Animals Then Humans?

When a child is given a pet, he or she is supposed to love, cherish and take care of that animal, but not all children do what is socially considered normal. As defined in Learning to be Cruel?: Exploring the Onset and Frequency of Animal Cruelty, “animal cruelty is socially unacceptable behavior that intentionally causes unnecessary pain, suffering, or distress to and/or death of an animal; exclusive of socially condoned behavior, such as legal hunting and certain agricultural and veterinary practices.” There are different methods of animal cruelty such as drowning, hitting or kicking, shooting, choking, burning, or having sex with an animal. These events happen frequently, but are not always linked to people who have committed criminal and violent acts. Do young adolescent children who torture animals later turn into violent criminal or is there no link at all?

Associations have been made of children that abuse animals who later turn into people who become violent to other humans, but there are many mixed results. To find a correlation between children who torture animals and violent criminals, researchers have analyzed cases of violent criminals and have conducted surveys and interviews of violent inmates that are still in prison. From a study where 112 inmates were given questionnaires, Table 1 explains the frequency and percentage of inmates who committed childhood and/or adolescent animal cruelty and their methods while engaging in these acts. As can be seen in Table 1, more than half of the inmates have shot an animal and almost half have either hit or kicked animals in their youth.

Table 1

Frequencies and Percentages of Inmates Who Committed

Childhood and/or Adolescent Animal Cruelty and

Their Methods While Engaging in These Acts

Method	n	%
Drowned	16	14.3
Hit or kicked	50	44.6
Shot	72	64.3
Choked	24	21.4
Burned	17	15.2
Sexual	16	14.3

Note: n = 112.

Based off of the other results of similar surveys, the results were varied. Some studies found that violent offenders were significantly more likely than non-violent offenders to have committed childhood acts of animal cruelty, especially against family pets (251). Other studies suggested that a persons race and/or childhood environment may determine if they would later become violent criminals. Overall, youth who commit animal cruelty are at a greater risk for later acts of violence against humans.

One of major concurring conclusions that many journals agreed upon was that there needs to be more research on this subject as there is no definite answer as to the question of whether or not adolescent youth who abuse animals will eventually turn into violent criminals. There are factors that may influence children to become who they are in the future, but there is no one factor that determines a child's future actions in life. When the answer is supported by more findings, the cycle of animal cruelty into violence against humans can be prevented in the future.

References:

Hensley, C. and Tallichet, S. E. (2009). Childhood and adolescent animal cruelty methods and their possible link to adult violent crimes. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24(1). 147-158. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hensley, C. and Tallichet, S. E. (2005). Learning to be cruel?: exploring the outset and frequency of animal cruelty. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 49(1). 37-47. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Hensley, C., Tallichet, S. E. and Dutkiewicz, E. (2009). Recurrent childhood animal cruelty: is there a relationship to adult recurrent interpersonal violence? Criminal Justice Review, 34(2). 248-257. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Merz-Perez, L., Heide, K.M., and Silverman, I.J. (2001). Childhood cruelty to animals and subsequent violence against humans. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 45, 556-573. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Miller, K.S. And Knutson, J.F. (1997). Reports of severe physical punishment and exposure to animal cruelty by inmates convicted of felonies and by university students. Child Abuse and Neglect, 21, 59-82. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.