The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome

The New York Times has a truly fantastic article about animal cruelty, animal cruelty laws, and why everyone involved in law enforcement should be paying attention and treating crimes against animals just as seriously as those against humans. The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome looks over several aspects of animal cruelty, and how animal cruelty can often be a sign of other issues and crimes being committed, from domestic violence, child abuse, gang related crimes, and many more. The article also discusses the ASPCA's new CSI mobile unit that can help process crime scenes when the victims are animals. The head of the unit also gives lectures to help teach local law enforcement and CSI officials how to preserve the evidence of animal cruelty cases.

Most importantly, 46 states have felony level crimes for animal cruelty, and states are passing laws that require veterinarians to report potential animal cruelty to authorities, mainly because it is so often linked to other criminal behavior. California is currently considering listing those convicted of animal cruelty on the same type of online registry as sex offenders or arsonists.

So what value is this article to us other than knowledge? It can give us a launch-point to urge New York City and New York to go a step further. NY currently shields veterinarians from Civil and Criminal Liability in reporting abuse. NY should take the next step and require reporting by veterinarians. NYC should work with the ASPCA officers and set up a special prosecution office solely for animal cruelty cases. A special prosecutions office would allow those cases to get priority in an office dedicated to them, rather than fall by the wayside as 'people crimes' come in and take priority. It is for these same reasons that offices like the SVU team have been set up.

This article sheds some light on why animal cruelty is absolutely inexcusable.

Allison Gill