I don't think you're going to solve this problem by merely increasing penalties and throwing more years-in-prison at the perpetrators. Most of them seem to be

I don't think you're going to solve this problem by merely increasing penalties and throwing more years-in-prison at the perpetrators. Most of them seem to be kids who seem think they're invincible anyway. > At the very least, pursuing some of these charges would build leverage, which may result in the defendant pleading to a lesser charge. That's a really ugly part of the American justice system (e.g. scare the accused with over-inflated penalties to get them to plead guilty with no trial). That should be abandoned. The real solution will be 1) removing SWAT teams from communities that have no real need for them and 2) training police to only use SWAT tactics once they've confirmed they're appropriate for the situation. SWATing pranks are only just one symptom of the overuse of military tactics by police.