Take the Poll on Animal Cruelty
Take the poll on whether animal cruelty should be a misdemeanor or felony. And, read the current results.
POLL: Animal cruelty should be :
- o A felony.
- o A misdemeanor.
- o Other
It is shocking to read most people who have taken the poll believe that people who commit animal cruelty should be charged with only a misdemeanor. Misdemeanors are minor crimes, typically punishable by at most a year in jail, a fine or community service or the like and usually involve no jail time.
For more information about the laws of the seven states that do not make animal cruelty a felony no matter the circumstances, click here. Also, click here to read about those states with weak or underinclusive felony laws.
It is important to make animal cruelty a felony at least for some offenses. Prosecutors are more likely to charge felonies than misdemeanors; these crimes are taken more seriously. If animal cruelty is a felony, judges and prosecutors are more likely to consider sentencing options like mental health evaluations and treatment for offenders and bans on owning, keeping or living with animals in the future.
Aside from the cruelty to the animals that a felony law will help punish and hopefully deter, it is well known people who abuse animals abuse people. It is that simple. If someone abuses or tortures animals, that is a very strong indicator they have been or will be violent towards spouses, children and other people. The mental health field calls this "the link". And the numbers support this link between animal abuse and domestic violence and other violent crimes.
70% of animal abusers were found in one 20 year study to have then committed other crimes, and 44% went on to harm people. (Arluke, A. & Luke, C. 1997).
In another recent study 99% of animal abusers had convictions for other crimes. (Clarke, J. P. 2002). In that same study it was found 100% of people who committed sexual homicide had abused animals. (Clarke, J. P. 2002). That study also revealed 61.5% of animal abusers had assaulted a human as well. (Clarke, J. P. 2002).
63.3% of inmates in one prison study who were in for violent crimes admitted to abusing animals. This doesn't include the ones who didn't admit it. (Schiff Louw Ascione, 1999)
Police have found animal abuse is a better predictor of whether someone will commit sexual assault than previous convictions for murder or arson. (Clarke, J. P. 2002).
71% of women in a battered women's shelter reported their abuser either abused a household pet or threatened to abuse a pet. (Ascione, 1998)
In another study 88% of child abusers also abused the animals in the home. (Ascione)
Animal cruelty laws are as much about recognizing the danger to people from animal abusers as these laws are about protecting animals. Help give prosecutors the tools they need to stop animal abusers. The lives of humans as well as animals depend on it.