A Michigan state jury last week found a boy guilty of committing murder two years ago, when he was 11. He was tried as an adult, and is believed to be the youngest American ever found guilty of murder as an adult. For anyone who finds it astonishing that a child that young could be convicted of an adult crime, understand that 44 states have adopted laws allowing more children to be tried as adults for crimes, and in Michigan, prosecutors may ask judges for permission to try any youth as an adult, no matter how young.

The remarkably twisted logic that allows a state to charge a child for an adult crime is succinctly summarized as “adult crime, adult time.” So presumably, if a 6-year-old should knowingly light a fire and an apartment building burns, that child should be charged with arson and perhaps murder and serve 20 years to life. Does the converse of this maxim, “child crime, child time,” also apply? One can’t help but wonder what happened to the constitutional requirement that a defendant be judged by a jury of his peers. Obviously, this boy’s peers aren’t old enough to serve as jury members.

The truth of this legislative barbarism is hard but clear. Michigan chooses not to spend the money and effort to redeem this child. Whether this child is mentally incompetent, a psychopath, a “bad seed” or a product of inferior parenting, the state is responsible for his socialization. He “belongs” to the state of Michigan. Of course he needs to spend the rest of his childhood in some sort of institution with intensive supervision and training. He needs to pay dearly for his horrific actions. But to try him as an adult so that he could face decades in an adult prison setting is to sentence him to abominations at the hands of hardened adult criminals that will make him wish he was the one murdered two years ago.

Trying this boy as an adult is a direct challenge to those who work with troubled youths throughout the country. Can nothing be done with a boy like this to create a citizen of value?

There’s more. If ever there was proof of a two-tiered justice system in this country, one for the wealthy and one for the poor, here we have it. Had this boy been born into a upper-middle class family, he would never have been tried as an adult.

Our children are not fully responsible for their actions, that’s why they cannot vote, cannot drive cars and report cards are signed by parents. Michigan legislators chirp about being tough on criminals, no matter what age. They have stripped away the veneer from their criminal justice system, revealing an institutional version of an eye for an eye. Justice without mercy is revenge. And revenge as public policy is not acceptable in a democracy.