Critical Criminology

, Volume 19, Issue 3, pp 251–263 | Cite as

Criminology and Human-Animal Violence Research: The Contribution and the Challenge

Article
First Online:

Abstract

Using theories concerning human-animal abuse links this paper assesses the role(s) that criminology can play in understanding human-animal relationships. That this is not a one-way process of knowledge transferral is acknowledged with analysis of the contribution that human-animal studies can offer in return. Following a brief outline of human-animal abuse theses the contributions that criminology can play in furthering understandings of, and informing responses to, this phenomenon are discussed. A critique of mainstream approaches towards human-animal abuse links, namely, their conceptualization of animals as tools, is then outlined. The argument that anthropocentric approaches to the study of interhuman violence actually reinforce the forms of oppression which create and maintain such forms of violence in the first place, is then developed. The author concludes that the incorporation of human-animal relationships into criminology offers something in return, i.e. an opportunity to re-think the modernist foundations upon which (traditional) criminology is built.

Keywords

Companion Animal Environmental Crime Critical Criminology Male Ideology Green Criminology 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Adams, C. (1990). The sexual politics of meat. New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
  2. Adams, C. (1994). Bringing peace home: A feminist philosophical perspective on the abuse of women, children and pet animals. Hypatia, 9(2), 63–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Adams, C. (1995). Woman battering and harm to animals. In C. Adams & J. Donovan (Eds.), Animals and women: Feminist theoretical explanations (pp. 55–84). Durham & London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
  4. Adams, C., & Donovan, J. (Eds.) (1995). Animals and women: Feminist theoretical explanations. London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
  5. Agnew, R. (1998). The causes of animal abuse: A social-psychological analysis. Theoretical Criminology, 2(2), 177–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. American Humane (2008) Pets in domestic violence protective order laws. American Humane’s Office of Public Policy, Dec 2008.Google Scholar
  7. Arluke, A., Levin, J., Luke, C., & Ascione, R. (1999). The relationship of animal abuse to violence and other forms of antisocial behavior. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14(9), 963–975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Arluke, A., & Sanders, C. (1996). Regarding animals. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
  9. Arrigo, B. (2001). Critical criminology, existential humanism, and social justice: Exploring the contours of conceptual integration. Critical Criminology: An International Journal, 10(2), 83–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Ascione, F. (2001). Animal abuse and youth violence. OJJDP: Juvenile Justice Bulletin, Sep 1–15.Google Scholar
  11. Ascione, F., & Arkow, P. (Eds.). (1999). Child abuse, domestic violence, and animal abuse: Linking the circles of compassion for prevention and intervention. Lafayette: Purdue University Press.Google Scholar
  12. Ascione, F., Weber, C., & Wood, D. (1997). The abuse of animals and domestic violence: A national survey of shelters for women who are battered. Society & Animals, 5(3), 205–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Becker, F., & French, L. (2004). Making the links: Child abuse, animal cruelty and domestic violence. Child Abuse Review, 13, 399–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Beirne, P. (1995). The use and abuse of animals in criminology: A brief history and current review. Social Justice, 22(1), 5–31.Google Scholar
  15. Beirne, P. (1999). For a nonspeciesist criminology: Animal abuse as an object of study. Criminology, 37(1), 117–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Beirne, P. (2001). Peter Singer’s “Heavy Petting” and the politics of animal sexual assault. Critical Criminology, 10(1), 43–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Beirne, P. (2004). From animal abuse to interhuman violence? A critical review of the progression thesis. Society & Animals, 1(1), 39–65.Google Scholar
  18. Birke, L. (1998). Feminism, animals, science: The naming of the shrew. Buckinghamshire: Open University Press.Google Scholar
  19. Boat, B. (1999). Abuse of children and abuse of animals: Using the links to inform child assessment and protection. In F. Ascione & P. Arkow (Eds.), Child abuse, domestic violence and animal abuse: Linking the circles of compassion for prevention and intervention. Lafayette: Purdue University Press.Google Scholar
  20. Cazaux, G. (1999). Beauty and the beast: Animal abuse from a non-speciesist criminological perspective. Crime, Law & Social Change, 31(2), 105–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Cohen, D., & Strayer, J. (1996). Empathy in conduct-disordered and comparison youth. Developmental Psychology, 32(6), 988–998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Deviney, E., Dickert, J., & Lockwood, R. (1983). The care of pets within child abusing families. International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems, 3, 321–329.Google Scholar
