Posts Tagged ‘ politics ’

FBI turns animal cruelty into top-tier felony – WHP CBS 21 Harrisburg – Top Stories

It is about time. The connection between the abuse of animals and abuse of humans has been known about for a very long time.

It won’t catch every twisted killer but it will help law enforcement keep an eye on the soon to be killers.

FBI studies show that serial killers like Dahmer impaled the heads of dogs, frogs and cats on sticks; David Berkowitz, known as the “Son of Sam,” poisoned his mother’s parakeet; and Albert DeSalvo, aka the “Boston Strangler,” trapped cats and dogs in wooden crates and killed them by shooting arrows through the boxes.

FBI turns animal cruelty into top-tier felony – WHP CBS 21 Harrisburg – Top Stories.

2014
10/05
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Food for thought

2012
09/07
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Russian Serial Killer

MOSCOW A former policeman suspected of raping and murdering 23 women in eastern Siberia in the 1990s has been detained after years of searches and hundreds of tests, Russian authorities said on Friday.

The man from Angarsk, a small industrial town in eastern Siberia, is believed to be behind the serial killings that occurred between 1994 and 1999, investigators said.

All the victims disappeared in similar circumstances and their bodies were later found in the woods just outside the city, in a local cemetery or on the roadside, said Moscow-based investigators. “Most of the women were naked, and their bodies bore signs of being raped,” the investigators said in a statement, adding that some of the victims had also been robbed of money and jewellery.

During a decade-long manhunt, the authorities conducted DNA tests on 3,500 individuals and questioned more than 1,000 people. The suspect was serving in the police at the time of most of the killings but retired in 1998.

Tests so far have found that his DNA matches biological material discovered on the bodies of three of the women, investigators said.

The suspect, who has not been identified, was detained on Saturday in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok and taken back to Siberia, they said, adding that the investigation was continuing.  Police in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, which includes Angarsk, said the suspect’s involvement in all the murders has yet to be proved.

“Right now it is not that important who the criminal is at the end of the day: a former policeman, soldier, doctor or someone else,” the police said in a statement. “The most important thing is for the principle of inevitability of punishment to work.”

Full article

It is impressive that after all this time they are still working on the cases and solving them. It is also good to see them releasing information on the cases. There was a time when Russia denied having serial killers at all.

2012
06/30
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Serial killer Michael Hughes sentenced to death

As the judge handed down the death sentence for convicted murderer Michael Hughes, the room murmured in agreement. Heads nodded and a few people even smiled.

The 56-year-old South Los Angeles serial rapist and murderer was sentenced to death Friday for killing three women between 1986 and 1993.

Adell McKinley had been waiting four years for this day.

“It brings some closure in the fact that my sister has been vindicated and justice has been served,” said McKinley, who was notified by detectives four years ago that they had linked the death of her sister, Deborah Jackson, to Hughes.

I am so happy that she is finding some kind of closure.

Hughes was convicted in November of first-degree murder in the slayings of Jackson, 32; Yvonne Coleman, 15; and Verna Williams, 36. A month later, a jury ordered that he be sentenced to death. He was already serving a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole for four other killings.

4 other victims that we know of making 7 victims for this one guy.

All of the women’s bodies were found in public places, at least half-naked and posed in an explicit manner. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe said these acts “show[ed] an intent to shock the public.”

At the sentencing, Rappe rejected an automatic motion to reduce the sentence to life without the possibility of parole, citing later that the “aggravating evidence substantially outweighs the mitigating evidence.”

I appauld this judge. There is no reason to let this predator off easy, or to put the staff of the prison at risk for the resrt of his life. Michael worked hard to earn that death sentence, let him have it.

Hughes is “nothing short of a sadistic sexual predator…. [We’re] looking at a man that is a serial killer,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman said in opening arguments.

Defense attorney Aron Laub argued that early life circumstances should be taken into account when considering punishment. Hughes was beaten as a child and witnessed his mother perform a forced abortion on his sister.

