Animal Cruelty And Human Violence

Animal Cruelty and Human Violence

Too often we hear "boys will boys" or "it's just a dumb animal" but cruelty to animals, more specifically the torturing of animals, is far from just an innocent and careless incident; it's a sign of something far more serious. In fact, some of America's most notorious serial killers had a history of cruelty to animals in their childhood. Children who engage in animal cruelty are more likely to commit more violent acts as adults. There is also a strong link between abuse of animals and domestic violence, with animal abusers much more likely to batter their wives or girlfriends as well. Animal cruelty is a very broad term and encompasses a wide range of behaviors harmful to any animal, domestic or wild, from intentional and unintentional neglect to malicious killing. Intentional animal cruelty can be defined as abuse in which a person knowingly deprives an animal of its basic needs i.e. food, water, shelter or veterinary care or involves maliciously torturing, mutilating, maiming, or killing an animal. Former director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts University's College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Andrew Rowan, developed a classification system dividing the term "animal cruelty" into four distinct definitions: cruelty, abuse, neglect, and use to better define the broad term.

According to the classification system Dr. Rowan devised, cruelty occurs when an individual's motivation for causing animal suffering is to gain pleasure or satisfaction. Acts of animal cruelty are deliberate and are often planned, or premeditated. Lighting a firecracker in the mouth of a cat would be an example of cruel behavior. Abuse occurs when an individual causes an animal to suffer as a way of achieving dominance or a behavioral response. The individual responsible for the abuse doesn't enjoy harming the animal; however, he or she is merely trying to exercise power over the animal or to control its actions. An animal trainer whipping an elephant as a means to force the animal to perform circus tricks would be an example of abusive behavior. Neglect occurs when individuals fail to provide their animals with the proper necessities: food, water, attention, shelter, grooming, or veterinary care. In these instances the neglect is because of acts of omission rather than commission and does not give the neglectful owner satisfaction . The neighborhood "cat lady" would be an example of neglectful behavior because she, as the owner, has more animals than she can afford and therefore is unable to give them the proper necessities mentioned earlier in the paragraph. The fourth and final definition of "animal cruelty" is use. Use of animals for profit or other personal gain can often result in their suffering. People who use animals rarely experience emotional satisfaction from inflicting harm on them and they usually they view the consequences of their harmful behaviors as a "necessary evil". Raising animals for food is an example of animal use.

The connection between animal cruelty and human violence was first observed in the 1970s, when the FBI analyzed the life histories of imprisoned serial killers and discovered that a commonality between the criminals was that as children they had all killed or tortured animals. Today, animal cruelty is widely recognized as a sign of serious psychological distress. It often indicates that an individual has either experienced or observed violence firsthand or has an above average likelihood of becoming violent toward other people. Not only have these links been established in the lives of serial killers but experts have also acknowledged those links in homes where animal abuse is prevalent, and child abuse or other domestic violence is more likely to occur as well. In 1997, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) and Northeastern University analyzed prosecuted cruelty cases reported to the MSPCA between 1975 and 1996. The results of their study are as follows: Animal abusers were more likely to commit not only acts of violence against people but also property crimes, drug-related crimes, and crimes of public disorder; The majority of cruelty cases reported involved domestic household animals i.e. cats or dogs, with dogs being the most common targets; Abused animals were usually owned, and were not strays; Animal cruelty suspects were almost always young males ; Minors prosecuted for animal cruelty were more likely to have abused cats and adults prosecuted for animal cruelty were more likely to have abused dogs; Animal abuse was as likely to follow other crimes as it was to precede them.

Based on the FBI's finding that many serial killers tortured and killed animals before murdering humans, people typically assume that any individual who hurts an animal gradually progresses to hurting people. This theory, however, can not be backed by any evidence and experts caution against relying on this "graduation assumption". One of the reasons to not rely on this assumption is that not all children who deliberately hurt animals grow up to harm other people. In fact, in actuality only the smallest fraction of people who are cruel to animals become mass murderers or serial killers. Thus, people who are found to be cruel to animals do not necessarily graduate to victimizing humans ; no "cause-and-effect" relationship has been proven. However, current research has indicated that people who are violent, generally are more likely to be violent to all creatures, both humans and nonhuman animals. Because animals are easier, more vulnerable victims, violent individuals often choose animals as objects of their cruelty. As they age, their selection of potential victims may or may not expand to include humans. (www. Pet-Abuse.com)

Dr. Randall Lockwood, Vice President for Research and Educational Outreach of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), compiled a list of 32 risk factors based on studies of animal cruelty acts reported by violent offenders, studies of animal abuse committed in association with domestic and/or child abuse, criteria used in threat assessment by the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, and general characteristics of habitual violent offenders. ( www. Pet-Abuse.com ) Dr. Lockwood stresses the significance of the presence of five of these aggravating facts is cause for serious concern and more than ten can indicate a high potential that the offender has been or will be involved in acts of violence against people. The following are some of those determining factors: The number of victims; severity of injury; repetition of injuries on individual victims; act involved overcoming obstacles to initiate or complete the abuse; victim was physically incapacitated