Authors: Linda Merz-Perez, Kathleen M. Heide, Kathleen M. Heide, Kathleen M. Heide
ISBN-13: 9780759103047, ISBN-10: 0759103046
Format: Paperback
Publisher: AltaMira Press
Date Published: November 2003
Edition: 176th Edition
Practitioners in the animal welfare field, law enforcement circles, and social services arena have often maintained that childhood cruelty to animals is a forerunner to violence against people. Does this behavior serve as a red flag with respect to extremely violent offenders, such as serial killers? Merz-Perez and Heide provide the first scientific examination of this relationship and examine issues of cruelty across different types of animals (pet, wild, stray, farm). The authors evaluate the correlations between childhood cruelty and adult violent behavior, utilizing interviews and criminal records of violent and nonviolent inmates in a maximum security prison. Their findings will be of importance to a diverse audience, including researchers and practitioners in the field of juvenile justice, violence and domestic abuse, social welfare, animal welfare and animal rights and developmental psychologists and counselors, as well as law enforcement officers, district attorneys and judges, county and municipal officials, animal control officers, veterinarians, and school administrators, especially those concerned with intervention and prevention strategies.
Foreword | ||
Acknowledgments | ||
Pt. 1 | Animal Cruelty: The Current State of Knowledge | |
Ch. 1 | Animal Cruelty Encapsulated | 3 |
Ch. 2 | A Review of the Related Literature | 19 |
Ch. 3 | Three Theories of Offenders | 61 |
Pt. 2 | Animal Cruelty and Subsequent Human Violence: An Empirical Investigation | |
Ch. 4 | Method and Study Design | 71 |
Ch. 5 | Findings | 89 |
Pt. 3 | Understanding Those Who Hurt Animals: In-Depth Portraits | |
Ch. 6 | Case Studies of Three Theories of Violent Offenders | 129 |
Ch. 7 | Nonviolent Offenders Investigated | 137 |
Pt. 4 | A Blueprint to End Senseless Pain and Destruction | |
Ch. 8 | Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations | 151 |
Afterword: Tom Nero, Mary Bell, and Advances in the Study of Animal Abuse | 161 | |
References | 169 | |
Index | 179 | |
About the Authors | 189 |