Several victims’ family members who arrived in the morning at the downtown courtroom said Hughes had to take responsibility for his actions.

“I’m not a serial killer,” said McKinley, who said she was sexually molested until she turned 12. “That’s his choice.”

Thank you Ms. McKinley. That is so important a serial killer makes the choice to kill. There are so many abused, mistreated, neglected kids that do not become serial killers as adults and it is almost insulting that someone would make that claim. That someone would say that they for some reason have a ‘right’ or excuse to kill others because of what someone had done to them.

“Everyone in here has been through something as a child,” said Jackie McFarlin, mother of one of the victims in the earlier case, Theresa Ballard. “I have no love for this man.”

Very true, we all have our histories but none have a right to harm another because of our past.

At the time of his conviction in the current case, Hughes was already doing time for the slayings of Theresa Ballard, 26; Brenda Bradley, 38; Terri Myles, 33; and Jamie Harrington, 29. At the time the killings took place in the 1980s and ’90s, Los Angeles was facing a rash of violence. At least five serial killers were active in the South Los Angeles area, authorities said.

I know that this is California and that more than likely he will die of natural causes but the sentence fits and should be seen through.

2012
06/25
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Serial Killer Elmer Wayne Henley is up for parole

HOUSTON (FOX 26) -An infamous serial killer is up for parole. Elmer Wayne Henley participated in a plot that ultimately took the lives of almost 30 Houston-area teenagers. Many of them vanished from The Heights in the early 1970s. One of them was an 18 year old named Frank Aguirre. One month shy of graduation, Aguirre clocked out of his job at a Heights fast-food restaurant and vanished.”He was fun,” recalled his younger sister, Deborah Aguirre. “He was fun-loving, had a lot of friends. And Henley was one of them.”

Frank Aguirre didn’t know it, but Elmer Wayne Henley was helping an older man, Dean Corll, satisfy his sadistic desires.

 “[Henley] was the one that sought out the boys, brought them there,” said Houston victim advocate Andy Kahan, “knowing full well that they were going to be not only abducted, raped and tortured, but eventually murdered in a horrific manner.”

And so it continued. For three years.

Boys from the working class Heights would go missing. Many of them were friends of Elmer Wayne Henley.

 “Couple months after my brother disappeared, [Henley] actually did come back to our house,” remembered Deborah Aguirre. “[He] asked my mother, ‘Have you heard anything?’ He knew where my brother was. He helped bury him.”

Police eventually found them – bodies stacked upon bodies – but only after Henley shot Corll dead on the heels of an argument.

“Even though he got six life sentences in 1973 — in 1980, because of the way the statutes were written, he was eligible for parole,” said Kahan.

Life needs to mean life!

 It’s unprecedented, says Kahan, but this is the 20th time Henley has come up for parole.

Through a quirk in the law, he adds, while murderers can be set-off up to five years until their next review, capital murderers can only be set-off three years, max.

“Criminal justice and logic sometimes don’t meet. This is living proof of that.”

It’s a joyless hamster wheel for folks like Deborah Aguirre. They’re constantly battling to keep behind bars Henley and his accomplice, David Brooks.

 The victims’ relatives now have a Facebook page devoted to denying the killers parole.

I have tried to friend them.

And Aguirre has just a few questions she wants to ask the panel that will ultimately decide Henley’s fate, this summer.

  • “Would you want this guy living next door to you?
  • Do you have small children?
  • Do you have little boys? Because that’s what he likes.”

She hopes to have her say in August at Henley’s review.

But it will give her no more joy than visiting her brother’s burial plot at Forest Park Lawndale.

Deborah at Frank’s grave

“It’s hard to go there,” said Deborah Aguirre. “That’s all we have left is a headstone.”

The Harris County Medical Examiner’s office told FOX 26 News that two victims of the murderous trio remain unidentified, to this day.

