Posted by: euser
December 22, 2010
Topic: Child Abuse

Last week, The Courier Journal reported that, for the third year in a row, Kentucky's animal protection laws were ranked worst in the nation by the San Francisco-based Animal Legal Defense Fund. The full text of this article by Stephenie Steitzer may be read at http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101215/PETS/312150098/1008/NEWS01/Kentucky+again+ranked+best+place+for+animal+abusers.

According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Kentucky has no felony provisions for extreme neglect or abandonment, no forfeiture of abused animals, inadequate animal fighting provisions, no requirements for mental health evaluations or counseling for offenders, and veterinarians are prohibited from reporting suspected cruelty or fighting.

According to John Goodwin, manager of animal fighting issues for the Humane Society of the United States, Kentucky has become the number one destination for cockfighting in the country. Kentucky is one of only 11 states that lack felony penalties for cockfighting, and many of the legislatures in those 11 states are considering such bills in upcoming legislative sessions.

It was not shocking for me to learn that Kentucky is ranked worst for animal protection laws because Kentucky is also leads the nation in deaths from child abuse. Researchers have found a correlation between animal abuse and abuse against children and domestic partners. This link was highlighted in an article by The New York times this summer. The full article by Charles Siebert, titled "The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome" may be read at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/magazine/13dogfighting-t.html?_r=1.

This article stated that before 1990, only six states had felony provisions in their animal cruelty laws, now 46 states do. The burgeoning interest in the issue is based in part upon a growing sensitivity to the rights of animals, and significantly due to the mounting body of evidence about the link between acts of animal abuse and serious crimes of human concern, including illegal firearms possession, drug trafficking, gambling, spousal and child abuse, rape, and homicide. A Columbus, Ohio dogfighting expert, Police Sgt. David Hunt, has traveled to 24 states to teach law enforcement personnel about the dog-fighting underworld, often stressing the link between activities like dog fighting and domestic violence. Sgt. Hunt says that dogfighting is "part of a larger nexus of crimes and the psyche behind them."

"The Animal Cruelty Snydrome" article gave the following examples of how animal abuse was part of a larger violence issue:

• In his famous series of 1751 engravings, "The Four Stages of Cruelty," William Hogarth traced the life path of the fictional Tom Nero: Stage 1 depicts Tom as a boy, torturing a dog; Stage 4 shows Tom's body, fresh from the gallows where he was hanged for murder, being dissected in an anatomical theater.

• Animal cruelty has long been recognized as a signature pathology of the most serious violent offenders. As a boy, Jeffrey Dahmer impaled the heads of cats and dogs on sticks; Theodore Bundy, implicated in the murders of some three dozen people, told of watching his grandfather torture animals; David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam," poisoned his mother's parakeet.

• A paper published in a psychiatry journal in 2004, "A Study of Firesetting and Animal Cruelty in Children: Family Influences and Adolescent Outcomes," found that over a 10-year period, 6-to-12-year-old children who were described as being cruel to animals were more than twice as likely as other children in the study to be reported to juvenile authorities for a violent offense.

• In an October 2005 paper published in Journal of Community Health, a team of researchers conducting a study over seven years in 11 metropolitan areas determined that pet abuse was one of five factors that predicted who would begin other abusive behaviors.

• In a 1995 study, nearly a third of pet-owning victims of domestic abuse, meanwhile, reported that one or more of their children had killed or harmed a pet.

In fact, the link between animal abuse and interpersonal violence is becoming so well established that many U.S. communities now cross-train social-service and animal-control agencies in how to recognize signs of animal abuse as possible indicators of other abusive behaviors. In Illinois and several other states, new laws mandate that veterinarians notify the police if their suspicions are aroused by the condition of the animals they treat. The state of California recently added Humane Society and animal-control officers to the list of professionals bound by law to report suspected child abuse and is now considering a bill in the State Legislature that would list animal abusers on the same type of online registry as sex offenders and arsonists.

More than ever, it is clear that Kentucky needs to develop laws, and an aggressive enforcement scheme, that target abuse against children, domestic partners, and animals. Kentucky has statistics to be proud of-the state leads the nation in educational reform and college basketball attendance. However, the state needs to change that it also leads the country in child abuse and neglect death rates, and lax animal abuse laws. Recognizing the link between abuse of animals and abuse of children or domestic partners is one way for authorities to find potential victims before those victims become another grim statistic.

If you see warning signs that you or your child may be in danger, please finda safe place or call the police. Then contact Louis P. Winner and I for a free consultation. We specialize in family law, and offer sensitive and dedicated legal services for all types of family law issues, including domestic violence and child custody cases. Click "Contact Us" or fill out the form on the left side of our homepage. --Stacy Anne Hoehle

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