Battered Women's Reports of Their Partners' and Their Children's Cruelty to Animals

• NCJ Number: 171755
• Journal: Journal of Emotional Abuse Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: (1998) Pages: 119-133
• Author(s): F R Ascione
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 15 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Cruelty to pet animals in families where partner battering occurs was studied by means of surveys voluntarily completed by 38 women who sought shelter at a safe house for battered partners.

Abstract

Seventy-one percent of the women who reported current or past pet ownership reported that their partner had threatened and/or actually hurt or killed one or more of their pets. Fifty-seven percent of the reports involved actual rather than threatened harm to pets. Fifty-eight percent of the participants had children; 32 percent reported that 1 or more of their children had hurt or killed pet animals. In 71 percent of these cases, the women had also reported threatened or actual animal abuse by their partner. This study represents one of the first empirical analyses of the prevalence of animal maltreatment in a sample of battered women. The high prevalence rate of batterers' threatened or actual harm of animals and the relatively high rate of animal abuse reported for the children are relevant for future research and policy analyses. Figure, notes, and 51 references (Author abstract modified)