Horror
You have these nice people supporting Sue Madison's bill to establish a felony offense for the most horrible cases of torturing dogs, cats and horses. They are sending mass e-mails to senators. Meantime, Farm Bureau lobbyists stalk the doors to the Senate chamber button-holing senators in support of an alternative bill to create a felony only for the second most horrible case of torture, but only if it happened within five years of the first. The first barbecuing of a dog or microwaving of a cat would remain a slap on the wrist misdemeanor. This is how the process works. Some well-intended people have to work for real livings and can't hang out at the Senate door. Other nice people sit around their bridge tables and talk about how the animal cruelty bill is needed, then commit to e-mailing their senators. All the while, the bill gets killed outside the Senate door by paid lobbyists representing entrenched and usually regressive powers, usually under the guise of a more palatable alternative. Might there be mitigating circumstances on a first horror -- say, a stupid kid torturing a pet and needing not a felony charge with jail time, but a second chance and professional help? Maybe. The prosecuting attorney always has discretion to negotiate a charge. The required psychoanalysis of Madison's bill would, in that case, become the most vital part.