Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

A large body of research examining crimes against animals exists. An overlooked question in that literature is whether animal social control responses contain race, class and ethnicity processing biases against offenders similar to those found in criminal justice outcomes. Addressing that possibility, the current study examined the geographic distribution of civil animal enjoinments employed to suspend an individual's pet ownership rights. SaTScan^© was employed to identify census-tract level hot/cold spots for animal enjoinments. The analysis indicated that hot/cold spots were statistically associated with census-tract race, ethnicity and income characteristics. Thus, while enjoinments may protect some animals from harm, the enjoinment process itself contains evidence of discrimination, suggesting that enjoinments may reflect perceptions of social disorganization rather than the actual distribution of animal crimes.

Plain Language Summary Title

An assessment of racial, class and ethnic bias in the civil enforcement of animal protection regulations

Plain Language Summary

A large body of research examining crimes against animals exists. An overlooked question in that literature is whether animal social control responses are biased, and contain evidence of race, class and ethnicity processing biases against offenders similar to those found in criminal justice outcomes. Addressing that possibility, the current study examined the geographic distribution of civil animal enjoinments employed to suspend an individual's pet ownership rights. This was done by identifying census-level hot and cold spots of over-(hot) and under(cold) enforcement. The software SaTScan © was employed to identify census-tract level hot/cold spots for animal enjoinments. The analysis indicated that hot/cold spots were statistically associated with census-tract race, ethnicity and income characteristics. Thus, while enjoinments may protect some animals from harm, the enjoinment process itself contains evidence of discrimination, suggesting that enjoinments may reflect perceptions of social disorganization rather than the actual distribution of animal crimes.

Keywords

animal cruelty animal enjoinments class biases in social control green criminology racial biases in social control race and income bias enforcement hot spots SaTScan

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Addington

L. A.

Randour

M. L.

(2022). Intentional cruelty versus neglect: New insights on animal cruelty crimes and implications for policy. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 33(9), 966–988. https://doi.org/10.1177/08874034221098918

Agnew

(1998). The causes of animal abuse: A social-psychological analysis. Theoretical Criminology, 2(2), 177–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480698002002003

Amin

Yang

Lynch

M. J.

(2021). Mapping homicide clusters across the United States using county level data, 2004–2012 with comparisons to earlier studies. Deviant Behavior, 42(2), 210–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2019.1664344

Arkow

(2021). '"Humane criminology”: An inclusive victimology protecting animals and people.’. Social Sciences, 10(9), 335–356. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10090335

Arkow

Boyden

Patterson-Kane

(2011). Practical guidance for the effective response by veterinarians to suspected animal cruelty, abuse and neglect. American Veterinary Medical Association.

Arluke

Lankford

Madfis

(2018). Harming animals and massacring humans: Characteristics of public mass and active shooters who abused animals. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 36(6), 739–751. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2385

Barichievy

Munro

Clinning

Whittington-Jones

Masterson

(2017). Do armed field-rangers deter rhino poachers? An empirical analysis. Biological Conservation, 209(May), 554–560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.03.017

Beale

C. M.

Hauenstein

Mduma

Frederick

Jones

Bracebridge

Maliti

Kija

Kohi

E. M.

(2018). Spatial analysis of aerial survey data reveals correlates of elephant carcasses within a heavily poached ecosystem. Biological Conservation, 218, 258–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.11.016

Beato

C. C. F.

Assunção

R. M.

Silva

B. F.

Marinho

F. C.

Reis

I. A.

Almeida

M. C.

(2001). Homicide clusters and drug traffic in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil from 1995 to 1999. Cadernos de Saude Publica, 17(5), 1163–1171. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2001000500017

10.

Beck

A. J.

Blumstein

(2018). Racial disproportionality in US state prisons: Accounting for the effects of racial and ethnic differences in criminal involvement, arrests, sentencing, and time served. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 34(3), 853–883. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-017-9357-6

11.

Beckett

Nyrop

Pfingst

Bowen

(2005). Drug use, drug possession arrests, and the question of race: Lessons from Seattle. Social Problems, 52(3), 419–441. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2005.52.3.419

12.

Beirne

(1999). For a nonspeciesist criminology: Animal abuse as an object of study. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal, 37(1), 117–148. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1999.tb00481.x

13.

Beirne

(2018). Murdering animals: Writings on theriocide, homicide and nonspeciesist criminology. Springer.

14.

Beirne

Lynch

M. J.

(2023). Assessing the FBI’s animal cruelty statistics, or, on the geometry of speciesist policing. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 12(2), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.2631

15.

Block

(2007). Software review: Scanning for clusters in space and time: A tutorial review of SatScan. Social Science Computer Review, 25(2), 272–278. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439307298

16.

Bruch

E. E.

(2014). How population structure shapes neighborhood segregation. American Journal of Sociology, 119(5), 1221–1278. https://doi.org/10.1086/675411

17.

