Many philosophers, including Aquinas, Locke, Schopenhauer and Kant, have assumed that there is a link between cruelty to animals and violence to people. During the last 40 years, evidence for this view has steadily accumulated as a result of statistical, psychological, and medical investigations, and there is now a substantial body of supporting empirical evidence. "The Link Between Animal Abuse & Human Violence" brings together international experts from seven countries to examine in detail the relationships between animal abuse and child abuse, the emotional development of the child, family violence, and serial murder. It considers the implications for legal and social policy, and the work of key professionals. Sections include critical overviews of existing research, discussion of ethical issues, and a special focus on the abuse of wild animals. This book is essential reading for all those who have a stake in the debate, either because their academic work relates to the issues involved, or because their professional role involves contact with the abused or the abusers, both human and animal, including child care officers, community carers, law enforcement officers, health visitors, veterinarians, anti-cruelty inspectors, animal protection officers, social scientists, lawyers, psychologists, and criminologists. This is the most up-to-date, authoritative, and comprehensive volume on the link between animal abuse and human violence.
Introduction; Does Animal Abuse Really Benefit Us?; Introduction; Measuring Animal Cruelty & Case Histories; Types of Cruelty: Animals & Childhood Cruelty, Domestic Violence, Child & Elder Abuse; A Lifespan Perspective on Human Aggression & Animal Abuse; Empathy as an Indicator of Emotional Development; Emotional Abuse of Children & Animals; Cruelty, Children & Animals: Historically One, Not Two, Causes; Examining Childrens Exposure to Violence in the Context of Animal Abuse; Women-Battering, Pet Abuse, & Human-Animal Relationships; The Role of Animals in Public Child Welfare Work; Developmental Animal Cruelty & its Correlates in Sexual Homicide Offenders & Sex Offenders; Reducing the Links False Positive Problem; Is Human Rights Speciesist?; Responding Ethically to Animal Abuse; The New Canaries in the Mine: The Priority of Human Welfare in Animal Abuse Prosecution; The Structure of Evil; 'Vile attentions': On the Limits of Sympathetic Imagination; An FBI Perspective on Animal Cruelty; Laws & Policy to Address the Link of Family Violence; Dealing with Animal Offenders; Implications for Criminal Law, Sentencing Policy & Practice; A Legal Duty to Report Suspected Animal Abuse -- Are Veterinarians Ready?; The Role of Veterinarians & Other Animal Welfare Workers in the Reporting of Suspected Child Abuse; Animal Cruelty & Child Welfare -- The Health Visitor's Perspective; Overview of Research; Hunting as an Abusive Sub-culture; Hunting as a Morally Suspect Activity; Dolphin Drive Hunts & the Socratic Dictum: 'Vice harms the doer'; Index.
