How to fight puppy mills: Toughening the sentences for animal abuse in the post‐communist region

Abstract

This study seeks answers to questions regarding the kind of main legislative issues and obstacles there are in providing a legal solution to the problem of illegal puppy mills in the post-communist context, how criminal law experts opine about toughening the sentencing guidelines for animal abuse and deficient puppy mills, what kind of arguments have been formulated and how they have shaped the decision making by lawmakers, and how Czech politicians have argued in favour of or against toughening the sentencing guidelines for animal abuse. The Czech Republic was selected as a country of “flourishing” illegal breeding establishments and puppy exports to other European countries—a problem that has long required a solution. The introduction defines the concepts of animal abuse and puppy mills employed in the paper. Subsequently, the paper outlines existing laws as well as the amendments to toughen the sentencing guidelines. I use the example of debates among parliamentarians and legal experts on toughening the Czech Criminal Code and introducing longer prison terms to demonstrate some typical issues of the debates on tougher sentences for animal abuse in the post‐communist region.