Animal cruelty is a very serious crime, and individuals
who perpetrate heinous acts of cruelty should not go unpunished or
unrecognized by the criminal justice system. There is a well-established
link between animal cruelty and human violence, and exhibitions of animal
cruelty are indicators of a loss in empathy in individuals, according to
an overwhelming body of sociological and scientific research. In one study
of American households, it was determined that animals are abused in 88%
of families in which children are abused (DeViney, Dickert, Lockwood,
1983). In a separate study, researchers found that 62% of women who were
battered indicated their children had witnessed animal abuse (Ascione,
Weber, 1997). A survey of sexual homicide perpetrators revealed that 36%
of the offenders had abused animals in childhood, 46% in adolescence, and
36% in adulthood (Ressler, Burgess, Douglas, 1988).
Animal cruelty is a problem all over the world, but in
America as well. In the past few years, several incidents involving
extreme animal cruelty have come to light: horses brutally stabbed and
slashed, a kitten thrown from a moving truck, a dog strangled and hung
from a mailbox, a cat dropped from an overpass through the windshield of a
moving car, and puppies doused with gasoline and set on fire, as well as
cruelty to wild animals.
While a misdemeanor classification may be appropriate for
certain lesser offenses of neglect or mistreatment, a "misdemeanor-only"
law does not provide a sufficient deterrent or penalty for the more
extreme acts of cruelty. In Arkansas, a Class A misdemeanor only allows a
maximum of one year of detention or court supervision. Twelve months does
not provide the courts or mental health professionals enough time to
evaluate and treat a violent perpetrator whose already extreme behavior
could ultimately take a much more dangerous and tragic turn toward fellow
human beings.
Felony cruelty provisions for the most severe forms of
animal abuse have already been adopted in 36 states. The Arkansas state
legislature has had several opportunities to enact felony cruelty
legislation, most recently in the 1999 and 2001 sessions. But each time
these measures were introduced, corporate agriculture groups unleashed
massive lobbying campaigns based on fear and misinformation at the
Capitol, and the bills ultimately went down in defeat. The Arkansas Animal
Cruelty Act will allow the people of Arkansas to decide whether they want
strong anti-cruelty laws.
We not only must constantly upgrade our animal cruelty
statutes, but make sure that they are enforced! We need more team players
in Animal Control/Humane Society departments, more media attention and
animal rights/protection investigations. Changing the law alone will not
stop the offenses.
We need to clean up our act in America before we can hope
to change animal cruelty in other countries!! Hopefully, they will follow
our lead.
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