New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez (D) has introduced a bill that would help law enforcement track animal abusers.  The Tracking Animal Cruelty Crimes Act, Senate Bill 2439, would require the National Incident Based Reporting System, the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, and the Law Enforcement National Data Exchange Program to list cruelty to animals as a separate offense category. 

The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, which began in 1929, collects information about crimes reported to the police. Basically, local law enforcement report the total number of incidents for each offense. The information provided includes limited information about each crime.

An overhaul of that system resulted in the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS).  Under this system local law enforcement agencies provide a more detailed record for each crime and also includes many more offenses.

The concept of Law Enforcement National Data Exchange Program (N-DEx) is to take the data provided by local agencies and extract specific information on people, places, things, the relationship between them, as well as crime characteristics such as MO's and criminal signatures. This information can then be shared across jurisdictional boundaries and provide new investigative tools that enhance the ability to fight crime. Law enforcement can create virtual on-line task forces to share information that will improve efforts to stop criminal activity.

Under S. 2439 information about animal abuse crimes would be reported under these systems. This will help law enforcement track animal abusers, trends and patterns of such abuse, allocate resources to enforcement, and uncover information that could lead to increased prosecutions for cruelty and animal fighting.

"Perhaps if there is any silver lining to the Michael Vick episode, it is that such a high-profile conviction for dogfighting has made everyone aware of the repulsiveness of animal cruelty and the severe consequences that await those who participate," said Senator Menendez. "While we have the momentum, we need to make sure that we establish policies that help law enforcement more effectively understand the scope of the problem and prevent offenders from going on to commit other violent crimes. The patterns of animal cruelty crimes should be tracked along with other violent crimes, and that is what we are trying to establish.

"This repulsive blood-sport of dogfighting is a truly national problem - last year in my home state of New Jersey, officials found a dog ring in a bunker 11-feet underground. That was during a drug raid, showing how interconnected animal cruelty can be with illegal gambling, drugs, and violence."

Also, it is well known there is a link between animal cruelty and domestic abuse and other violent crimes. Those people who abuse animals are likely to abuse spouses and children and commit other violent crimes. Tracking animal cruelty crimes will help in the understanding of this link and the deterrence of violent crime.   

Several studies support a 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)

In a 1983 study children were abusive to animals in more than one third of pet-owning families referred to New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services for suspected child abuse. (DeViney, L., J. Dickert and R. Lockwood. 1983).

A 1995 study found  32% of the pet-owning victims of domestic abuse reported that one or more of their children had hurt or killed a pet (Ascione, F. R. 1995)

A 1997 survey of 50 of the largest shelters for battered women in the United States found that 85% of women and 63% of children entering shelters discussed incidents of pet abuse in the family. (Ascione, F. R. 1997).

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO

This bill is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Click here to find committee members. Call or write (faxes are best!) and urge them to support S. 2439 and require the crime reporting programs to list animal cruelty as a separate category.