[Vision2020] Animal Abusers, Welcome to Red Idaho!

[Bruce and Jean Livingston]

I have an interesting anecdotal nugget that cannot be statistically 
validated to necessarily have any significance, but it still is 
"interesting."

One of the things I do in my work with death row inmates is to investigate 
their lives, looking for reasons how they came to be the person they are and 
perhaps find evidence that could have been presented to a jury that would 
have convinced a jury to sentence the murderer to life in prison instead of 
death.

Obviously, a common thread in these cases is a violent family background. 
All too typically, the murderer's childhood is replete with stories of 
violence, with the seeming consequence that the child grows up 
de-senstitized to violence, and becomes violent.  The violence that we 
usually think about is domestic violence and sex abuse, with the child 
experiencing the violence personally as both an observer and the recipient. 
Dad beats mom brutally in front of the children a lot, or beats the children 
themselves, or uncle Jimmy sodomizes little Joey, repeatedly, etc. etc.

But the interesting anecdote that Saundra's "animal abuser" tag line 
prompted for me was this surprising anecdotal fact:  In more than half of 
the death penalty mitigation investigations that I have conducted, as a 
child the eventual murderer experienced the "murder" of an animal that was 
his pet by violent means at the hands of a close relative, usually "Dad." 
For example, I am talking about angrily smashing the pet dog's head with a 
booted foot in the kitchen, or killing the family cat by wringing it's head 
off, or most gruesomely, beating a horse to death with a hammer, for not 
going onto the trailer easily (and then refusing to put it out of its misery 
and letting it linger, moaning, for two days, when any other horse in the 
family outfitting business would be mercifully shot if it broke a leg).

I cannot verify that animal abuse leads to violence in humans that observe 
it, but the surprising frequency of this sort of conduct in the lives of 
death row inmates when they were young children gives me great pause.

Bruce Livingston


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at adelphia.net>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 1:38 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Animal Abusers, Welcome to Red Idaho!


> Visionaries,
>
> The first time I posted about this issue back in September 2004, Idaho was
> one of only nine states in our great nation that lacked a felony animal
> cruelty statute.
>
> I think it's time to revisit this issue because in the time since, the
> situation has gotten worse instead of improving  :-(  At this point, Idaho
> remains one of only ***four*** states that still lacks a felony animal
> cruelty statute.
>
> My understanding is that Rep. Tom Trail has been working to fix this
> travesty.  To date, he's been unsuccessful, and I'm hoping he will provide
> us with his comments and the current status.
>
> Why should you care?
>
> For one thing, as appropriate laws and penalties are enforced elsewhere,
> Idaho becomes a more and more attractive place for those law breakers to
> come.
>
> For the last 25 years, the link between animal abuse and domestic violence
> (child abuse, spouse abuse, elder abuse) has been recognized.  As long as 
> we
> allow Idaho to continue to be a haven for animal abusers, we create an
> environment that's more dangerous for ***all*** Idahoans.
>
> Are you sick of watching your neighbor leave his/her animals outside 
> without
> adequate food/water/shelter?  Well, too bad for you -- not to mention for
> the animals -- because Idaho lacks adequate definitions and standards of
> *basic* care  :-(
>
> And, let's say you witness a person abusing his/her animal and do the 
> right
> thing by reporting it.  And,  the offender is convicted, even though it's
> just a misdemeanor.  You've saved the animal from a wretched existence,
> right?  Wrong!  Idaho law does NOT provide for forfeiture of abused 
> animals,
> so right back to the abuser the animal goes  :-(
>
> Idaho law also fails to provide for restrictions on the future ownership 
> or
> possession of animals following conviction.  So, Harry or Mary could beat
> their dog, be convicted, burn their cat alive, be convicted, starve their
> horse, be convicted, etc., etc., etc.
>
> "But, only a crazy person would do that," you might say.  Maybe, maybe not 
> .
> . . but we'll never know because Idaho law also fails to provide for 
> mental
> health evaluations or counseling for those convicted of animal abuse.
>
> No matter what kind of growth you advocate, you'd better hope our
> legislature -- and our local authorities -- start making things right with
> respect to animal laws because the situation will only worsen.  It will
> continue to hit us in the pocketbooks because there's a financial aspect 
> to
> our woefully inadequate laws:  Idaho law doesn't provide for adequate cost
> mitigation provisions (i.e., cost of care bonds, reimbursement of costs,
> restitution) for impounded animals.
>
> While some of these and other inadequacies need to be resolved at the 
> state
> level, there's plenty of room for improvement locally.  The City of Moscow
> had just such an opportunity a year or so ago, yet the then-City Council
> took a pass on addressing these very real problems.  We should advocate 
> for
> our Mayor and current Council Members to show the wisdom of local
> improvement *now* rather than waiting until it costs us even more money . 
> .
> . and suffering.
>
>
> JMHO,
> Saundra Lund
> Moscow, ID
>
> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
> nothing.
> - Edmund Burke
>
> ***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2006, Saundra Lund.
> Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum
> without the express written permission of the author.*****
>
>
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