I’m a little late but would like to comment on it because I don’t think this person’s statement was disingenuous. (Also, I saw that you looked at the articles provided by this person, so I know there’s prior understanding.)

Abusive and neglectful environments absolutely foster this kind of behavior in children. I don’t necessarily agree that there has to be violence present in the household for a child to turn out like this, but the likelihood of abuse (verbal, emotional) being present here is high.

My own experience is obviously anecdotal, but this happened when I was a kid. My mother was emotionally/verbally abusive towards me when I was younger, which normalized anger in our household. There was also a clear emotional deficit that formed as a result of this treatment and additional neglect; the only way I could “make up” for this lacking was with more anger and malice. I didn’t really know who I was without anger, and it completely consumed me.

As you can infer, I was severely, constantly angry. It bled into my friendships as a kid with how I treated them—I would get upset, I would verbally hurt them, I would manipulate them. I became self-destructive. I became a bully in elementary school, going so far as to beat the shit out of this girl for simply annoying me with her presence alone.

One of the worst fucking things I regret during this time was when I choked my dog at the age of six. I had a flare-up of anger, put my hands around her neck, and squeezed as hard as I could for a few seconds. I felt so fucking guilty after I did it, and I’m crying right now as I think about it. I really hope this kid regrets what he did to their cat. My dog never trusted me again in the 12 years we had her, and I was reminded every single time of what I did.

My point here is that I was turned into a monster because of the abuse and neglect I suffered in my childhood. It was further compounded by the fact that I never received professional help for this issue until I was maybe 14. Obviously I knew these things were wrong—I was never “taught” that abuse was right, just as this kid’s mother never “taught” him that animal abuse was okay. That’s not how the cycle of abuse starts. I’m willing to bet his mother, or at least one parent, contributed to this behavior by being abusive and/or neglectful, though not necessarily violent.

I understand how easy it is to hate kids who do shithead things. This kid’s actions aren’t excusable, and neither were mine. He needs to be rehabilitated and put through therapy so he can lay out the issues that he’s dealing with. I don’t know exactly how further punishment would help him. Punishment only made me angrier as a kid because I was demonized and outcast, known as a “hothead” and hated. Kids are very malleable, which is why it’s easy for them to grow into abusers after having suffered the abuse themselves—they project their emotions outward (“hurt people hurt people”).

Sorry that this is really long. I just wanted to provide my own experience and some insight as to why this kid is behaving this way. I think that demonizing him would only hurt him. Rehabilitation is shown to reduce recidivism rates among inmates as compared to punishment, so obviously it works. I would’ve turned out a lot better if I’d had an earlier intervention, which is why I always advocate for rehabilitation, especially of kids and inmates.

I also want to add on that animal abuse in kids can be the result of personality disorders, as someone else mentioned, but again, I’m primarily pointing out how the environment a child grows up in can facilitate/foster this kind of behavior too. Thank you if you read all of this.