And yet, still they are not responsible for killing and beheading him, the adult who did it is.

Nowhere does it state your xenophobic assumptions about how you feel over the event.

For all they knew he was going to simply speak with the teacher, or maybe kick his ass.

Tell me, why do you assume so freely that all of the Muslim kids were deeply involved in the beheading itself? I find that very interesting…

Maybe, depends on the scope of their involvement. Most European countries have 10 years max for minors, even for premeditated murder.

They are getting 2.5 years for pointing out the teacher, not for beheading.

The dude showed up at their school and found some 14 year olds that would tell him who the teacher was for money.

He also told them he was just going to make the teacher apologize, not cut his fucking head off, my guy.

Slow your roll with sticking some tricked dumb kids to prison for life over some shit they had no control over to begin with.

I'm not confused, I know this idiom very well.

I was writing from a juridical view point, not from an emotional one. Like everyone I want them to be punished, but in accordance with their fault, not with the emotion, albeit legitimate, that teacher murder created. Once again, they are kids, or maybe should I say teens, with limited life experiences, easily swayed by those who offer them a seemingly strong identity, like every teenager strives to find at that period of their life.

A strong punishment is necessary, but not as strong as if they were full fledged adults.

Usually in France, at that age, sentences are in most cases cut in half of what an adult would get. Exception for life sentences, in which case it is the "surety period", during which they cannot be released no matter what, which will be cut in half.