Tennessee is the only state that currently has one, but I know that the FBI is also looking at developing a database as well. Depending on the amount of cruelty, that person is prevented from owning animals. Tennessee actually became the first state to have a registry-you can go online and look at who in the state has been convicted of animal cruelty, similar to sex-offender registration. What else are states or law-enforcement officers doing to keep animals safe? Watch: Naomi Ekperigin tells the story of David Berkowitz’s adoption, “Son of Sam” crime spree, and come-to-Jesus moment. In Chattanooga, if you’re in a domestic-violence situation, we have a family-justice center that will allow survivors to stay there and there’s an animal hospital nearby that will board your pets for free. I think it’s because the pet is an extension of. We’ve seen multiple cases where you have someone engaging in domestic violence that ends up not only killing the person they’re abusing, but then they go back and kill the pets as well. It’s very common in a domestic-violence situation, especially if it’s the victim’s animal. We also know that it can be co-concurrent with child abuse or elder abuse. Most studies since 1980 have shown a link between childhood animal cruelty and adult interpersonal violence. How common is animal abuse? What are some warning signs? Henry Lee Lucas, for example, slit the throats of his animal victims as he was sexually abusing them, and then eventually did that with women. Also people that have a method of abusing animals-like strangulation-usually use that same method in hurting human beings.
is still rare, of course, but of the people who have committed it, they’re significantly more likely to go on to hurt human beings. We don’t know why there’s a connection there-it’s a fairly new area of study and there’s not a lot of literature, but what we know is people who commit bestiality at a young age are significantly more likely to commit interpersonal crime than those who don’t. What’s the most surprising thing you’ve found?įinding out that there’s a powerful link between bestiality (sexual relations between a human and an animal) and later interpersonal violence. Your research team asked prison inmates about their experience with animal abuse. I think it’s somewhere in the middle, a combination of both. Other people think that animal and human abuse starts at the same time, which is called ‘generalized deviance theory.’ That’s where a kid might hit another kid and then go home and smack their cat. Some research suggests there’s ‘graduation’ hypothesis, where killers start with animals and move to human beings later-and it’s often someone they perceive to be weaker than they are: prostitutes, for example, or hitchhikers, or the elderly. Chris Hensley, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, for some insight on why these two behaviors are linked-and what we can do about it.Īt what point does it progress to human beings? “If somebody is harming an animal, there is a good chance they’re also hurting a human,” said John Thompson, deputy executive director of the National Sheriff’s Association, in a 2016 interview.Ī&E True Crime spoke to Dr. Serial killers often torture or kill small animals from an early age, and men who commit child abuse or domestic violence very frequently harm household pets as well. Aside from killing dozens of innocent people (combined), these men-and a significant percentage of other serial killers-have something else in common: Years before turning their rage on human beings, they practiced on animals.Īccording to the FBI, animal abuse is highly correlated with interpersonal, human-to-human violence. Article Details: First They Tortured Animals, Then They Turned to Humansįirst They Tortured Animals, Then They Turned to Humans