why do people do this and what is most effective to prevent this behavior?

[CC]

This is a similar question to the one posted above; I've always wondered why and how people can have such disregard for life. I'm thinking if I can understand abusers more, perhaps prevention strategies would become more clear.

[Dr. Randall Lockwood]

Much animal cruelty is really about power and control, which is why it is so strongly connected to ther forms of violence like domestic violence, child abuse and general criminal behavior. People responsible for intentional acts of abuse can have many different motivations, but often the central motive is to try to show that they can have an impact on others, that they can coerce, control, frighten or intimidate. Often the act of cruelty has been triggered by something that has challenged their sense of power - someone (animal or person) has acted in a way that calls their power into question.

Some forms of intentional cruelty stem from true mental illness such as psychopathic personality or conduct disorder.

The most common form of animal cruelty however is neglect, which can include everything from simply keeping animals in inadequate conditions - like many of the stories here - to abandonment, starvation and hoarding. The motives for neglect are different. Sometimes it is lack of resources, sometimes physical or psychological limitations, sometimes lack of basic knowledge of what animals need - and sometimes simple laziness.

It is the intentional acts that are of course the most disturbing and which can carry the highest penalties since we know such acts can also be associated with serious crimes against people.