Two articles: One from an attorney and one from a former teacher:Why Michael Vick's dogfighting puts him in the NFL doghouse
helium.com
Here's some information about animal abuse and the link to child/personal abuse that you might find interesting:
CHRONOLOGY OF IMPORTANT RESEARCH ON ANIMAL CRUELTY AND INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE
1966- Hellman & Blackman. Established that cruelty to animals is part of a triad of behaviors useful for predicting criminal behavior.
1977- Rigdon & Tapia. Provided the first clear description and systematic study of children who commit animal cruelty. It established the typical animal abuser as being a male of average intelligence with an early history of antisocial behavior, with a childhood history that is likely to include gross neglect, brutality, rejection and hostility.
1980- Felthous. Studied two groups of male psychiatric patients, one with an assaultive history, and one with a history of animal cruelty. The second group was significantly more likely to have had an alcoholic father, set destructive fires, had enuresis past age five, been separated from the father, and cruelty was more severe towards cats than dogs.
1983- Deviney, Dickert & Lockwood. Studied fifty-three families in New Jersey suffering from domestic violence, and found that 60% reported that pets were also abused and/or neglected.
1985- Kellert & Felthous. Studied the relationship between cruelty to animals and aggression among criminals and noncriminals. They found significantly higher rates of cruelty toward animals among aggressive criminals.
1986- Kellert & Felthous. Follow-up study to predict future violence.
1991- Hickey. Found that in some cases killing animals was to relive the experience of killing human beings.
1993- Ascione. Cruelty to animals is a serious manifestation of psychopathology particularly when paired with other symptoms and a troubled family history.
1995 and 1997- Edleson. Both the 1995 and 1997 studies found that children growing up in homes where there is domestic violence are at risk for psychological disturbance, with one sign being cruelty to animals.
1997- Ascione. This study surveyed thirty-eight women seeking shelter at a safehouse and found that 74% reported having a pet killed and 71% reported the pet(s) were threatened or harmed.
1997- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Northwestern University. Examined criminal records of 153 animal abusers and 153 non-abusers over a twenty-year period. The study found that people who abuse animals are five times more likely to commit violent crimes than non-abusers.
RELEVANT STATISTICS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ANIMAL CRUELTY:
71% of abused women report that their batterers have threatened to hurt/kill their pets and have done so.
32% of battered women with children report that their children have hurt or killed pets.
25%-48% of battered women delay leaving an abusive situation for fear of what will happen to her pet if left behind.
40% of battered women report that they have been forced to participate in sexual acts with animals as part of their domestic terrorization.
Sex Offenders:
48% of rapists have committed acts of animal cruelty as children or adolescents.
30% of child molesters have committed acts of animal cruelty as children or adolescents
15% of all active rapists also rape animals.
Child Abuse:
80% of homes in which animal control agencies found abused/neglected pets there had been previous investigations by child welfare agencies of physical abuse and neglect.
Learn more about this author, Alisa Cook.
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Susan Gaertner: Where cases like Michael Vick's lead
Reusse thinks we're overreacting. He's wrong.
Susan Gaertner
startribune.com
Published: August 25, 2007
I don't read Patrick Reusse's sports column for insight into Coach Childress' ability to call plays for the Vikings offense. I read it (usually at my husband's suggestion) because in addition to knowing all things about sports, Reusse is a keen observer of human behavior and an excellent writer.
But after reading his column about Michael Vick ("Even after a barbaric mistake, quarterback deserves second chance," Aug. 21), I wondered what the heck Patrick was thinking.
Perhaps it's his well-recognized penchant for writing columns just to get under the skin of some of his more critical readers. But in this case I don't think so. This case is not about a game. When Reusse wrote his column, he knew Vick would plead guilty and would, according to his attorney, "accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made."
Vick's actions? Brutally executing dogs by drowning and hanging; bankrolling illegal gambling operations; sponsoring illegal dogfighting ventures; and according to a National Football League executive, lying to the very people who paid him millions of dollars to represent the league on Sunday afternoons while millions of fans stretch out in front of their TVs (many, perhaps, with man's best friend at their side).
Reusse admits that "it's nauseating to read details of this dogfighting culture" but seems to dismiss Vick's involvement with an attitude that sounds a lot like "boys will be boys" and "everybody does it."
And therein lies the problem. Too many people do it.
Halfway through, Reusse observes: "... it is puzzling how dogfighting has gone from a dirty little secret with modest punishment to the Crime of the New Millennium because of Vick's involvement."
No, it's not puzzling. While maybe not the "Crime of the New Millennium," reports of animal abuse are more prevalent today than 10 years ago, and law-enforcement and mental-health professionals are increasingly aware of the correlation between animal cruelty and other criminal behaviors.
One survey of pet-owning families with confirmed child abuse or neglect found that animals were abused in 88 percent of homes where physical child abuse was present. Another study of women in domestic-violence shelters showed that 71 percent of those who had pets said their partner had threatened, hurt or killed their animals. In a study done 10 years ago, one out of every three mothers in a domestic-violence shelter reported that their own children had hurt or killed their pets.
When animals are neglected or abused, it is a red flag that others in the family may not be safe. But violence isn't limited to the family.
In 2005, John P. Clarke, an Australian researcher, asked 20 sexual-homicide perpetrators if they had ever harmed or killed any animals. All 20 responded that they had.
These are just a few reasons why the "dirty little secret" of dogfighting and other forms of animal cruelty are, in this new millennium, of such great concern to our society.
Keith Streff, an investigator with the Humane Society of Minnesota, said recently he hopes Vick's case does for animal abuse what O.J. Simpson's did for domestic violence -- shines a spotlight so people start seeing it for what it is and start doing something about it.
A good start would be for the courts and the NFL to make a good example of Michael Vick.
Susan Gaertner is the Ramsey County Attorney. On Monday, she will give a speech on the link between animal abuse and societal violence to several hundred criminal-justice professionals gathered in Bloomington.
Other links:
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