Numerous scholars have sought to relate childhood life, children delinquency and adult crime. For instance, numerous researchers have linked childhood abuse and domestic violence to delinquent behavior amongst teens. Further, research has sought to establish a link between animal abuse amongst children in their childhood and the effect of this on their adult life. For instance, Arluke (2012) established that children who abused animals when they were young had a higher likelihood to engaging in drug abuse, disorderly conduct and crime (Arluke, 2012 ; Baenninger, 2000) . The study depicted a link between childhood animal abuse and crimes against people and property later in life. This implies that if an animal is abused in a family, the act has a long-lasting impact on the child involved. This necessitates animal control officers to be highly alert and keen on discovering such cases. This is especially because while law enforcement officers will be privy to child abuse, they may be aware of animal abuse. Given their long-term impacts, if cases of animal abuse are reported on time, there is a higher likelihood of reforming the concerned children while they are young. Research also suggests that animosity of children towards animals is a precursor to their engagement in teenage delinquency and adult crime (Arluke, 2012 ; McPhedran, 2009 ; Hensley & Tallichet, 2005 ; Baenninger, 2000) .
Most countries perceive animal cruelty as a crime against nature. However, these practices should be taken with a lot of concern since the pain and suffering is inflicted on beings that can’t protect themselves. Animals can’t understand the reasons behind their assault. Consequently, there has been increased advocacy on the right of animals, with many people advocating for legal actions against perpetrators of animal cruelty. For example, in a survey of a thousand households in the United States (U.S), 85 % of the households labelled the topic of animal protection critical while advocating for legal action against perpetrators of the vice. A survey conducted amongst inmates in the U.S established that 4 out of 5 inmates with a physical assault criminal history had hit an animal in their childhood (McEwen et al. , 2014) . The study further showed that a third of the respondents reported having shot or killed an animal in their childhood, with one out five reporting to having sexually assaulted an animal. Moreover, less than one-sixth of the inmates reported to having burned animals in their childhood.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Despite the linkage between childhood animal abuse and adulthood crime, there is little research on the social and psychological drivers of the vice and how with time the behavior influences the entry of adults into crime. This is however dependent on the children’s motive when perpetrating the crime. Nevertheless, the abuse, irrespective of the motive is immoral and often leads to questions on the next likely victim, who in most cases is a human being as opposed to an animal. This paper will review the literature that links animal physical abuse, bestiality, fighting and hoarding in childhood to criminal vices in the respective children’s adulthood. This paper will thus enlighten the community, policymakers, law enforcement officers and most importantly, the parents so that they can undertake measures to prevent or address these behaviors in their children.
Animal Cruelty
Animal cruelty is a broad term used to refer to a wide range of practices that affect the well-being of animals in the society. These practices range from voluntary abuse to the unintentional neglect of animals. Intentional abuse range from depriving animals basic amenities like food, water, veterinary care, shelter to more inhumane acts such as battering, killing, burning, maiming or mutilating animals. This definition varies across states, but most states refer to the deprivation of basic amenities and any assault that is capable of leaving a mark on an animal body as animal cruelty ( DeGue & DiLillo , 2009 ). In the course of their childhood, children undergo a period of natural exploration. This stage may manifest at the age of four, and children at this stage tend to harm and torment animals. The behavior may be exemplified by children’s tendency to step on insects as well as hit pets. This is a normal stage of exploration, and later, the children stop upon realizing that their behavior is inflicting pain to the insects or animals. However, a significant percentage of children are psychologically locked in this stage. Without the intervention of parents or teachers, these children may develop a lifetime tendency of violent conduct (Simmons & Lehmann, 2007) . This is because the behaviour shifts from mere curiosity to a dangerous desire to harm. This is a clear indication that a child may be suffering from a conduct, psychotic or psychological disorder.
Despite the fact that research has linked serial killers and murderers with animal abuse, children who exhibit animal abuse behavior do not automatically end up being murderers. This necessitates the need to understand the motive behind the children’s behavior. Most of the children know that abusing animals is wrong. Therefore, they do it secretly. The motives behind this act include but not limited to peer pressure, the need to relieve boredom, exploration, forced abuse, sexual gratification, imitation, phobia, trauma and rehearsing self-harm (Baenninger, 2000) . Other children engage in bestiality. Bestiality refers to sexual contact involving an animal. This is against the societal norms and doctrine. Apart from being condemned by the society, many governments globally are formulating legislation to curb and punish animal offenders involved in animal sexual abuse. For example, in the U.S, 38 States and the District of Colombia have enacted legislation prohibiting bestiality (Hensley et al., 2006) . The media has also been vocal against the vice. This is because a close link exists between bestiality, rape, child abuse and murder. The legislation has listed bestiality offenders as persons who require monitoring to avoid future crime. Forty-four states have also included bestiality in child pornography to limit the production of pornographic content involving kids.
