When I first read the story, I saw it as complete over-reaction and that she shouldn't have any punishment at all, and I still partially do. However, the last line changed my mind a little. She mixed aluminum foil and toilet cleaner, otherwise known as a Drano bomb. This is a very common way to make something that makes a small explosion, only slightly less common that dry ice and water in a bottle. I don't think she was just innocently mixing chemicals to see what they would do. Here's what I think actually happened. She's a bright, good, usually very obedient girl who rarely gets into trouble. She heard about Drano bombs and was curious about it. Because she's still a child and her frontal lobe is not yet fully developed, she makes dumb choices at times and decided to try it out.
Now at this point, charging her with a crime is a complete over-reaction and will do more harm than good. She knows what she did was wrong, and since she's the type who doesn't normally get into trouble, she won't do it again. Give her a day or two in detention and maybe show her some pictures of people missing hands from making Drano bombs to be sure she understands that what she did was wrong and leave it at that. Prosecute her and send her to jail and you not only use court time and state resources unnecessarily but you also risk turning a normally good girl into something else and possibly making her a life-long criminal.
