Oh God. Part 2

Vineland, Minnesota - The 11-year-old boy was led from his school in handcuffs, held overnight in a juvenile detention center, and hauled into court in shackles and an orange prison jumpsuit.

His crime? Missing a court date to testify as the victim of an assault.

[...]

The boy was allegedly the victim of an assault by a 13-year-old classmate. But, [Mille Lacs County attorney, Jan] Kolb said, the county was having trouble prosecuting the 13-year-old because the younger boy and his mother ignored subpoenas and missed several court dates. Davis-Deyhle said the family never got the subpoenas, and a tribal lawyer said the county is not diligent in making sure subpoenas are served.

When the boy missed a court hearing in early April, Kolb's office requested the judge issue a warrant for his arrest. A tribal officer was dispatched to his school, where he was handcuffed and transported to the detention center. Davis-Deyhle talked to her son on the phone that afternoon.

"He told me he didn't understand what was going on. I could hear the tears, the fear in his voice," Davis-Deyhle said.

The boy spent the night at the juvenile detention center, about 60 miles away in St. Cloud. At the court hearing the next morning, in which the boy was brought into court in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and shackles, prosecutors announced that they wouldn't press charges and that he was free to go.

[...]

This family knew his appearance was needed in court," Kolb said. "Someone needed to step in and say, we'll get him there next time. Some showing of accountability or acknowledgment of the criminal justice system."

[...]

Kolb is unapologetic about the boy's treatment. She said the entire point of the prosecution was to make him safer against the 13-year-old aggressor.

  Truthout article

I don't know what to say.