Using the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to Study Animal Cruelty: Preliminary Results (2016–2019)

Julie M Palais

doi:10.3390/socsci10100378

Abstract

On 1 January 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began collecting data on crimes involving animal cruelty from law enforcement agencies that participate in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in the United States (U.S.). Prior to 2016, such crimes either went unreported or were lumped into an “all other offenses” category, making it difficult to understand who was committing these crimes and whether there were any connections between crimes perpetrated against animals and crimes in which there was a human victim. Animal cruelty has cruelty has been linked to certain types of human violence and, therefore, it is important for authorities to know more about the people committing these crimes. Preliminary results from an analysis of the first four years (2016–2019) of data are presented. The age and gender of animal cruelty offenders, the time of day when most crimes occur, and the most common locations where offenses take place are presented. The type of animal cruelty involved and details of the other crimes that co-occur with animal cruelty are discussed. The limitations of the data are shared and recommendations are made about other types of data that could be collected in the future to add value to the data.

Highlights

The relationship between animal cruelty and human violence has been discussed extensively in scholarly literature
The results presented here seem to support what is already known from previous research on the age and gender of animal cruelty offenders
Improvements to the data collection system and new approaches to looking at the data could help law enforcement officials better understand the phenomena of animal cruelty from a criminal justice and public safety perspective

Summary

Introduction

The relationship between animal cruelty and human violence has been discussed extensively in scholarly literature. By identifying crimes that co-occur with animal cruelty, it is thought that law enforcement officials could have another tool to try and prevent both animal cruelty and human violence (Hoffer et al 2018; Johnson 2018; Ascione et al 2018; Heide and Felthous 2018; Arkow and Lockwood 2016). On 1 January 2016, the FBI began collecting incident-specific information about crimes of animal cruelty from law enforcement agencies that participate in what is known as the National Incident Based Reporting. Companion animals are an important part of American society with over 63 million. A majority (67%) of American families live with at least one companion animal (dog, cat, horse, bird, fish, etc.), and responsible animal guardianship and caring for them as a family member is becoming the norm, at least in western societies. Animals are still considered property under U.S law and, they do not have rights as a “legal person” would (Favre 2017)

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