Abstract
The discussion section focuses on the conceptualization of animal cruelty and the impact of animal cruelty acts in society. Given that the dog was the most frequently noted animal victim, the development of the relationship between humans and dogs is a significant one. Through the domestication and property status of animals, the relationship with dogs is at times one that indicates some conflict. Are dogs property or members of the family?
The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) study was initiated based on a homicide case and cats that were being eviscerated. The question of the connection between these two acts of violence prompted the idea of examining the criminal histories of animal cruelty offenders for the degree of interpersonal violence. In addition to supporting the link between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence, the study did not obtain results to support the graduation hypothesis, but instead was consistent with the social deviance theory, which notes that individuals who exhibit socially deviant behavior in one area are more likely to commit other deviant behaviors as well.
The discussion section anchored the current study’s results with the research including offender motivation, victim characteristics, the relationship between offender and animal victim, and offense characteristics.
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Hoffer, T., Hargreaves-Cormany, H., Muirhead, Y., Meloy, J.R. (2018). Discussion. In: Violence in Animal Cruelty Offenders. SpringerBriefs in Psychology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91038-3_17
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