[Pan_Yans Wife]

He knew the consequences... see, I don't know how you can prove that with an eight year old.

He knew the cat would die?

He knew he would be charged with a felony?

Or... tell me, what psychiatric condition is he suffering from, is he delusional, schizophrenic... is his brain chemistry out of balance?

You have no way of knowing. It is premature to say, "He knew".

[mysterio]

I was 8 once. I remember some sick kids then doing crap like this. They knew exactly what they were doing. Throw the book at him.

[Jay D. Dyson]

You have no way of knowing. It is premature to say, "He knew".

Think back to when you were 8 years old.

Did you know the difference between right and wrong at that age?

Did you understand that living things died at that age?

I know I did. And I don't believe I was ahead of the curve.

It's time we stopped making excuses for inexcusable conduct.

-Jay

[MississippiMan]

You have no way of knowing. It is premature to say, "He knew".

I think it's reasonable to assume an eight-year-old understands that something very bad will happen if you swing a cat by its tail and bash it against hard objects. Do I think he needs to be put away for life? No. Do I think some quick intervention and future monitoring is called for? YOU BET.

MM

[GiovannaNicoletta]

The salient point is that he derived pleasure from torturing the cat. It doesn't matter if he knew if it was right or wrong, the fact is he got off on the pain the animal suffered.

This is a budding psychopath. I hope something can be done for him but unless they can get him out of his present environment, it's highly doubtful that anything will change him.

What happens when hurting animals no longer provides any satisfaction?