ISBN : 9780199360901
Animal maltreatment includes physical or sexual abuse, neglect, or hoarding of animals, and all states have laws prohibiting various forms of animal maltreatment. About one-half have statutory provisions mandating or allowing courts to order forensic mental health assessments of individuals convicted of animal maltreatment offenses. Yet there are few resources on this topic for mental health and legal professionals and none that offer guidance for evaluations in animal maltreatment cases. Animal Maltreatment is the first book to provide an overview of animal maltreatment as a legal, clinical, and forensic issue. It offers guidance for mental health and legal professionals involved in the adjudication of animal maltreatment offenses, with a special focus on forensic mental health assessments in such cases. The book reviews the legal and social contexts of animal maltreatment and then describes research-based and clinical knowledge within the area. It offers perspectives on social and clinical responses in animal maltreatment cases and describes prospects for an area of forensic mental health assessment focused specifically on the forensic evaluation in cases of animal maltreatment. This is the first book that brings together descriptions of the characteristics of those who maltreat animals, factors associated with animal maltreatment behaviors, information about the impact on the animals themselves, and evaluations of offenders to assist courts in decisions about their rehabilitation. Animal Maltreatment will be of great benefit and interest to general and forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, as well as lawyers, legal scholars and students, veterinarians, humane law enforcement professionals, and others involved in animal welfare advocacy.
Foreword by Kirk Heilbrun
About the Editors
Contributors
Introduction
SECTION I: SOCIAL AND LEGAL CONTEXT FOR ANIMAL MALTREATMENT
Chapter 1 Animal Maltreatment as a Social Problem
Gary Patronek
Chapter 2 Law and Animal Maltreatment
Sandra R. Sylvester and Alexander G. von Fricken
Chapter 3 Building a Knowledge Base for Social and Legal Concerns about Animal Maltreatment
Thomas Grisso
SECTION II: THEORY AND RESEARCH ON ANIMAL MALTREATMENT
Chapter 4 Understanding Intentional Animal Maltreatment
Lacey Levitt
Chapter 5 The Relation of Animal Maltreatment to General Aggression
Emily Patterson-Kane
Chapter 6 Understanding Animal Neglect and Hoarding
Gary Patronek and Jane Nathanson
SECTION III: RESPONDING TO ANIMAL MALTREATMENT
Chapter 7 Understanding the Effects of Maltreatment on Animal Welfare
Lila Miller and Gary Patronek
Chapter 8 Social Responses to Animal Maltreatment Offenders: Neglect and Hoarding
Catherine Ayers, Mary Dozier, and Christiana Bratiotis
Chapter 9 Social Responses to Animal Maltreatment Offenders: Cruelty and Sexual Abuse
Lisa Lunghofer
SECTION IV: FORENSIC EVALUATIONS IN ANIMAL MALTREATMENT CASES
Chapter 10 Conceptualizing Forensic Animal Maltreatment Evaluations
Lacey Levitt and Thomas Grisso
Chapter 11 Methods for Forensic Animal Maltreatment Evaluations
Philip Tedeschi
Chapter 12 Practice and Ethics in Forensic Animal Maltreatment Evaluations
Terry Kukor, Daniel Davis, and Kenneth Weiss
Index