[DanBC]

Why does it matter that he's young, white, or male?

Most people agree that it's stupid and deeply offensive to make that kind of comment.

Where people disagree is with a $500,000 bond; and with a prison sentence; and with jail time; for something that's no more nor less stupid that the stupid shit children do every single day.

EDIT: For the cost spent on him so far we could have shown him his comment, put it in the context of a recent school shooting, explained that some people are scared by that stuff, shown him the costs and process involved in checking if he's a terrorist about to kill a bunch of children and EAT THEIR BEATING HEARTS, asked him to consider his language in public in future, and asked him to talk to the woman making the complaint so she can see he's not going to kill children and he can apologise for scaring her.

That way you get a young man who stands a chance at getting a job in future (because felony convictions tend to affect what people can do) and who doesn't hate law enforcement.

Obviously it doesn't work for everyone, and when it doesn't work you use further measures. Luckily, by doing a bit of triage you have less people in prison and more money to spend rehabilitating them.

[watty]

I don't disagree - simply stated the crossed the line. I would expect someone to look into a bomb threat followed by "jk" as well.

[mikeash]

"Look into" does not imply "put the person in jail".

[pyre]

But we have to find some way to justify the expense. E.g.:

  Look! All that money we spend was well spent! We
  found a terrorist!