In January 2013, when now-13-year-old Joseph Hall was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting his father in the head, prosecuting attorney Mike Soccio declared, "Joseph never fell through the cracks." He added, a bit sorrowfully, "It's just that no crack fit Joseph."

But for the past six months, the state has been unable to figure out exactly where a seventh-grade felon fits inside California's penal system.

Attorneys, psychologists, educational advocates, state senators, probation officers, and city council members have all weighed in on what they believe is the proper placement for Joseph, but ultimately the decision is up to one woman. Judge Jean P. Leonard ruled at the end of the two-week trial in January that Joseph's killing was "not complex": "[Joseph] thought about the idea and shot his father. The minor knew what he did was wrong."

Leonard now has total discretion over where Hall is to spend the next 10 years of his life: either in a therapeutic facility (where he will receive direct psychiatric treatment for any behavioral disorders) or "baby jail," a prison for the mostly violent juvenile offenders in California, the majority of whom are now 18 and 19 years old.

Joseph was 10 when he snuck downstairs at 4 a.m. into his family's living room in Riverside, California, crept up to his father asleep on the couch, aimed a loaded .357 magnum revolver at his head, and pulled the trigger. Joseph's father, 32-year-old Jeffrey Hall, was a regional leader of a neo-Nazi organization. Jeffrey was known around town for hanging swastika flags outside of synagogues, harassing day laborers with a bullhorn, and running (unsuccessfully) for a seat on the Riverside Municipal Water Board as a party member of the National Socialist Movement.