Obviously not everybody who abuses an animal
is going to have underlying mental health
issues, but it is something that we do commonly
see in our work.
For children who commit animal cruelty, they're
far more likely to have experienced abuse
or neglect themselves.
The criminal justice system can and does respond
to animal cruelty, but often if those responses
aren't informed by surrounding factors, they
may not be as effective.
This may make the offender pose a greater
risk to animals and the community at large.
Mental health evaluations can be extremely
informative in tailoring appropriate sentences.
And another challenge can be just the laws
that the stakeholders in the case are working
with.
There are also some challenges with how animal
cruelty is viewed.
Largely, animal cruelty has been viewed as
untreatable, exotic.
Clinicians are largely already well equipped
to treat the underlying signs that we often
see with cruelty: trauma, co-victimization,
substance abuse and domestic violence.
Sentencing, particularly sentencing focused
on rehabilitation is one of the few areas
where all the stakeholders are looking to
achieve the same goal: the offender held accountable,
and looking to make sure that this doesn't
happen again.
