The connection between animal abuse and domestic violence

Since the 1970s, the FBI has been aware of the connection between animal abuse and human violence. When studying the profiles of serial killers, they discovered most had killed, or at least tortured, animals when they were children.

In the past 25 years, more and more studies have shown that those who commit crimes such as child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse, committed serious and repeated acts of violence against animals, when they were younger.

With all this evidence, we need to start asking why animal abusers, especially children and teenagers, are walking free, without at least mandatory counseling. I believe this raises serious public safety concerns.

To discuss this issue in more depth, we have an expert in the field of human-animal issues, Dr. Clifton Flynn.

Dr. Flynn is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Women’s Studies at the University of South Carolina Upstate.

He is also author of the upcoming book, Understanding Animal Abuse: A Sociological Analysis - the first published text book on animal abuse.