Animal Cruelty and Violent Behavior

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the 1960s a supposition emerged based on a few case studies from anecdotal presentations and varied observational reports that the presence of childhood abuse towards animals was likely a significant precursor or major predictive dynamic for later adult interpersonal violent behavior of violent murderers in particular. This connection was then further applied to the linkage of childhood generalized violent behavior with future adult interpersonal violence. From its earliest presentation coupled with a growing chorus of sociologists and criminologists asserting the linkage assumptions, the supposition rose in the popular consciousness as a key indicator of the violent propensities in children. In 1987 childhood animal cruelty first appeared in the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic Statistical Manual (III-R) as one of a set of symptoms indicating the presence of conduct disorder and as a factor associated with adult antisocial behavior. This article explores the early history of the linkage between childhood animal abuse and subsequent violent adult behavior in contemporary research and examines the questions involved with whether or not there is a valid connection between the issues of childhood animal abuse and violent interpersonal adult criminal conduct.