Burchfield

K. B.

(2016). The sociology of animal crime: An examination of incident and arrests in Chicago. Deviant Behavior, 37(4), 368–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2015.1026769

18.

Burchfield

K. B.

(2018). The nature of animal crime: Scope and severity in Chicago. Crime & Delinquency, 64(14), 1904–2924. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128717719515

19.

Clear

T. R.

(2009). Imprisoning communities: How mass incarceration makes disadvantaged neighborhoods worse. Oxford University Press.

20.

Cochran

J. C.

Lynch

M. J.

Toman

E. L.

Shields

R. T.

(2018). Court sentencing patterns for environmental crimes: Is there a “green” gap in punishment? Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 34(1), 37–66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-016-9322-9

21.

Crow

M. S.

O'Connor Shelley

Stretesky

P. B.

(2013). Camouflage-collar crime: An examination of wildlife crime and characteristics of offenders in Florida. Deviant Behavior, 34(8), 635–652. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2012.759049

22.

Davis

M. F.

(2009). In the interests of justice: Human rights and the right to counsel in civil cases. Touro Law Review, 25(1), 147–184.

23.

Enders

Pecorino

Souto

A. C.

(2019). Racial disparity in US imprisonment across states and over time. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 35(2), 365–392. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-018-9389-6

24.

Fiber-Ostrow

Lovell

J. S.

(2016). Behind a veil of secrecy: Animal abuse, factory farms, and Ag- Gag legislation. Contemporary Justice Review, 19(2), 230–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2016.1168257

25.

Gruen

Marceau

(2022). Carceral logics: Human incarceration and animal captivity. Cambridge University Press.

26.

Hensley

Tallichet

S. E.

(2005). Animal cruelty motivations: Assessing demographic and situational influences. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(1), 1429–1443. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260505278714

27.

Hensley

Tallichet

S. E.

(2008). The effect of inmates’ self-reported childhood and adolescent animal cruelty: Motivations on the number of convictions for adult violent interpersonal crimes. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 52(2), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X07303913

28.

Hensley

Tallichet

S. E.

Singer

S. D.

(2006). Exploring the possible link between childhood and adolescent bestiality and interpersonal violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21(7), 910–923. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260506288937

29.

Hoffer

Hargreaves-Cormany

Muirhood

Meloy

J. R.

(2018). Violence in animal cruelty offenders. Springer.

30.

Holoyda

B. J.

Newman

W. J.

(2016). Childhood animal cruelty, bestiality, and the link to adult interpersonal violence. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 47, 129–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.02.017

31.

Intrator

Tannen

Massey

D. S.

(2016). Segregation by race and income in the United States 1970–2010. Social Science Research, 60, 45–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.08.003

32.

Johnson

Jr (2003). Will Gideon's trumpet sound a new melody-the globalization of constitutional values and its implications for a right to equal justice in civil cases. Seattle Journal of Social Justice, 2, 201–215.

33.

Kaminski

R. J.

Jefferis

(2003). Community correlates of serious assaults on police. Police Quarterly, 6(2), 119–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611103006002001

34.

Kroese

D. P.

Brereton

Taimre

Botev

Z. I.

(2014). Why the Monte Carlo method is so important today. WIRES Comput Stat, 6(6), 386–392. https://doi.org/10.1002/wics.1314

35.

Lee

M. R.

Alshalan

(2005). Geographic variation in property crime rates: A test of opportunity theory. Journal of Crime and Justice, 28(5), 101–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2005.9721640

36.

Leitner

Helbich

(2011). The impact of hurricanes on crime: A spatio-temporal analysis in the city of Houston, Texas. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 38(2), 213–221. https://doi.org/10.1559/15230406382213

37.

Lemieux

A. M.

Clarke

R. V.

(2009). The international ban on ivory sales and its effects on elephant poaching in Africa. The British Journal of Criminology, 49(4), 451–471. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azp030

38.

Light

M. T.

(2022). The declining significance of race in criminal sentencing: Evidence from US federal courts. Social Forces, 100(3), 1110–1141. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soab018

39.

Liska

A. E.

Chamlin

M. B.

(1984). Social structures and crime control among macrosocial units. American Journal of Sociology, 90(2), 388–395. https://doi.org/10.1086/228084

40.

Lockwood

Arkow

(2016). Animal abuse and interpersonal violence: The cruelty connection and its implications for veterinary pathology. Veterinary Pathology, 53(5), 910–918. https://doi.org/10.1177/0300985815626575

41.

Longobardi

Badenes-Ribera

(2019). The relationship between animal cruelty in children and adolescent and interpersonal violence: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 46, 201–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.09.001

42.

