The Abuse of Animals as a Method of Domestic Violence: the Need for Criminalization

• Publication year: 2014

The Abuse of Animals as a Method of Domestic Violence: The Need for Criminalization

Vivek Upadhya

THE ABUSE OF ANIMALS AS A METHOD OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: THE NEED FOR CRIMINALIZATION

Abstract

A substantial amount of research in recent decades has focused on the relationship between domestic violence and animal abuse. This research has shown that an abusive household often contains more than one victim, and that an abuser is likely to harm both his intimate partner and domestic animals in the home. The bulk of this research has focused on the degree to which these forms of abuse co-occur, the predictive utility of these statistics, and the effect that animal abuse has on a victim's decision to leave the abusive household. Research findings in these areas have spawned a number of efforts to build upon this link to protect both humans and animals, such as including animals in protective orders, encouraging women's shelters to accommodate companion animals, requiring cross-reporting between animal welfare and domestic agencies, and educating the public as to the potential risk implicated by an animal abuser in the home.

By contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to a different aspect of the problem: the intentional abuse of animals as a method of domestic violence. Often, abusers exploit the close, emotional bond shared by a victim and her companion animal to inflict harm upon the human victim. The abuser may harm or kill the animal in order to emotionally harm the human, use threats against the animal to gain compliance or control over the human, or use these methods to abuse the human or coerce her return after she leaves the household. These forms of abuse constitute one aspect of the broader pattern of control that characterizes an abusive relationship. The abuse of an animal is a potent source of harm and control: victims have described their anguish and despair at witnessing their partner torture their beloved animal in front of their eyes, and frequently speak of how their concern for the animal obstructs their ability to leave the home. Because domestic violence shelters typically do not accept animals, a departing victim must leave her animal in the household. By doing so, she is left vulnerable to harm through the ongoing abuse of the animal—abuse that may force her to return to her abuser just to protect it.

This Comment argues that domestic violence statutes must treat animal cruelty as a domestic violence offense when committed with the purpose of

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harming or coercing the human victim. The law's failure to do so leaves a powerful method of harm underregulated, and thus leaves the significant abuse of both humans and animals underpunished. Designating animal abuse as a domestic violence offense would plug a prominent gap in the criminal approach to domestic violence and make available a large number of specialized protective and rehabilitative measures currently available to domestic violence victims, such as protective orders and mandatory therapy for the abuser. Moreover, implementing a domestic violence animal cruelty provision poses a relatively straightforward task, because the current statutory schemes of most states already recognize a variety of offenses as involving domestic violence. Ultimately, the frequency with which domestic violence and animal abuse co-occur, the severe harm that this abuse inflicts, and the substantial protective and remedial benefits that would follow together suggest the criminalization of this form of abuse is a necessary and highly effective approach against both domestic and animal abuse.

Introduction............................................................................................1165

I. Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on the Link Between Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty................1171

A. The Co-occurrence of Intimate Partner Abuse and Animal Cruelty ...................................................................................... 1171
B. The Exploitation of Animals as an Intentional Tool of Domestic Abuse ........................................................................ 1174

1. The Emotional Importance of Animals to Abuse Victims ... 1175
2. The Vulnerability of Animals and the Ease of Their Abuse 1178
3. Strategies and Methods of Domestic Abuse ....................... 1179

II. Current Approaches to Address the Link...............................1184

A. Punitive Provisions ................................................................... 1184
B. Protective Orders ..................................................................... 1186
C. Nonlegal Approaches............................................................... 1189

III. Addressing the Link Within the Criminal Justice System .... 1192

A. Special Remedies and Provisions Applicable to Crimes of Domestic Violence.................................................................... 1193
B. Designating Animal Cruelty as a Distinct Domestic Violence Offense ...................................................................................... 1198
C. Including Animal Cruelty Within the Definition of Domestic Violence.................................................................................... 1202
D. Elements of a Model Provision................................................. 1206

Conclusion................................................................................................1208

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Introduction

Women, children, and animals have long suffered abuse in the face of the law. Historically, these three groups shared a legal status of significant subordinacy or, worse, of property.¹ The law for centuries reflected common societal perceptions of hierarchy, depriving these groups of rights or significant legal protection, and thus served only to perpetuate and entrench their vulnerability to abuse and maltreatment.² The abuse of a woman was viewed as sacrosanct within the domain of marital relations;³ the abuse of a child was viewed as the prerogative of parents to treat and raise their property as they pleased;⁴ and the abuse of an animal was essentially viewed as the harmless destruction of property at best, or the needless but inconsequential causing of suffering at worst.⁵

As women and children became emancipated under the law, attention progressively began to focus on their abuse as worthy of some level of intervention,⁶ but the exploitation of these three categories of individuals was largely viewed as distinct and unrelated.⁷ Although the abuse of women, children, and animals may have often been committed by the same person, and despite the fact that their vulnerability could be attributed at least in part to common underlying factors, understandings of their abuse remained isolated from one another.⁸ The true extent to which these forms of violence are interrelated has only recently begun to be understood.⁹

Recent decades witnessed fundamental changes in both the legal status and the rights of women and children, along with a simultaneous shift in how their abuse is understood. Animals continue to be viewed primarily as property, and

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their independent interests continue to be subservient to the possessory, use, and enjoyment interests of their "owners."¹⁰ This is despite the fact that animals may be of substantial emotional importance to their guardians, and that most individuals view their animals as family members.¹¹ The understanding of domestic abuse has shifted away from a fragmented understanding toward a more unified one: increasingly, the focal point of analysis has become the abuser, with various acts of violence and the victims against which they are committed being viewed through the lens of the abuser's motivations.¹² At the same time, domestic violence has come to be understood as "'a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner'" instead of a series of individual violent incidents.¹³ Within this understanding, a broad range of physical, sexual, psychological, economic, and emotional acts and behaviors may constitute domestic violence when

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committed with the purpose of harming the human victim.¹⁴ Under this new approach, the abuse of various victims appears interrelated, and researchers have begun to examine aspects and nuances of these relationships to guide efforts to prevent, detect, and mitigate abuse.¹⁵

One narrow subset of this unified understanding of domestic violence has focused on the relationship between intimate partner abuse and animal abuse, commonly referred to simply as "the link."¹⁶ Although the commission of animal cruelty has long been identified as a potential risk factor for subsequent criminality,¹⁷ and as a possible indicator of psychological disorders,¹⁸ only in the past three decades has scholarship focused on the link between the two forms of abuse.¹⁹ This "movement"²⁰ has addressed several aspects of this relationship: animal abuse as an indicator of subsequent criminality,²¹ prior

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abuse or neglect during the perpetrator's childhood,²² or having witnessed animal abuse;²³ the rate at which animal abuse correlates to the abuse of others in a household or vice versa;²⁴ and, last but not least, the emotional and practical effects of animal abuse on others in a household.²⁵

This research has demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between intimate partner abuse and animal abuse, showing that they are frequently perpetrated concurrently²⁶ and that the abuse of an animal may have significant practical implications for human victims' welfare and ability to protect themselves.²⁷ Building upon this research, several approaches have

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been developed to exploit the link between the two forms of abuse as a tool to curb intimate partner abuse and to facilitate efforts to protect both human and animal victims.²⁸ These...