Animal Cruelty Investigations. Группа авторов

1 Introduction

       Emily Lewis

      All 50 states now criminalize cruelty to animals in one way or another. With animals as live evidence unable to put words to their suffering or the criminal act perpetrated upon them, attaining justice for victim animals is conditional on the successful collaboration of veterinarians, law enforcement, and prosecutors. Not only do these cases require each of these disciplines to understand and execute their role with precision in order to be successful, but they must also understand the duty, constraints, and capabilities of each other in the context of an animal cruelty case. The laws may differ between states in nuanced ways, but the foundation of a thorough and fair animal cruelty investigation remains relatively static across state lines. This book provides a multidisciplinary guide to building that foundation in every case.

1.1 Making the Most of This Resource

       1.1.1 How to Use This Book

      Whether you are working in the field or training members of your community, this book can be a valuable resource. It is written to be equally comprehensible across disciplines and experience levels. It can function as a guide for field officers to use when actively responding to reports of animal cruelty, while also providing forms and templates ready for use in the field. It can provide clarity to veterinary staff at a community clinic on what to do when they are presented with a suspected victim of animal cruelty. Seasoned and novice prosecutors can reference this book upon assignment of an animal cruelty case to understand the players and nuances of such cases.

      The book is written and organized in a way that facilitates its use as a quick, situational reference source or as a comprehensive manual suited for field work or a classroom setting.

       1.1.2 Roadmap

The chapters are ordered to follow the typical trajectory of an escalating criminal animal cruelty case. Before addressing the investigation aspect of these cases, the book first emphasizes the importance of a preliminary understanding of the subject matter of the investigation, found in Chapter 2. From there, the chapters discuss the various phases and components of a thorough investigation, starting with the baseline expectations for each case assessment (Chapter 3) through execution of a search warrant and evidence collection (Chapters 9 and 10). The final third of the book discusses the phases of a case that typically occur after the initial investigation and/or search warrant execution (Chapter 11, 12, and 13), concluding with remedies for animal ownership and trial (Chapters 15 and 16).

      Acknowledging that differing animal cruelty offenses present unique hallmarks or challenges, Appendix A: Specific Case Protocols is included as a quick reference source. This appendix is organized by the nature of the crime or injury and provides in‐the‐moment advice and reminders specific to that type of animal cruelty case, while cross‐referencing recommended forms, checklists, agreements, templates, and resources provided in Appendices B–D.

1.2 Why Definitions Are Important

      Endeavoring to impart knowledge of the expectations and challenges posed to multiple professional disciplines involved in animal cruelty investigations begins with a foundation in relevant terminology. The words used by veterinarians, field officers, and prosecutors alike can have far‐reaching implications in an animal cruelty case. This in and of itself is a compelling reason to discuss verbiage. Beyond that motivation, we acknowledge that states, agencies, and individuals are going to have their own nuanced definition of words and concepts frequently referenced in this book. There are venues to delve into those nuances and make the case as to why one definition may be better than another, but this book is not that venue. The overarching concepts behind these terms and phrases should be relatively consistent across states and disciplines and the way this book uses them should be easily adapted to the way you, your organization, or your state uses those words. Do not let semantics detract from the fundamentals imparted in the chapters that follow.

1.3 Terms and Phrases: Animal Cruelty Cases

      Each state uses different verbiage to craft its cruelty laws, but across the board there are certain concepts found in every state's animal protection laws. These are important concepts and definitions to understand and will be continually referenced throughout this book.

       1.3.1 Animal

      At first impression, it would seem that “animal” could be easily defined, but in reality, states struggle with how to categorize this noun in the context of their criminal code. Some states list what are considered “animals” in that state [1, 2]. Other states define the term by saying what it is not [3, 4]. Other states choose a more succinct definition and simply say an animal is defined as a nonhuman animal [5]. And some states choose to take the opportunity to narrow the definition beyond what one would typically interpret to be an “animal” [6, 7]. For the purposes of this book, we are discussing animal species who are subject to your state's animal cruelty laws.

       1.3.2 Active Animal Cruelty

An individual (or corporation) can commit what has been identified as “active animal cruelty.” These are acts that are decisive, acute, and done with intention. The mental states typically associated with this type of animal cruelty are malicious, intentional, purposeful, and knowing. Examples of statutes that would fit under this category are aggravated animal abuse, aggravated cruelty to animals, torture, and sexual assault of an animal. Throughout this book, unless a specific crime is being referenced, the phrase “animal abuse” will be used to indicate active animal cruelty.

       1.3.3 Passive Animal Cruelty

      All states criminalize certain types of “passive animal cruelty.” This can be identified when the inaction of an individual