Lynch

M. J.

Genco

(2018). Animal abuse registries: Expanded interest in animal protection mimics other criminal justice policies, but should green criminologists hop on the band-wagon? Contemporary Justice Review, 21(4), 351–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2018.1531713

43.

Lynch

M. J.

Michalowski

R. J.

(2006). Primer in radical criminology. Criminal Justice Press.

44.

Malleson

Andresen

M. A.

(2015). Spatio-temporal crime hotspots and the ambient population. Crime Science, 4(1), 10–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-015-0023-8

45.

Marceau

(2019). Beyond cages: Animal law and criminal punishment. Cambridge University Press.

46.

Massey

D. S.

Gross

A. B.

Eggers

M. L.

(1991). Segregation, the concentration of poverty, and the life chances of individuals. Social Science Research, 20(4), 397–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/0049-089X(91)90020-4

47.

Merz-Perez

Heide

K. M.

Silverman

I. J.

(2001). Childhood cruelty to animals and subsequent violence against humans. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 45(5), 556–573. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X01455003

48.

Moreto

W. D.

Cowan

Burton

(2018). Towards an intelligence-led approach to address wildlife crime in Uganda.’ policing. A Journal of Policy and Practice, 12(3), 344–357. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pax064

49.

Nurse

(2016). Animal harm: Perspectives on why people harm and kill animals. Routledge.

50.

Parker

K. F.

Stults

B. J.

Rice

S. K.

(2005). Racial threat, concentrated disadvantage and social control: Considering the macro-level sources of variation in arrests. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal, 43(4), 1111–1134. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2005.00034.x

51.

Petrossian

(2015). Preventing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing: A situational approach. Biological Conservation, 189, 39–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.09.005

52.

Petrossian

de By

R. A.

Clarke

R. V.

(2018). Illegal long line fishing and albatross extinction risk. Oryx, 52(2), 336–345. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605316000818

53.

Pires

S. F.

Clarke

R. V.

(2012). Are parrots CRAVED? An analysis of parrot poaching in Mexico. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 17(2), 133–146. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427810397950

54.

Richard

Reese

L. A.

(2019). The interpersonal context of human/nonhuman animal violence. Anthrozoös, 32(1), 65–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2019.1550282

55.

Rothwell

D. W.

Ottusch

Finders

J. K.

(2019). Asset poverty among children: A cross-national study of poverty risk. Children and Youth Services Review, 96(C), 409–441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.045

56.

Sampson

R. J.

(2012). Great American city: Chicago and the enduring neighborhood effect. University of Chicago Press.

57.

Simes

J. T.

(2018). Place and punishment: The spatial context of mass incarceration. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 34(2), 513–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-017-9344-y

58.

Simes

J. T.

(2020). The ecology of race and punishment across cities. City & Community, 19(1), 169–190. https://doi.org/10.1111/cico.12425

59.

Simes

J. T.

(2021). Punishing places: The geography of mass imprisonment. University of California Press.

60.

Taylor

Fitzgerald

(2018). Understanding animal (ab) use: Green criminological contributions, missed opportunities and a way forward. Theoretical Criminology, 22(3), 402–425. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480618787173

61.

Uittenbogaard

Ceccato

(2012). Space-time clusters of crime in Stockholm, Sweden. Review of European Studies, 4(5), 148–163. https://doi.org/10.5539/res.v4n5p148

62.

Vaughn

M. G.

DeLis

Beaver

Perron

B. E.

Terrel

Howard

M. O.

(2009). Correlates of cruelty to animals in the United States: Results from the national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 43(15), 1213–1218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2009.04.011

63.

Vollum

Longmire

Buffington-Vollum

(2004). Moral disengagement and attitudes about violence toward animals. Society & Animals, 12(3), 209–235. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568530042880668

64.

White

Quick

(2019). Animal cruelty, domestic violence and social disorganization in a suburban setting. Deviant Behavior, 40(8), 930–941. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2018.1445442

65.

Wright

Hensley

(2003). From animal cruelty to serial murder: Applying the graduation hypothesis. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 47(1), 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X02239276

66.

(2016). Racial/ethnic discrimination and prosecution: A meta-analysis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 43(4), 437–458. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854815628026

67.

Zeoli

A. M.

Grady

Pizarro

J. M.

Melde

(2015). Modeling the movement of homicide by type to inform public health prevention efforts. American Journal of Public Health, 105(10), 2035–2041. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302732

68.

Zeoli

A. M.

Pizarro

J. M.

Grady

S. C.

Melde

(2014). Homicide as infectious disease: Using public health methods to investigate the diffusion of homicide. Justice Quarterly, 31(3), 609–632. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2012.732100

Animal Enjoinments and the Social Control of Animal Offenders: Geographic Hot–Cold Spot Evidence of Racial and Income Bias in the Enforcement of Animal Protection Regulations

Abstract

Plain Language Summary Title

Plain Language Summary

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References