The ME’s office is actively seeking DNA samples from the families of young men who disappeared, here in Houston, between 1970 and 1973.

Read more

2012
06/23
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Is Magnotta a Serial Killer?

R.I.P. Jun Lin

Besides an insighful comment made by wildninja 

I suspect that this is not his first violent crime against a human being, but probably the first that was noticed.

there are others that believe Luka may have killed before.

Cops fear gay porn star ‘cannibal’ fugitive may have murdered before

Montreal Police Cmdr Ian Lafreniere said when gay porn star Magnotta is caught, they will launch a review of all cold cases and unsolved murders.

Obviously this was written before he was caught.

The fugitive, who has a number of aliases, is wanted for first-degree murder, defiling a corpse and using the mail system for delivering “obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous” material.

The New York Observer is connecting Luka to the Hollywood Sign Murder that happened in California last year. Law enforcement is not saying he is a suspect but they have not ruled him out either.

Could Canadian killer and infamous internet villain Luka Magnotta be behind a Hollywood murder mystery? After an international manhunt, German police say they have arrested Luka Magnotta in Berlin over ten days after he allegedly killed and dismembered a man named Lin Jun, posted a gruesome video of the crime online and mailed the body parts to the headquarters of Canadian political parties. However, The Observer has uncovered information that could potentially link Mr. Magnotta to an infamous case from earlier this year where the severed head and hands of a man were found on a wooded trail near the Hollywood sign.

There was a YouTube account set up named HollywoodLoveLetters that some that have been following the story think Magnotta himself set up.  There is no solid proof but the Observer does have some interesting circumstanal evidence.

HollywoodLoveLetters began directly referring to the Hollywood Sign killing by “liking” a video news report on the case. That day, HollywoodLoveLetters also posted another video about Mr. Magnotta entitled “The James Dean Killer – 1 Man 1 Icon – Luka Rocco Magnotta.” This second video features several purported personal photos of Mr. Magnotta including pictures described as showing his parents in the 1980′s and him at five months old that do not seem to have appeared online prior to the video’s release. In the purported photo of his parents, his mother is scrawled out. A distorted voice in the video also utters the words “The Nine Satanic Statements,” which come from the bible of the Church of Satan. Last April, a post titled “The Nine Satanic Statements, Sins and Rules Of The Earth” appeared on one of the many blog sites that seem to have been maintained by Mr. Magnotta. The naming convention of the newest HollywoodLoveLetters video also matches the title of the gruesome video of the Canadian killing that was posted online, which was “1 Lunatic 1 Icepick.” The account has shown no new activity since Mr. Magnotta’s capture this morning and the user did not respond to a request for comment last night.

In addition to the YouTube activity and the obvious similarities in the methodology of the Jun killing and the Hollywood Sign murder, which both involved severed body parts placed in prominent locations, Facebook postings on one of the many accounts attributed to Mr. Magnotta indicate he was in Los Angeles less than one month after the Hollywood Sign killing. In the postings, which were dated February 19, the Facebook user who identifies themselves as Mr. Magnotta tries to arrange a meeting with a friend and informs them he is “doing massages” in Los Angeles.

The severed head and hands were found by the Hollywood Sign by two women who were walking their dogs on January 17. Police later identified the victim as Hervey Medellin, 66. Mr. Medellin was reported missing by his boyfriend on January 9.

We have given this information to police in both Montreal and Los Angeles. Both agencies have told us they are reviewing our tip.

“For the moment we’re still working on what we have here. We have a lot of things to do on that,” Mr. Paradiso said. “Maybe tomorrow, or sometime this week, I’m going to call LAPD or speak with someone there to see if there’s a link between our file and their file.”

Also, more packages have been discovered, this time at 2 schools possibly linked to this case.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Police said Tuesday packages delivered to two Vancouver schools contained a human foot and hand.

