Sure, for misdemeanor endangerment. Not terrorism.
You really don't understand the male mind, the geek mentality, nor the drive to mess "outside of the box". If nobody is allowed to start this sort of thinking, who will be developed to build the bombs that our own government uses when it goes to war? This talent must come from somewhere, hopefully our own people.
If you could do me the favor of attempting to understand my posts, you would realize that I have no trouble with prosecuting incidents like this. I do have a problem of handling every case of "explosives" as terrorism. I have a problem with "zero tolerance" misapplication of punishment rather than factoring intent.
I stand on Constitutional process. You seem to cower in fear and nothing but fear.
I understand your line of thought - similiar to my idea that a hate crime is still a crime and should be punished for the evil thing that it is without having to add the color of one's skin or whatever criteria used to determine hate.
However, you fail to realize that the fact that this person or persons left this device in a place where many could be hurt is criminal in it's intent.
This isn't like leaving it in the desert, or in the country - this was placed in a densely populated area with full knowledge that someone would come upon this bag and pick it up. That alone, means this was done in a terroristic way - not a prank as you keep referring to it, and not as a boy wanting to learn.
It's the difference between yelling fire out in a field or in a crowded theater - same word, entirely different response expected