New features are coming soon. Login with Facebook to get an early start and help us test them out!
CONVICTED: Was justice served?
more information on voting
When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.
Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "People’s Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.
Case #654 Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Friday, Mar 15, 2002
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Name Undisclosed
A 16-year-old boy who did press-ups with a broom handle on a kitten before stabbing the animal to death has been given a 12 month community rehabilitation order.
Southampton Youth Court also ordered that the boy, who is now 17 and cannot be named for legal reasons, be banned from keeping domestic animals for life.
He pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the kitten at an earlier hearing. The court heard the teenager telephoned his teacher to tell her of the attack on the female kitten called Thai. He said he was jealous of the kitten showing affection for others. This led him, when alone, to throw the kitten against a chest of drawers before doing press-ups (known in the U.S. as "push-ups") on a length of broom handle laid against the kitten's throat.
John Mitchell, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the force of the press-ups ruptured the kitten's abdomen.
The youth then stabbed the kitten 10 times before putting it in a dustbin liner and throwing it in bushes, the court heard.
Mr Mitchell said the youth had told his teacher: "I chucked the kitten at a chest of drawers. I did press ups on it - I was annoyed. It was like the Blair Witch Project. I put it in a bag and dumped it in a bush. What if it had been a baby, what if I had done it to a baby.
Mr Mitchell added that the defendant also said: "Killing the kitten was a serious matter but what is really serious is I do not feel sorry, I know I should, but I do not."
The court heard the youth had complex social and learning difficulties and was under local authority care.
References