Vancouver Deputy Police Chief Warren Lemcke said he could not immediately confirm if they were connected to the Montreal killing of a Chinese student who was murdered and dismembered.

Alleged killer Luka Rocco Magnotta is to be extradited from Germany for the killing of Jun Lin.

The British Columbia Coroner’s Service and the Vancouver police’s major crime investigators have been called in. One of Lin’s hands, a foot and his head are still missing.

Last week, body parts were mailed to the headquarters of the federal Liberal and Conservative parties.

Lemcke said Vancouver police are still investigating the two incidents. The first package containing what appeared to be a human hand was opened by staff at False Creek Elementary School after 1 p.m. local time Tuesday. Another package containing what appeared to be a human foot was found by staff at St. George’s School later Tuesday.

More here

It is hard to believe that Magnotta’s first time killing would be this one. From what I have seen and heard he did not act like a man killing and dismembering for the first time. Not that that is proof either but there is usually some kind of lead up to a crime like this. Most killers report that when they killed the 1st time it did not happen quite how they planned / expected and from what I hear Magnotta did not seem to have any ‘problems’ in the video. That could be why it goes from Jun being alive at the start to dead after a cut away.

Pure speculation on my part but I would more shocked if this was his first murder than if it was his 2nd or even 4th. I am just happy this jack a$$ was caught.

Photos and an article of his arrest here. Kudos to the internet cafe’ employee who called the cops.

He is going to be so popular in the yard!

2012
06/05
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Suspected Chinese Serial Killer Sold Human Flesh

Police in southwest China have arrested a village man suspected of killing and eating young men, and selling their flesh to unsuspecting consumers buying ostrich meat.

Zhang Yongming, 56, a chess-playing farmer, was detained earlier this month in Nanmen village, in southwest China’s Yunnan province.

Thoughts of Alexander Pichushkin popped into my head. I think I have read of quite a few serial killers that play chess. I know Bundy did. I wonder if they are attacted to the game because of the strategy required to play it? It could also just be cultural influence.

Zhang is being investigated in the murders of at least seven teenagers and boys, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

He is suspected of chopping up their bodies and feeding the human flesh to his dogs, as well as selling it and eating it himself.

A 19-year-old man from a nearby village who went missing April 25 has been confirmed murdered, a police spokesman told Xinhua. A cell phone, bank card and other evidence said to have belonged to the young man, named as Han Yao, were found in Zhang’s home, police said.

The Guangxi News website reported that more than a dozen other teenagers have gone missing from the village in the past five years, according to Agence France-Presse.

Victims

The website said Zhang is known locally as the “cannibal monster,” and residents said they had seen plastic bags hanging from his home filled with what appeared to be white bones.

Why did they not contact authorities? Really, bones hanging in bags should be enough for a a cop to go check it out.

Hong Kong newspaper The Standard reported Friday that police fear at least 20 people were eaten or their flesh sold as “ostrich meat.”

The Standard said police searching Zhang’s home found dozens of human eyeballs preserved in alcohol inside wine bottles, and pieces of flesh hanging in the house to dry.

Article here

I know that this is not the first case of something like this,

(Those are just a few examples!)

so maybe I should not be as disturbed as I am. I just can not help it.

It is bad enough to kill, worse to be a serial killer and worse yet to be a cannible serial killer but to feed humans to other humans especially when they don’t know it is something nightmares are created from. Sweeny Todd always creeped me out because of it.

This was not the first time this monster was in trouble either.

 

It said Zhang, a loner who never talked to his neighbours, had previously served almost 20 years in jail for murder and was known in the village as the “cannibal monster”.

Local police declined to comment when contacted by AFP, saying information would be made available “at an appropriate time”, and almost all reports on the case were removed from Chinese websites as of yesterday.

Much More Here

Why was he already known as the cannibal monster? I could not find out if he ate his earlier victim but I am guessing he did. Why did they ever release him? That also makes the fact that his neighbors did not contact law enforcement over his bags of bones more upsetting.

