Are today's animal abusers tomorrow's violent felons?

Late at night last December, a group of teenagers grabbed an aluminum baseball bat, hopped in a car and headed out for the sole purpose of attacking a pet goose belonging to a family living west of Lake Worth.

Police said Lily, the goose, apparently was in the yard when they pulled up. Two boys took turns hitting her in the head with the bat, according to police reports, then drove the dying bird a few blocks away, throwing her out of the car and beating her until she died.

The woman who found Lily's body told the family their pet's neck was broken, her eye hanging out of her head. The only motive that police could uncover was that Lily once had pecked at a truck belonging to one of her killers.

Three of the teens this week were charged with felony cruelty to animals.

I thought of another three boys when I read Lily's story this week: the three from Broward who, in 2006, were accused of clubbing a homeless man to death with a baseball bat while he slept on a bench.

Do you think today's young animal abusers are tomorrow's criminals? Research suggests yes. A Massachusetts study, one of several cited by the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, found people who hurt animals were five times more likely to go on to hurt people.

So what can break the cycle? What punishment or intervention could help?

And are people who torture or injure pets more at risk of turning criminal than those who do the same to wildlife or other animals?