system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
It's ridiculous. If the kids are like 10, then they have less control over themselves and they should be much more lenient, but still deserve some level of punishment, especially from the school if nothing can be done legally (yes, even if it happens off-campus). But at 16, you should definitely know from right and wrong, and while I dont think that you deserve the same punishment level you'd give a 30 year old, they still deserve some serious punishment for sure.
gpt
I mean, in all honesty, its not like theyre getting off scott free. Just bc there's no criminal legal consequences doesn't mean there's no consequences. I won't say it never happens, but for the most part growing up I personally never heard of a fight breaking out at school where nobody got in trouble. There was always a suspension. School districts don't wanna get sued for negligence either, so they don't wanna keep the violent kids on school grounds either.

As I said, you can sue anyone for anything in civil court. I can sue you for writing this comment if I wanted to. Will I win? Most definitely not, bc I don't have any degree of claims whatsoever, but I can draft a lawsuit up right now if I wanted to.

If a child got beat up to the point of leaving marks that you can document and prove happened bc of another child, you can most def sue their parents for damages and depending on your evidence a judge will likely award you with something. You don't need a criminal charge to do that. 

Only other thing I got as well is people need to also understand you have to prove your claims as well. He said she said from teenagers doesn't hold a lot of weight in court unfortunately. Unless you got the beating on film (which now-a-days a lot of kids are stupid enough to do, so that makes things easier) a judge isn't gonna know who's telling the truth. Your kid who said Johnny beat him up, or Johnny who said "nah I didn't do it. Someone else did". Its frustrating all around, and is a problem that extends into the adult world too, but if you have a smoking gun like video evidence of an assault and you actually put the time and effort into getting in touch with a lawyer and taking it to a judge, that kid isn't getting away scott free. They may not be strapped to the electric chair like a lot of these people seem to want, but they're not just gonna have nothing happen at all. 

Plus, judges do look at childrens criminal histories. If they're a repeat offender, then they have a much higher chance at going to juvie for more minor offenses. They might also decide to remove a problematic child from their legal guardians custody if they feel the child is behaving that way bc they aren't getting the support/resources at home and they'll be sent to foster/social workers who will punish them.