Wikipedia article on cannibalism

2012
05/27
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Killer on Death Row Fights to get a Hip Replacement

Ky. weighed politics, medicine in inmate’s surgery

By BRETT BARROUQUERE, Associated Press 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A condemned killer’s fight to receive surgery for agonizing hip pain pushed Kentucky officials into an uncomfortable debate over security, politics and even the possibility of inviting scorn from Fox News pundits.

Emails and memos obtained by The Associated Press show corrections officials struggling for a year to reconcile their duty to provide medical care with the political ramifications of spending tens of thousands of dollars for surgery on a man they plan to execute. A key problem would turn out to be security issues that led several hospitals to balk at treating inmate Robert Foley, who still hasn’t had the surgery.

“Hip replacement for an inmate who has exhausted all appeals and will soon be executed?” Kentucky State Penitentiary warden Phil Parker wrote in an email on Nov. 22, 2010. “I can see this making Fox News on a slow news day, maybe even on a busy news day. In fact, I bet (Fox News host Bill O’Reilly) would love to put this in his ‘Pinheads’ commentary. Just a thought to consider before it goes too much further.”

Prison officials also made contingency plans to call off the surgery if Gov. Steve Beshear set an execution date, and they considered whether to consult with him about the procedure.

I do not see why they haven’t discussed it with him. 

“I think it is that important and all this may have political consequences,” Parker wrote a year before Beshear’s re-election. Ultimately, Beshear’s spokeswoman said he wasn’t contacted about it.

Foley, 55, was convicted of killing six people in eastern Kentucky in 1989 and 1991, making him the most prolific killer on the state’s death row. His status as an extremely dangerous prisoner was a key factor in the state’s difficulty finding a surgeon and hospital, according to the documents obtained through a public records request and a lawsuit filed by Foley.

Foley still hasn’t had the surgery, with Parker lamenting in an email they had no options after an exhaustive search.

State officials deny that politics played a role, and there’s no evidence in the documents that political considerations prevented the surgery.

A spokeswoman for the Kentucky Justice Cabinet — which oversees corrections and law enforcement — declined to comment because of the pending lawsuit.

Foley’s attorney, James Drake, said the state needs a way to care for condemned inmates, even those with complex needs. Foley, who has been on death row since 1993, is unable to get around without help because he’s at risk of a dangerous fall, Drake said.

“If you’re on death row, it’s just like anybody else,” Drake said. “If you need a new hip, you need a new hip. It hurts.”

Sorry, I disagree. He killed 6 people, manage his pain and that is it. Why should he get an expensive surgery that many other people (productive, decent people) who did not kill 6 people can not get due to cost? 

Manage the pain, or, Hell, let’s just give him his execution date, it would stop the hip pain!  

I do not claim to be a doctor or to even know this guy’s exact diagnosis but in 5 seconds I found site after site that have options for managing hip pain, even chronic and severe. There are long acting shots of cortisone, exercises, medications. Why should we, the public, through taxes pay for this expensive surgery? 

The Department of Corrections acknowledged his degenerative hip in a response to the lawsuit, but also said he has been receiving adequate care. The federal lawsuit filed in March is pending. 

So not only is he demanding an expensive surgery he is suing over it. I can not help but wonder how much tax payers have already paid for all his consultations with doctors, the pay for the prison staff to try find someone to do the operation and now tax payers are paying for his lawyers to sue pretty much the tax payers. This should not be legal.

Corrections Department attorney Brenn Combs wrote to Drake that the Department of Corrections couldn’t enter into a legal agreement about the hip surgery because it would impose requirements exceeding “our legal duty regarding inmate health care.”

“The Department is not interested in doing that and, like me, nobody else here can see a way that it would help inmate Foley,” Combs said in a Nov. 14 email.

