Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence

Andrew Linzey is Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a member of the Faculty of Theology at at Oxford University. He is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including Animal Rights: A Christian Assessment ; Christianity and the Rights of Animals ; and Why Animal Suffering Matters: Philosophy, Theology, and Practical Ethics .

• Introduction; Does Animal Abuse Really Benefit Us?; Introduction; Measuring Animal Cruelty & Case Histories; Types of Cruelty: Animals & Childhood Cruelty, Domestic Violence, Child & Elder Abuse; A Lifespan Perspective on Human Aggression & Animal Abuse; Empathy as an Indicator of Emotional Development; Emotional Abuse of Children & Animals; Cruelty, Children & Animals: Historically One, Not Two, Causes; Examining Childrens Exposure to Violence in the Context of Animal Abuse; Women-Battering, Pet Abuse, & Human-Animal Relationships; The Role of Animals in Public Child Welfare Work; Developmental Animal Cruelty & its Correlates in Sexual Homicide Offenders & Sex Offenders; Reducing the Links False Positive Problem; Is Human Rights Speciesist?; Responding Ethically to Animal Abuse; The New Canaries in the Mine: The Priority of Human Welfare in Animal Abuse Prosecution; The Structure of Evil; 'Vile attentions': On the Limits of Sympathetic Imagination; An FBI Perspective on Animal Cruelty; Laws & Policy to Address the Link of Family Violence; Dealing with Animal Offenders; Implications for Criminal Law, Sentencing Policy & Practice; A Legal Duty to Report Suspected Animal Abuse -- Are Veterinarians Ready?; The Role of Veterinarians & Other Animal Welfare Workers in the Reporting of Suspected Child Abuse; Animal Cruelty & Child Welfare -- The Health Visitor's Perspective; Overview of Research; Hunting as an Abusive Sub-culture; Hunting as a Morally Suspect Activity; Dolphin Drive Hunts & the Socratic Dictum: 'Vice harms the doer'; Index.

"For social workers, the value of this collection lies in its comprehensive sweep of a subject that does not get much professional attention. Its concern with the deliberate cruelty to animals that may occur alongside child neglect, domestic violence and the mistreatment of adults at risk makes this an important volume on an area often neglected in family violence literature. The book will be of use to social work teachers, students & professionals working with adults & children at risk of abuse" - The Magazine for The British Assoication of Social Workers, July/August 2011