The Significance of Animals in a Child’s Life
It is estimated that more than seventy percent of households in the U.S have children who rear pets. The children highly value the pets in their lives as depicted in a survey carried out in the 1980s. In the survey, the children aged between 7 and 10 years reported to having two pets that they would turn to when they encountered any form of emotional challenge. This included when the children felt lonely, angry or when they wanted to share a secret. The loss or death of the pets was shown to affect the children severely. In most cases, the children are likely to get ill, become emotionally distressed or both. Also, the experience exposes the children to the painful experience of death which may impact them negatively (Baenninger, 2000) . Research has further established that exposure of children to animal abuse affects their mind making them susceptible to disabling disorders. This may be characterized by depression and learning impairment.
When children get accustomed to seeing animals getting hurt, being neglected, abused or being disrespected, they tend to lose the feeling of consciousness against harm. This desensitization affects the children’s mental health, and they may develop a routine if the abuse is continuous making it a part of their normal life. Thus, the children lose an important virtue of empathy, and they may not feel for others. This leads to a breakdown in their normal emotional development (Becker et al., 2004) . Empathy is the social virtue and is believed to hold the society together by building a foundation for respect and mutual coexistence. When the exposure to animal harm tarnishes this virtue, children are dehumanized leading to juvenile delinquent behaviors and eventually adult crime and murder. Before this, the children become violent and may suffer depression, find it hard to learn or comprehend and often find it hard to strike and maintain a relationship. They thus dissociate from their peers and often resort to fighting to solve any disagreement or any heated argument (Becker et al., 2004) .
Cruelty to Animals and Adult Killers
Researchers have asserted that violence or abuse towards animals is related to violence against the old, children and spouses. This correlation is built on the fact that the perpetrators are either avenging or recapping the abuse they were exposed to when they were young. Because they were young, weak and helpless, they tend to attack and inflict pain on the powerless. In the U.S, this is exemplified by the Boston Strangler who mostly attacked, raped and strangled elderly women who lived alone. On the other hand, delinquents tend to harm animals since they are the only lesser and vulnerable species in their ecosystem of domestic violence (Volant et al. , 2008) . The relationship between animal abuse and the abuse of other humans was further elaborated in Jane M. Jonas and Michael Smith vs. State where they were found guilty of neglecting their children. The officers in the case reported that they discovered a tethered dog that had been deprived of food and water. This made them curious, and they proceeded to search the house only to find two children and five dogs lying on a filthy floor full of rotten food, trash and feces. This depicts the close relationship between animal abuse and human abuse ( McPhedran, 2009 ; Merz-Perez e t al., 2001) . A similar case was reported in Illinois where police officers responding to a distress call discovered 40 dogs that were infested with parasites locked in a filthy dog carrier languishing in six inches of feces. Upon further examination of the property owned by John Morris, the police discovered three children under his care living in devastating conditions.
In a study in New Jersey targeting families who had received treatment for domestic violence, sixty percent of them reported animals that had been mistreated. Likewise, in three separate studies, more than fifty percent of women who had reported being battered by their husbands also reported that their spouses had threatened to harm or injure their pets (DeGue & DiLillo, 200 9 ) . In one of the studies, a quarter of the women stayed in the abusive marriages since they feared for the wellbeing of their animals. In Georgia, Stephen Williams was tried and charged with aggravated assault, child and animal cruelty (Hensley & Tallichet, 2005) . In the case, it was reported that Stephen hacked the wife’s pet with an axe killing the puppy instantly. He then threatened to decapitate her using the same axe. This entire ordeal was carried out in front of their three helpless and horrified children. A similar case was reported in Pennsylvania where Scott Maust was found guilty of terrorist threats, cruelty to animals and corrupting minors. The court heard that he shot a family dog and ordered his four children to clean the bloody crime scene. Later, he threatened that he would kill them if they disclosed the ordeal to anyone (Hensley & Tallichet, 2005) .