It’s not unusual for inmates to receive treatment outside of prison, and Foley has twice left death row for other surgical procedures.

Foley first complained to prison officials about the persistent pain in his right hip in September 2010, saying his leg sometimes “gives out on him,” according to the lawsuit.

Foley initially didn’t want the surgery and tried to fashion his own hip brace out of “flip-flops and other everyday items.” Foley said the brace helped with the pain in an affidavit signed in February, but prison officials confiscated it.

I’d love to know why they took it away. More than that this proves that other options will help him.

After Foley agreed to the surgery, officials searched for a doctor to perform the $56,000 operation. At the time, Foley was under a death warrant signed by Beshear.

Agreed to? Areed with whom? Whose bright idea was this? His lawyers?

“If and when an order is received to execute Foley, I will contact (then-prison medical director Dr. Scott Haas) to try to stop all medical procedures related to his hip replacement,” Parker wrote.

No execution date was set, and a judge later halted lethal injections as the state weighs execution procedures. It’s not clear when executions could resume.

While looking for a hospital, corrections officials increased Foley’s pain medication and looked into the logistics of moving him.

But prison nurse Chanin Hiland wrote in a September 2010 email to Haas that orthopedists in Paducah, Madisonville and Murray had been contacted, and “none of them want any part of this.”

“The farther we have to go, the more security will have to be sent with him; although, it is obvious he will not be running anywhere soon,” Hiland wrote. Foley’s hepatitis C infection was a further risk factor.

I don’t blame the doctors or hospitals. 

In November of that year, Parker and Haas asked Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson for advice on security. Parker also wrote Hass about his concerns about publicity and whether he could be safety housed outside the prison system.

The difficulty in finding a surgeon illustrates the “gray area” between the law’s requirement of treatment for inmates and a hospital’s ability to turn down those patients, said Rebecca Walker, an associate professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

“Everyone would probably agree he ought to get his care somewhere. It’s a collective responsibility,” Walker said in a phone interview. “Who does it is the question.”

I don’t agree. Foley does not have to go to work, he does not have to be highly mobile. He is a murderer,  There are other options to this surgery, yeah, he might not be able to run a mile and he still might have some discomfort but that is better than putting hospital employees at risk and wasting a lot of money so he can jog the yard.

After finding a doctor to perform the surgery, Foley and corrections officials thought they had found a hospital when Frankfort Regional Medical Center initially agreed. Corrections officials and the hospital set the surgery for Feb. 28, 2011 and conducted preoperative testing.

During a meeting between corrections officials and hospital staff on Feb. 22, 2011, hospital CEO Chip Peal said he hadn’t been aware the surgery was scheduled for less than a week later. A memo by Parker summarized security measures and noted that Peal needed others’ approval.

Peal returned to the meeting after 30 minutes and said the surgery was off.

“CEO Peal stated that they never had a patient at the hospital that required security and that he felt this was too high a profile person to be the first,” Parker wrote.

At that point, corrections officials were left with few options.

“After over a year of exhaustive search for a surgeon and hospital, this was our last hope,” Parker wrote to Thompson and Deputy Commissioner Jim Erwin on Feb. 23, 2011. “I expect future legal action in this matter, however, we know of no other options at this time.”

Follow Associated Press reporter Brett Barrouquere on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BBarrouquereAP

I do not understand the judicial system. Why was this operation even considered? Why do killers get better medical care that people who go to work, obey the law and help others in their communities? 

Why are prisoners allowed to sue the system which is supported by the same people who pay for their housing, food and medical care?

Foley is not the first and will not be the last.

It is ridiculous. 

I know Lady Justice is supposed to be blind but is she also supposed to be stupid?

2012
05/21
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Serial Killer Supports Padilla’s Run for Mayor

A California bounty hunter running for Sacramento mayor is touting his endorsement from a convicted serial killer.

