The Link Between Animal Abuse And Human Violence

Many philosophers, including Aquinas, Locke, Schopenhauer and Kant, have assumed that there is a link between cruelty to animals and violence to people. This title examines the relationships between animal abuse and child abuse, the emotional development of the child, family violence, and serial murder.

Animal cruelty is linked directly or indirectly with every type of violent crime, and, what is not as well known, also with most nonviolent crime. Human beings would benefit enormously if fighting animal cruelty (investigating, prosecuting) were taken seriously. Many human lives would be saved and much human suffering would be prevented. Violent individuals are "made" and not born. Children are born with a love of animals, but the home environment plays a major role in determining a child's prosocial or antisocial personality and behavior. Child abuse, neglect, abandonment, and witnessing domestic violence are major factors in creating violent individuals, along with poverty, alcoholism, and toxic neighborhoods.

Evidence is mounting that animal abuse, frequently embedded in families scarred by domestic violence and child abuse and neglect, often predicts the potential for other violent acts. As early intervention is critical in the prevention and reduction of aggression, this book encourages researchers and professionals to recognize animal abuse as a significant problem and a human public-health issue that should be included as a curriculum topic in training. The book is an interdisciplinary source book of original essays that examines the relations between animal maltreatment and human interpersonal violence, expands the scope of research in this growing area, and provides practical assessment and documentation strategies to help professionals confronting violence do their jobs better by attending to these connections. As an outgrowth of the Latham Foundation's 1995 training manual, Breaking the Cycles of Violence, this book is a historic step in helping professionals from these disciplines, as well as the general public, recognize the cyclical and insidious nature of family violence and provides training in recognizing peripheral forms of family violence outside a family's immediate purview. It encourages cross-disciplinary prevention and intervention strategies with an ultimate goal of reducing the levels of violence which is such a great societal and cultural concern today. This book brings together, for the first time, all of the leaders in this emerging field. They examine contemporary research and programmatic issues, encourage cross-disciplinary interactions, and describe innovative programs in the field today. Also included are vivid first-person accounts from survivors whose experiences included animal maltreatment among other forms of family violence. Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Animal Abuse provides professional communities of psychologists and child welfare specialists with a deeper, higher, and more encompassing awareness and understanding of the crucial linking of caring for animals and children in human experience. The combination of careful research, documentation, and compelling narrative accounts are blended into a rich resource to help professionals, concerned citizens, and parents understand how the ethics of caring are not bounded by species.

Animal abuse as a predictor of abuse against humans has been documented extensively. Experts have explored alternatives to identify the early signs and stop the cycle. This book offers an up-to-date compendium that covers the historical, legal, research and applied issues related to animal abuse and cruelty.

Contains 46 articles by various authors concerned with cruelty to animals and how that relates to violent human relations.

A comprehensive examination of the causes of, and links between, interpersonal and interspecies violence Animal Abuse and Interpersonal Violence: A Psycho-Criminological Understanding addresses the many aspects of the link between animal cruelty and human violence. Presenting new theory, research, policy, and practice, this authoritative volume explores the subject through a psycho-criminological lens to describe, explain, and potentially prevent intentional behavior that causes pain, suffering, or death in animals and humans. With an integrated theoretical-practical approach, Animal Abuse and Interpersonal Violence offers up-to-date research and provides real-world insights into current thinking in the study of animal abuse and interpersonal violence. Sixteen in-depth chapters by a multidisciplinary team of active researchers and experienced field practitioners examine central topics in the field, including different forms of animal exploitation, connections between animal cruelty and substance abuse, the association between childhood animal cruelty and adult interpersonal violence, the role of veterinarians in the identification of animal abuse cases, the complex legal aspects of animal abuse cases, and more. Advances scholarship on animal abuse, its relationship with interpersonal violence, and the psycho-criminological mechanisms involved in that relationship Introduces readers to contemporary research on a range of topics and issues related to animal abuse and interpersonal violence Examines the origins of animal cruelty, its societal implications, and various prevention and treatment approaches Defines and describes various types of animal maltreatment and their links to different forms of interpersonal violence Animal Abuse and Interpersonal Violence: A Psycho-Criminological Understanding is essential reading for practitioners, researchers, scholars, and advanced students in fields such as behavioral science, law, criminology, veterinary forensics, criminal justice, law enforcement, social work, sociology, social sciences, education, and animal welfare.

Demonstrates how 'carceral animal law' strategies put animal protection efforts at war with general anti-oppression and civil rights efforts.