I’ve three questions about this subject, but first I’ll give some background…
I saw something rather disturbing on the Cleveland ABC affiliate last night. A local newscaster, Ted Henry, said that some guy in Ohio (sorry this is so vague, but it didn’t occur to me to take notes) got a whopping 30 days in jail for killing a kitten by cutting off its paws and head. Henry went on to claim that the toughest sentence in the state of Ohio would only be 90 days in jail (why the kitty-killer got only one-third of that, I’ve no idea).
Anyway, he went on to say that Ohio has the least-strict animal cruelty laws in the country. I find this appalling, especially since people who do this sort of thing to animals seem to move onto larger prey, namely humans. Another Ohio native, Jeffrey Dahmer (sp?), did just that. News reports claim that as a child he often caught, killed and skinned squirrels and even decapitated a dog, leaving the head on a spike in his backyard (one magazine actually had a picture of this!). I’d bet if we had tougher animal cruelty laws in this state, its possible Dahmer’s 13 or so victims would still be alive today (kinda hard to pick up men in bars and kill them when you’re in the pokey).
Here are my questions:
1.Does Ohio really have the most lax laws and/or penalties for animal cruelty, or are there worse out there?
2.What ARE the laws and/or penalties in other states?
3.Does anyone know if there have been any studies to support my theory that those who abuse or kill animals would likely do the same to humans?
In Canada the penalty is $2,000 and/or six months, unless a cow in involved, in which case the penalty can be up to five years.
It’s interesting how some folks value animals. For example, in my office a secretary and I refused to represent a kitten killer despite our having represented a mass murderer. Needless to say, the boss was not pleased with us. I for one would like to see jail time for kittie torturers.
Catching and killing animals for their hide is called “trapping” and it’s a legal, legitimate form of hunting. Of course, that’s not exactly what Jeffrey was doing. He might have mixed up the steps (caught, skinned, then killed the animal. Gruesome.)
I’ve heard many times that serial killers started out abusing animals, but I can’t name a site. You’re on the right track though.
Children that kill or torture animals are mentally disturbed and in many cases need institution help. I would think this would also be true of adults. One of the most bothersome parts of your story is why the judge only gave the man 30 days. Obviously that judge didn’t think the law was too lenient.
As a side note, did Jeffrey ever get caught skinning squirrels? I thought that only came out after he was caught.
It would be interesting to learn if there were probationary terms associated with this, for example to be psychologically assessed and complete such treatment as may be indicated.
kniz - IIRC, his parents did know when he skinned the animals and he did it using chemicals from a kid’s lab set he had. Mind you, most of this info comes from People Magazine rahter than The New York Times or some such thing.
black455 - I SO hope you’re wrong about Ohio having more nuts per capita then any other state. Then again, wasn’t the sick f*ck who unearthed his dead cat, put it on a wire and hung it from his front porch as a “Halloween decoration” from Ohio?
Some states’ animal laws are more stringent against animal beaters, whereas others let them off with a slap on the wrist.
I think it was in Indiana in recent years that a group of teens “just having fun” broke into a shelter and beat and tortured about 20 cats. They got something like a 30-day suspended sentence.