Leonard Padilla told FOX 40 in Sacramento he’s got fresh campaign backing from death row inmate Wesley Shermantine, one of the so-called “Speed Freak Killers” tied to the murders of as many as 15 people dating back to the 1980s.

The support of a killer didn’t seem to bother the candidate.

“When you have a guy on death row endorsing you, you have to be somewhat proud of that,” he said. 

Padilla said he’s not expecting a political “backlash” from the endorsement, since he’s been “giving up bodies” while in prison. He also reasoned that there’s no quid pro quo with a death row inmate.

“If I go out here to the unions, if I go to the firemen and ask for their endorsement, they are going to want something in return. This man can’t ask for anything in return,” Padilla told FOX 40.

Padilla faces a field of candidates for the seat, including incumbent Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Read more and see the video

 

Idiot. Trying to be funny and just making himself look stupid and insensitive.

Proud for all the wrong reasons.

He does not expect backlash for the support but how about expecting backlash for those stupid comments. 

2012
05/15
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25 States Considering Online Animal Abuser Registries

Lansing, MI – The Animal Legal Defense Fund is leading the campaign for online registries to list convicted animal abusers. Three New York counties, which have already approved the registries, will be the first in the nation to utilize them beginning May 7.  Twenty-five states in total have been considering similar laws since 2010.

Cotati, of the California based Legal Defense Fund, says a few of the other states considering similar bills include California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The bills being introduced throughout the country are meant to put animal abusers up for public scorn as well as notify the public of those involved in animal abuse/neglect.

Many backers of this legislation claim the bills recognize a growing awareness of animal rights, as well as the public safety benefits of stopping abusers. Many feel stopping animal abusers early is key as many studies have shown that animal abusers often go on to harming humans.

Representative Harvey Santana, of Michigan, says “There’s a mountain of evidence that says we need something like this. There is a strong correlation between people who abuse animals and graduate to abusing people.”

According to a 1997 study done by Northeastern University and the Massachusetts SPCA, a person who abuses or kills animals is five time more likely to commit violence against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes.  Serial killers who have abused or killed animals include the Boston strangler Albert Desalvo, ‘Son of Sam’ David Berkowitz and Carroll Edward Cole.

Stephen Wells, executive director of the fund, says “It’s frustrating to see repeat offenders commit these crimes and get away with it in the people’s eyes. The registries appeal to people’s common sense.”

Not all animal rights organizations agree or support the initiative.

According to Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the U.S., tracking abuse in FBI data would do more to prevent it. Pacelle continued by saying that many people involved in neglecting animals are mentally ill. “Shaming them with a public internet profile is unlikely to affect their future behavior,” says Pacelle. He believes it will only “isolate them further from society and promote increased distrust of the authority figures trying to help them.”

Stephanie Bell, associate director of cruelty investigations for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says PETA supports the use of registries stating “community members have a right to know when a convicted animal abuser is in their midst.  People who abuse animals rarely do so only once.”

Roy Gross, head of Suffolk County’s SPCA, administer of Suffolk Country’s registry, says “If you had a convicted animal abuser next to you, wouldn’t you want to know?”

Source 

I wrote about the link between violence and animal abuse not to long ago.

I do realise that this (if anyone in the general public can get the information) could cause problems for people with mental conditions, but it might also force some to get help. It might also prevent someone from hurting animals or people.

I think that we need to do something, whether it be the FBI tracking or some kind of notification to the public. I want to know that my pets are safe as well as knowing if my neighbors have a history of abuse of any kind.

Maybe they do not have to go so far as to make the records 100% public, maybe make it available to local law enforcement and fire departments? That way if a complain or questionable action happens (pets start to go missing for example) the police know where to maybe start to look?

I do think that they need to have a system for local shelters so that people who have abused in the past can not go adopt there. From there letting local law enforcement know would be easy and responsible.

 

2012
05/06
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Center For Disease Control

If you're ready for a zombie apocalypse, then you're ready for any emergency. emergency.cdc.gov
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