Animal Cruelty: Pathway to Violence Against People

This book by Linda Merz-Perez and Kathleen M. Heide provides for a valueable resource for animal avocates and people concerned with interperonal violence as well. I found this book to be very helpful in assisting me in my studies to understand the connection between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence. From theories as to why people commit such crimes to case studies, this book keeps you interested. Not only is it interesting but also educational. Many other resources regarding this subject are included in this book. They prove that cruelty to animals is a cause for concern and leads to the perpetuation and continuance of violent crimes against people. I recommend this book to everyone, especially parents and people involved in child care, so as to broaden the knowledge society has on the link between cruelty to animals and human violence in hopes of reducing the violent tendencies of our society. We owe it to ourselves, the animals, and each other to become more educated on problems in our society, such as interperonal violence and animal cruelty, and what we can do to help reduce these occurences in our population. This book should assist people in taking a step in the right direction. This book provides much insight and background for those already in the field of victim advocacy (whether they are human or animal victims.) It supports, with fact, what may be seen as only an opinion, therefore giving respect to the views of animal advocates like me. The background this book and its references have given me have provided me with more confidence to continue on in my crusade to help animal and human victims of violence.

"This book is a must have for anyone working in or interested in the animal welfare or human services fields. Most of us already in these fields find our time to relax and enjoy a good book very limited or otherwise nonexistent, and may find writings related to our work to be very technical and mundane. Linda Merez-Perez and Kathleen Heide have combined years of experience to develop a very clear, concise, intriguing work on the link between animal cruelty and increased human violence in the pages of "Animal Cruelty: Pathway to violence against people". Within these pages you will find a wealth of knowledge spanning the history of the relationship between animal cruelty and human violence, the current state of this relationship, methods used to evaluate this relationship, case studies that will pull at your heart, and suggested avenues of approach to both further increase awareness of the correlation between animal cruelty and increased human violence, and steps that can be taken to reduce these instances. After reading this book I am compelled to purchase a copy for both our County Adult and Child Social Services Departments and the County Animal Control Administrator in hopes of building a combined relationship to combat both animal cruelty and human violence in our area." Jennifer Sherian - Manager, Animal Protection Society of Durham, North Carolina

This book is a great resource for anyone concerned with the field of animal welfare or anyone seeking to grasp a greater understanding of the link between animal abuse and human violence. By giving a clear concise definition of animal cruelty, and examples of various types of aggression and violence people engage in, the authors show the complex nature of the issue. The compilation of various studies conducted by credible animal welfare professionals provides a wide spread knowledge base for the reader to draw from. Due to the magnitude of facts from the studies, it is necessary to have a highlighter in hand while reading to note the crucial conclusions that can be drawn from the studies. The purpose of this book is clearly to make society aware of the link between animal cruelty and human violence. This book was one of the first works to broach this topic and because of the ability of these two authors to present the facts in a conclusive manor; my hope is that others will become more aware of the realities of the problems at hand.

"Animal Cruelty Pathway to Violence against People" takes an in-depth look at the link between animal cruelty and violence against people.Starting with chapter one, this book gives the reader the background knowledge to be comfortable enough, even with no prior knowledge of the subject, to get through the rest of the book with ease of understanding. The book itself is not meant in any way to breeze through for leisure.Reading it takes a lot of energy (to absorb so much information some of it rather disturbing). I found a lot of the information unsettling and depressing, but of course understood the need for that. Some of the information given is difficult to grasp and understand at first, but the authors do not leave you with out detailed guidance and explanation. This book helped me greatly in participating in and performing in the class I read it for. I came away empowered and highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a greater understanding of the mysteries of cruelty and violence. I know I will look to this book for information frequently. It is an invaluable resource.

Animal Cruelty Pathway to Violence Against People written by Linda Merz-Perez and Kathleen M. Heide is a comprehensive look into the relationship between animal cruelty in children and a future in violence. Throughout history, the relationship between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence has been put on the back burner. In recent times, however, it is clear the relationship is very important in predicting the future violent offender. Linda Merz-Perez and Kathleen Hiede have written a very in-depth look into this relationship. The compilation of research already written has been collected and reviewed to give the professionals a tool to utilize in understanding this relationship. Most useful is the look into how to recognize and intervene at an early enough age to help alleviate the possibility of future violence as adults. I particularly found the research form current inmates interesting. The link between animal cruelty by children and later violence as adults has been clearly proven. Interestingly enough the book asks more questions than it answers. It is clear that studies that are more comprehensive need to be performed but this is a great start. Comprehensive studies need to be created to look into this relationship to help build national awareness of the problem society is facing today. I would strongly urge area animal control and animal welfare advocates as well as social services agencies to use this book as a tool for growth and understanding. By looking into the environmental factors (family, housing and economic) we can learn what creates a violent offender and use the information to create programs for parents and victims of abuse to get help faster and more comprehensively. The book has many areas of highly statistical data that if you have not had statistics can be difficult to understand. Even though some places were a little challenging for me, I have gained an awareness of a national problem. These 2 women took years of work and writings and completed a meticulous look into what are the predictors of violence and steps needed to help stop the violence. They also looked into the weaknesses of the studies being reviewed. This book can only help professionals create better methodology for a longitudinal study that can answer the question of how to predict violent offenders at an earlier age and hopefully create tools to stop it from escalating. I feel animal control agencies would greatly benefit from the chapter on violent offenders and the case studies they highlight. This will help them to identify risks while on the job.