The linkage between serial killers and murders with a history of animal abuse dates back to the 1960s. This link was unearthed by the controversial case of the Boston Strangler which involved the murder of 13 women. The case saw Albert DeSalvo confess to the murders. It’s reported that in his childhood, DeSalvo was fond of trapping cats and dogs in boxes. He would then shoot arrows at them through the boxes killing them. This tendency eventually graduated to delinquent behavior in his teenage life. Eventually, he was imprisoned for break-in and sexual harassment. Despite getting married and settling down, he began raping and strangling women in Boston. Eventually, he was apprehended and jailed for life for the murder of 13 women. However, he was killed while in prison (Merz-Perez et al., 2001) . The story of the serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer who killed 17 men depicted that he would impale dogs, cats and frogs heads on sticks. Likewise, Dennis Radar who terrorized the residents of Kansas also documented that he hanged a cat and a dog in his childhood. Further, a convicted sniper who confessed to killing 10 people with a riffle also confessed of having killed many cats using a slingshot when he was a teenager. In the recent years, the mass killings by students in schools can also be traced to animal cruelty. For instance, high school killers like Kip Kinkel who murdered students in Springfield, Oregon in Pearl and Luke in Mississippi were reported to have perpetrated animal abuse before they engaged in the shootings. Other young murderers like Dylan Klebold who shot 12 students before shooting himself also narrated his history about abusing and mutilating animals. In an address, the director of Child Study Centre at the New York University highlighted that cruelty to animals, isolation, aggression towards peers and interest in fire are the initial signs that parents and teachers should be keen at when detecting killers before they cause harm ( DeGue & DiLillo, 200 9 ) .
Psychological Basis of Childhood Animal Abuse
Animal cruelty was listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) in 1987 as a symptom of a person's conduct disorder. This listing meant that people who persistently abused animals physically, sexually or in any way that affected their wellbeing could be considered to be suffering from a medical condition. These traits, despite having scientific bases are against societal norms and doctrines and are found in people with psychological or mental disorders (Dadds et al., 2006) . Researchers have linked children’s behavior to their experiences later in life. For instance, children’s tendency to dismember or hang toys by a noose or animal abuse may symbolize domestic violence in a family (Volant et al., 2008) . These acts may also signify that the children are abused either physically or sexually. As a consequence, the children develop trauma and try to let it out of their mind through harming their toys, pets or any other animal in their surroundings. This habit further develops into conduct disorder characterized by aggression, setting fires, dissociation, forced sex and bullying (Gullone & Robertson, 2008) .
Researchers have linked the tendency of children to set fires and abuse animals to domestic violence. Children with the tendency to set fires are more likely to engage in abusing animals. Likewise, children who underwent bullying in their childhood are also more likely to engage in animal abuse. Research conducted in the late 1990s established that half of the school shooters had been involved in animal abuse before their shooting spree . However, other studies did not consider child abuse as the main predictor of the tendency to becoming killers. They documented that dissociation, stress, affiliation to violent films, rejection and persecution were likely to blame for the development of the killing trait ( Knight et al., 2014) . This was further emphasized by the fact that all the school shooters were reported to have a fascination with explosives and guns . Further, t hey had a tendency to blame others for their woes in life and often threatened others with violence prior to their attack. In examining 23 school shooters, one study discovered that 43% had a history of animal abuse. About 90% of these attacks were intentional attacks on animals that were unknown to them. There were, however, some contradicting findings amongst school shooters where some were passionate and d for their pets. For instance, Adam Lanza, a shooter and a controversial self-proclaimed ethical vegan reported having a particular liking for animals. He was however behind the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. This suggests that animal abuse does not necessarily predict a future killer. However, intentional and personal animal abuse is a cause for alarm as a predictor of antisocial behavior including arson and murder ( McPhedran, 2009 ; Becker et al. , 2004) . In this case, animal abuse offers a training ground for the perpetrator’s future assaults. The motivation for this may be traced to childhood experiences of neglect, abuse or rejection.
Summary
This paper explores the link between animal abuse during childhood and the tendency of the perpetrators to become killers in their adulthood. It explores existing research in the area as well as existing literature on known serial killers and analyzes their childhood behaviors. It further explores their upbringing in a bid to establish whether they were victims of domestic violence. This is aimed at unearthing their motives. From the paper, it’s clear that children who were brought up in a family characterized by domestic violence are at a higher risk of witnessing abuse of animals and becoming animal abusers themselves. This abuse, if repetitive, interferes with their emotional development and they may become accustomed to the abuse. This makes them lose empathy with animals and eventually to human beings as they grow. As a result, they are less remorseful when they inflict pain on animals or to humans (Merz-Perez et al. , 2001) .
