Thread: beheading = no jail, stab dog = jail

Easy.
In one case the judge determined the perpetrator was criminally insane, meaning he lacked the mental capacity to understand the moral implications of what he did. In other words-the guy was so mentally ill he didn't know what he was doing. Now you might disagree with that assessment, but that's what the judge who presided over the trial concluded.

In the second case, there was no issue about whether the guy who stabbed his dog lacked the mental capacity to understand what he was doing. In other words, he did what he did knowing what he was doing. That's what the criminal justice systems punishes---morally reprehensible conduct committed by a knowing perpetrator.

See?