  23. Donovan, J. (1990). Animal rights and feminist theory. Signs, 15(2), 330–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Favre, D. (2000). Equitable self-ownership for animals. Duke Law Journal, 50(2), 473–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Felthous, A. (1980). Aggression against cats, dogs and people. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 10(3), 169–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Flynn, C. (2000). Battered women and their animal companions: Symbolic interaction between human and non-human animals. Society & Animals, 8(2), 99–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Francione, G. (1995). Animals, property and the law. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
  28. Griffin, S. (1982). Women and nature: The roaring inside her. New York: Harper Row.Google Scholar
  29. Halsey, M. (2004). Against ‘green’ criminology. British Journal of Criminology, 44(6), 833–853.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Haraway, D. (1992). Primate visions: Gender, race and nature in the world of modern science. London: Verso.Google Scholar
  31. Haraway, D. (2003). The companion species manifesto: Dogs, people, and significant otherness. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.Google Scholar
  32. Hearne, V. (1986). Adam’s task: Calling animals by name. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
  33. Hellman, D., & Blackman, N. (1966). Enuresis, firesetting and cruelty to animals: A triad predictive of adult crime. American Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 1431–1435.Google Scholar
  34. Kappeler, S. (1995). Speciesism, racism, nationalism…Or the power of scientific subjectivity. In C. Adams & J. Donovan (Eds.), Animals and women: Feminist theoretical explanations (pp. 320–352). Durham & London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
  35. Kheel, M. (1995). License to kill: An ecofeminist critique of hunters’ discourse. In C. Adams & J. Donovan (Eds.), Animals and women: Feminist theoretical explanations (pp. 85–125). Durham & London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
  36. Latour, B. (1993). We have never been modern. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  37. Lockwood, R., & Ascione, F. (Eds.). (1998). Cruelty to animals and interpersonal violence. Indiana: Purdue University Press.Google Scholar
  38. Lynch, M. (2000). The power of oppression: Understanding the history of criminology as a science of oppression. Critical Criminology, 9(1/2), 144–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Merz-Perez, L., Heide, K., & 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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Murray, M. (forthcoming). The underdog in history: Serfdom, slavery and species in the creation and development of capitalism. In N. Taylor & T. Signal (eds). Theorizing animals. Boston & Leiden: Brill Academic Press.Google Scholar
  41. Petersen, D., & Farrington, M. (2007). Cruelty to animals and violence to people. Victims and Offenders, 2(1), 21–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Regan, T. (1984). The case for animal rights. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
  43. Robinson, G. (2003). Philosophy and mystification. New York: Fordham University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Ruether, R. (1975). New heaven/new earth: Sexist ideology and human liberation. New York: Seabury.Google Scholar
  45. Ryder, R. (1975). Victims of science. London: NAVS.Google Scholar
  46. Sauder, J. (2000). Enacting and enforcing felony animal cruelty laws to prevent violence against humans. Animal Law, 6(1), 1–21.Google Scholar
  47. Singer, P. (Ed.). (1986). In defense of animals. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
  48. Singer, P. (1990). Animal liberation (2nd ed.). London: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
  49. South, N. (1998). A green field for criminology: A proposal for a perspective. Theoretical Criminology, 2(2), 211–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Spiegel, M. (1998). The dreaded comparison: Human and animal slavery. London: Heretic Books.Google Scholar
  51. Taylor, N., & Signal, T. (2004). Attitudes to animals: An indicator of interpersonal violence? Journal of the Home Economics Institute of Australia, Inc., 11(3), 9–12.Google Scholar
  52. Taylor, N., & Signal, T. (2006). Community demographics and the propensity to report animal cruelty. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 9(3), 14–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Thomas, K. (1983). Man and the natural world. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
  54. Thompson, K., & Gullone, E. (2003). Promotion of empathy and prosocial behaviour in children through humane education. Australian Psychologist, 38(3), 175–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Tingle, D., Barnard, G. W., Robbin, L., Newman, G., & Hutchinson, D. (1986). Childhood and adolescent characteristics of pedophiles and rapists. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 9, 103–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Warchol, G., Zupan, L., & Clack, W. (2003). Transnational criminality: An analysis of the illegal wildlife market in southern Africa. International Criminal Justice Review, 13, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of SociologyFlinders UniversityAdelaideAustralia

Personalised recommendations