A closer look at the serial killers and school shooters shows that most of them were engaged in animal abuse in their childhood. They might have picked the habit from their peers, were forced into it, driven into it by family violence or got into it to relieve emotional distress. This was evident in the Albert and Dahmer serial killer as well as the school shoot-out cases previewed. The paper also explores the psychological impact that these abuses have on the children and how they get accustomed to animal abuse before being losing their empathy and embarking on violent escapades. The paper culminates in offering recommendations aimed at mitigating, correcting and penalizing offenders to eradicate this heinous vice from the society eventually.
Recommendations
The increase in juvenile delinquency and increase in cases of school shooters, serial killers and murderers should worry the society and parents. The overwhelming amount of research linking serial killers to animal abuse in their childhood as well as other factors such as domestic violence and negligence among others call for concerted efforts between all the concerned stakeholders in addressing the problem. In the U.S, the courts ought to be empowered so as to deal with animal abuse related cases and penalize the perpetrators. On the other hand, the social services should investigate other forms of violence that may be present in the households. Also, in the light of this paper’s findings, the society needs to be educated on the need to uphold animal dignity. Specifically, there is a need to educate everyone on the need to have empathy for animals just as they would have on fellow human beings. This should not only apply to the family pets but should also extend to animals from other neighbourhoods. This empathy will eventually cascade to the children since more often they imitate their parents and other adults in the society. Likewise, animals in the households should be treated with respect. For instance, stray animals should be guided gracefully without assault. In case an animal falls ill, veterinary care should be sort.
Parents, teachers and society should be more proactive in detecting and reporting juvenile delinquent behaviors especially those related to animal abuse. There is also a need to enroll the concerned children in rehabilitation centres to help them deal with their emotional distress and psychological disorders. This is in a bid to prevent these children from becoming killers in future. Therefore, these early interventions should be geared towards preventing the development of traits that may lead to the children becoming murders. The society should also be very keen on the nature of media that the children are exposed to. For instance, films that idolize crime, violence and serial killers as heroes should not be exposed to children. This will help in curbing the negative effects that they have on the children’s emotional development. States and governments should also create awareness on the need to bring up children in safe and conducive environments. Strict regulations and tough penalties should be leveled against those found guilty of animal abuse and domestic violence . This will be a good corrective measure aimed at curbing the vice from its genesis. Education institutions, religious organizations and parents should strengthen the guidance and counselling initiatives so as to assist victims of abuse at an earlier age before they eventually engage in these heinous acts. Parents should strive to be role models to their children. They should also be keen on identifying and seeking professional support from relevant bodies should they discover any negative behavior in their children.
References
Arluke, A. (2012). Interpersonal barriers to stopping animal abuse: Exploring the role of adolescent friendship norms and breeches. Journal of interpersonal violence , 27 (15), 2939-2958.
Baenninger, R. (2000). Child abuse, domestic violence, and animal abuse; Cruelty to animals and interpersonal violence. Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression , 26 (5), 401-403.
Becker, K. D., Stuewig, J., Herrera, V. M., & McCloskey, L. A. (2004). A study of firesetting and animal cruelty in children: Family influences and adolescent outcomes. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry , 43 (7), 905-912.
DeGue, S., & DiLillo, D. (2009). Is animal cruelty a “red flag” for family violence? Investigating co-occurring violence toward children, partners, and pets. Journal of Interpersonal Violence , 24 (6), 1036-1056.
Gullone, E., & Robertson, N. (2008). The relationship between bullying and animal abuse behaviors in adolescents: The importance of witnessing animal abuse. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology , 29 (5), 371-379.
Hensley, C., & Tallichet, S. E. (2005). Learning to be cruel?: Exploring the onset and frequency of animal cruelty. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology , 49 (1), 37-47.
Knight, K. E., Ellis, C., & Simmons, S. B. (2014). Parental predictors of children’s animal abuse: Findings from a national and intergenerational sample. Journal of interpersonal violence , 29 (16), 3014-3034.
McEwen, F. S., Moffitt, T. E., & Arseneault, L. (2014). Is childhood cruelty to animals a marker for physical maltreatment in a prospective cohort study of children?. Child abuse & neglect , 38 (3), 533-543.
McPhedran, S. (2009). Animal abuse, family violence, and child wellbeing: A review. Journal of family violence , 24 (1), 41-52.
Merz-Perez, L., Heide, K. M., & 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.
Simmons, C. A., & Lehmann, P. (2007). Exploring the link between pet abuse and controlling behaviors in violent relationships. Journal of interpersonal violence , 22 (9), 1211-1222.
Volant, A. M., Johnson, J. A., Gullone, E., & Coleman, G. J. (2008). The relationship between domestic violence and animal abuse: An Australian study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence , 23 (9), 1277-1295.
