The Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society Legislative Fund welcomed the introduction of new legislation in the U.S. Senate, introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation to include animal cruelty crimes as a separate category in the agency's crime data reporting system.
"Having the ability to track animal cruelty cases anywhere in the country is a long overdue step that would not only help animals, but would also give law enforcement agencies the tools they need to prevent violent offenders from escalating their terrible behavior," said Michael Markarian, executive vice president of The Humane Society of the United States, and president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. "We are grateful to Senator Menendez for introducing this important anti-crime bill, for the sake of animals, and for public safety and security in our communities."
The Tracking Animal Cruelty Crimes Act of 2007 directs the U.S. Attorney General to modify the FBI's crime data reporting systems, which include the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the National Incident-Based Reporting System, and the yet-to-be released Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx), to list cruelty to animals as a separate offense category.
"Clearly, giving police and policymakers accurate information about animal cruelty crimes would help attack the persistent problems of family violence, combat the increasingly lucrative industry of dogfighting, and help stop violent criminals and gangs before they commit even worse crimes," said Sen. Menendez.
Although all states have anti-cruelty laws and 43 states provide felony-level penalties, local police agencies do not have a place in their reporting forms to enter these crimes. The result is that animal cruelty crimes are assigned to miscellaneous categories that provide no further guidance to law enforcement agents or policymakers. Without accurate tracking, there is no way to access important information such as trends or the relationship to demographic and geographic data, on which to base policy development and resource allocation.
Research clearly demonstrates that there is a close association between animal abuse and family violence, as well as other crimes. In addition, animal abuse frequently is one of the first signals of a child, and family, at risk. For example:
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.