Major caveat: As I understand common animal training wisdom and the literature, punishment (+P/-R, in conditioning circles) does work. It just needs to be app

Major caveat: As I understand common animal training wisdom and the literature, punishment (+P/-R, in conditioning circles) does work. It just needs to be applied only when necessary, and in the right way. Punishment to avert a behavior is supposed to be short-duration and immediately after the behavior is observed. Judicial punishment fails on both counts. It also is supposed to be done only when the (natural) consequences of the misbehavior are potentially dire, or when the animal already knows what they're supposed to do, and is misbehaving due to some other drive. But the judicial system of punishment is great for creating predators (prisons are great for reinforcing predatory behavior, on both sides of the bars), and it's also great for mis-training people to try to avoid getting caught, or to fight to the death in court, instead of training them to avoid criminal behavior in the first place.