Any updates on the situation?
ratty, your situation definitely sucks. If neighbor boy comes over and stares again, I would call his mother right away and ask her to call him in. And I’d do it again and again until she learns that you simply won’t tolerate it.
As his care-taker, she is responsible for making sure he doesn’t bother, or harm, you. And as the care-taker for your dogs, you are responsible for making sure the dogs don’t bother, or harm, him.
Good luck.
As for the dog thing, you can get very caught up in the legal aspect of it. No matter what the provocation and whether it is on your property or not, the neighbors could quite easily take you to court- and if they have a good, convincing lawyer, your dog could end up being destroyed. Even if you win the case, you still have to pay the legal fees- and that could be quite expensive. If you are looking for the legality of the issue, you can try some of the regular search engines (I suggest Google) or findlaw.com (which is a little harder to find what you want on, but doesn’t have as much random junk, either). I suggest that you definately get the authorities involved. All though I pity the poor guy, you have to think about everyone else. Also, if he gets put into a home now, when his parents die, there won’t be that problem as well.
Guinastasia- nothing to report, m’am. I called a lawyer who specializes in dog law, and he’ll get back to me sometime this week, but that’s it. No staring or other harassment, but then, I haven’t been outside in the back lately since it’s been so rainy here. Thank you for the support and concern, though: you guys are all wonderful. 
That’s horrible. Sad and macabre.
You were there, I wasn’t, but…Too violent for an institution? Isn’t violence one of the reasons for institutions? What you described sounds so nineteenth century.
And again, I wasn’t there, but I might say his parents were the real monsters. I’m crying for that guy. Did he have a name? Or didn’t they bother giving him one.
(sorry, not ranting, and not directing this at you)
ratty
I was the mother of a retarded child. I know how hard these decisions can be for the parents. That being said these parents are not doing their child any favors . They obviously can’t control him. He could hurt not only you; he could also hurt his parents or himself. Please keep calling the police. Taking him out of the situation could be beneficial for everyone.
A warning a police officer friend of mine tells me that these people can be incredibly strong and sometimes pepper spray just makes them more violent. Please ask your officer friend what would be your best defense.