been known.’’

She also said that while the state Department of Youth Services, which has custody of juvenile offenders, works hard to help children in its care, the agency does not have the resources to help mentally disabled inmates.

“I think with a lot of these cases, the agency is struggling to find a right fit, but it’s really not what they do,’’ she said.

The fact that the juvenile justice system “does not have the resources to help mentally disabled inmates” is NOT what I find appalling. Rather, I agree with Lael Chester who asks the right questions about where the early intervention services were in this case for this young person. We need to invest at the front end rather than relying on the criminal legal system to handle problems on the back end. Instead during this terrible economic climate, states and localities are CUTTING back on preventative services and on intervention services. This will only lead to more tragedies like this one which I believe can and should be prevented. Just awful.