Abstract
The link between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence has been supported in this research project along with many other research findings. The theory that animal cruelty offenders will graduate from perpetrating against animals to perpetrating violence against humans was not supported in this or other studies. This finding reinforces the importance that investigators, prosecutors and mental health should be vigilant that a violent offender may have other victims, human or animal. In addition, the type of violence, affective or predatory, can provide additional avenues of investigation and assessment. With the preceding literature in mind, it is apparent how animal cruelty is a highly complex form of deviance, and thus it is crucial to convey that the association between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence is not simply a cause and effect relationship in which animal cruelty leads to human violence (Arluke, Levin, & Luke, 1999). A greater understanding of the offender’s motivation, behavior and type of aggression (affective or predatory) can benefit law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, mental health and probation and parole.
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The link between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence has been supported in this research project along with many other research findings. The theory that animal cruelty offenders will graduate from perpetrating against animals to perpetrating violence against humans was not supported in this or other studies. This finding reinforces the importance that investigators, prosecutors and mental health should be vigilant that a violent offender may have other victims, human or animal. In addition, the type of violence, affective or predatory, can provide additional avenues of investigation and assessment. With the preceding literature in mind, it is apparent how animal cruelty is a highly complex form of deviance, and thus it is crucial to convey that the association between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence is not simply a cause and effect relationship in which animal cruelty leads to human violence (Arluke, Levin, & Luke, 1999). A greater understanding of the offender’s motivation, behavior and type of aggression (affective or predatory) can benefit law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, mental health and probation and parole.
Reference
Arluke, A., Levin, J., Luke, C., & Ascione, F. R. (1999). The relationship of animal abuse to other forms of antisocial behavior. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14(9), 963–975.
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Hoffer, T., Hargreaves-Cormany, H., Muirhead, Y., Meloy, J.R. (2018). Conclusion. In: Violence in Animal Cruelty Offenders. SpringerBriefs in Psychology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91038-3_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91038-3_22
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