An Investigation Into Animal Cruelty And Violent Crime In Ohio

Violence against humans is a public health issue, as is violence against animals, because these two forms of violence have been scientifically linked together. Violence against animals, known as animal cruelty, has been shown to be an important predictor and correlate of aggressive, violent behavior toward people and additional animal victims. Characteristics of individuals who are violent toward animals and people are similar and important to identify to help prevent further suffering and pain to victims. As such, understanding animal cruelty may assist in the prevention and alleviation of violent acts toward people. Animal cruelty laws with high offense degrees and penalties have been recently accepted into Ohio law, most notably Goddard’s Law in 2016. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to examine animal cruelty and violent crime public court records in Ohio to investigate the association between these two crimes. A random sample of individuals found guilty of animal cruelty in Ohio was examined for violent crimes in their criminal history. A mixed-effects logistic regression model was created to model violent crime severity based on the predictors: age, race, jail time from animal cruelty offense, and timing of the animal cruelty charge in relation to Goddard’s Law. Two logistic regression models were created to model being charged with a violent crime and being found guilty of a violent crime with the predictors: age, race, animal cruelty sentencing severity, and timing of the animal cruelty charge in relation to Goddard’s Law. There was a high prevalence of violent offenders within the population that has been convicted of animal cruelty in Ohio. Additionally, there was a high rate at which these individuals were convicted of domestic violence, assault, endangering children, and aggravated menacing, all crimes that are related to interpersonal violence. By targeting interventions towards offenders of these crimes, the health and safety of the community could be impacted. Physical, mental, and psychological damage can be avoided if preventative and mitigation efforts are targeted at animal cruelty offenders before they escalate toward violence toward people. Animal cruelty may be noted as a warning sign that may be indicative of heightened violence toward humans, which is especially important when assisting survivors of domestic violence. This evidence provides actual court data confirming the correlation between animal cruelty and violent crime that has been noted in the literature.