re: Kid who beat teacher for taking away his Nintendo has pled guilty. Punishment?

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I’m not sure which part of my take was incorrect.

Would you like to take a swing at it?

Absent father. - Incorrect. Raised by a foster family since infancy, mother and father married for 25 years, father in home.

Mother on a few forms of government aid. - Probably incorrect. Mother is an occupational therapist, father's career not stated. Foster children often qualify for government aid/services though so HE may have received aid and was at the time of the assault under the care of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities.

Grew up with 6+ hours of screen time per day. - Not quite. It appears he was getting a still excessive 4 hours/day at the group home.

Oppositional defiant diagnosis or some analogous diagnosis before 15. - Correct. ODD, ADHD, Autism, PTSD, Anxiety and Mood Dysregulation Disorder.

Multiple referrals to social services. - Correct. Family had utilized police, Baker Acts, long term hospitalization, residential treatment center, behavioral group home. Their insurance fought them every step of the way because they did not want to pay for long term/residential care.

Serious behavioral issues starting by 2nd grade. - Correct. Family homeschooled him prior to puberty to mitigate behavior issues at school.

Limited friend group due to self-isolation. - Correct

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The kid never should have been in public school. He was a danger probably to himself, but definitely to those around him. But unless you read the story, it is easy to think the parents were just pawning him off on the school system so they didn't have to deal with him. If you read it, you would have seen that the family didn't want him in public school. They knew he needed a higher level of supervision and control than a school, or they themselves, could manage. They tried to have him hospitalized - insurance stopped paying and had him removed, even though he was violent in the hospital. They eventually got him into a disabled group home that required him to attend public school despite the parents' objections.

The parents are not blameless - they apparently signed off on an IEP that included these completely ridiculous directives that purposely avoid even identifying problem behavior, let alone correcting it:

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1. Use humor with Brendan and build a positive rapport. Avoid negative/corrective statements even after behaviors targeted for reduction have occurred.
2. Do not talk about his behaviors in front of him.
3. Avoid correcting, reprimanding, or redirecting Brendan in the presence of peers.

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This was a stupid plan that both the school and the parents signed off on, one that set everyone up for failure by just pretending that his violent behavior wasn't happening.

Some people cannot be in mainstream society. The problem is that our society has no solution for those people UNTIL they do something horrific, even if their families, teachers and even they themselves have been screaming for years that the horrific thing was definitely going to happen. If you KNOW your kid is dangerous, and you try to get them treated, even institutionalized, your insurance will fight you tooth and nail to avoid paying. If you have the considerable funds, you can pay for private care until adulthood, then maybe if you're lucky, have them declared incompetent and continue paying for private residential care for the rest of their lives. This is not feasible for the vast majority of people.