Actually, that sounds like a fine and just idea. Instead of filling prisons with people (and these kids would be there for five or six decades) and providing very high paying jobs for people who enjoy subjugating others in a controlled environment, we could actually teach these young thugs a thing or two and make an old man's injury mean something.

My mother's tribe used to do that sort of punishment - make you responsible for the family of the man you killed, make you work to pay for the property you destroyed, that sort of thing. Historic accounts say it worked pretty well, especially since -- at least initially -- you were ostracized from pretty much any other community activities. You were essentially a slave for a period of time and then, as you proved you could be trusted, you were given more freedom. As a rehabilitation tool, it seems to have worked much better than our current incarceration system that just teaches people how to be better criminals.