Cruelty

Cruelty is the deliberate causing of suffering, or the failure to act on someone else's suffering when a clear solution is available. It can also be linked to sadism. The word comes from Middle English, through Old French "crualte," and ultimately from Latin "crudelitas," based on "crudelis."

In law and criminology, cruelty commonly appears in cases involving animals, children, spouses, and prisoners. Animal cruelty often means causing unnecessary suffering. In criminal law, it relates to punishment, torture, victimization, harsh measures, and cruel and unusual punishment. Many divorce laws allow a claim for cruel and inhumane treatment. Legally, cruelty is defined as causing physical or mental distress, especially when relevant to granting a divorce. According to Barrozo, criminal law recognizes four distinct conceptions of cruelty, differing in agency, victimization, causality, and values.

The first is the agent-objective conception, where cruelty occurs when an action goes beyond what is allowed by norms in degree or type. The victim suffers due to the objective nature of the act. Here, cruelty is an inclination toward harshness. Any punishment or treatment that exceeds what is sufficient and ventures into what is possible is considered excessive and thus cruel.

The second is the agent-subjective conception. Cruelty exists only when the agent’s deviant behavior includes a character flaw: deriving personal pleasure from causing or witnessing suffering. This view assumes punishment or violence is meant to restore cosmic balance after wrongdoing. Anything beyond what is necessary for that restoration is cruel. For example, the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, requiring an inquiry into a prison official’s state of mind to ensure the agent does not enjoy inflicting pain and that the punishment fits the crime.

The third is the victim-subjective conception. Cruelty rests on the victim’s intense experience of suffering, including pain, degradation, or humiliation unique to that person. Recognizing cruelty here relies on compassion rather than a standard of reasonableness. In punishment, the state’s intention is irrelevant. The law requires ill-treatment to reach a minimum level of severity, determined by factors like duration, physical or mental effects, and the victim’s sex, age, and health.