Appropriate punishment for animal cruelty

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

I think that they should be put in prison for 10 years (without bail) and enrolled in one of those programs (where they are constantly monitored), but required to care for animals. Some of those programs work with dogs, some with horses etc. Point is, they should not be able to have the freedom by just doing community service. They need to learn about these animals and RESPECT them, and the only way they're going to respect them is by having them be the only recreation outside of prison that they get. I am a huge believer that a person who does this to animals DOES have a great potential for becoming a serial killer. If you can't respect an innocent animal who has done nothing to you, how are you going to respect a human being?

The weakness of that is that society can't impose morality especially via punishment. The trick is to change their thought process, not just their behavior. being forced to care for animals could just as easily make them hate them as respect them.