While it may seem like commonsense given how often we hear about animal cruelty crimes, the concept that animals can be crime victims is revolutionary within the legal system. The Animal Legal Defense Fund litigates, advocates, and educates to achieve progress in the law.
While it may seem like commonsense given how often we hear about animal
cruelty crimes, the concept that animals can be crime victims is
revolutionary within the legal system.
Intuitively we understand that animals are harmed by crimes like abuse and
neglect. But the law, which still considers animals as mere “property,” has
been slow to catch up. Though all 50 states have enacted laws that make
animal cruelty a crime, it does not necessarily mean that animals count as
crime victims under the law.
When animals are not considered crime victims, they are robbed of the full
protections they deserve. However, this is beginning to change—heralding a
significant advancement for the legal status of animals.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund is working with prosecutors, law enforcement,
and state legislators across the country to ensure that animals are
recognized as crime victims.
A Brief History of the Growth of Animal Cruelty Laws
The historical development of animal protection law in the United States
reveals a patchwork system—as the new states formed, they passed their own
laws against animal cruelty, protecting different animals from various types
of conduct, for differing reasons. While some early animal protection laws
demonstrated awareness that animals could suffer[1], the laws themselves
tended to focus on criminalizing cruelty as a matter of public morality,
protection of property, or human safety. Under these old laws, for example,
a person might be forbidden to hurt someone else’s animals—but was free to
be cruel to their own.
More recently, in no small part due to the efforts of the animal protection
movement, animal cruelty laws have become more clearly focused on shielding
animals from cruelty simply because they have the capacity to suffer—while
concurrently maintaining older protections stemming from property, public
order, and human safety. For example, it is now generally illegal for a
person to torture an animal—even if that animal is in their possession, or
if the abuse is hidden from the public. This shift has broadened protections
for animals and improved the legal position of animals in general.
Victims of Crime and Crime Victims: Not Just a Semantic Difference
Modern animal cruelty laws are best understood as being about both human and
animal interests. While the exact behavior criminalized by these laws—and
the level of protection provided by them—still varies by jurisdiction, there
is nowhere in the United States where an animal cruelty law does not shield
some animals from some harms. When a person violates an animal cruelty
statute and hurts an animal, the person’s actions have certainly made the
animal a victim of the person’s criminal conduct.
For example, a dog who has been beaten, a rooster used for cockfighting, or
a neglected cat have all been victimized by the person who committed those
crimes. Being the victim of a crime, however, is not the same as being a
“crime victim” under the law. The former applies to anyone who has been
harmed by someone else’s criminal act.
However, “crime victim” is a legally meaningful category, defined either in
statute or constitutionally, which gives crime victims access to certain
rights and protections. Once someone qualifies for crime victim status, they
enjoy certain legal rights within the criminal justice system. While details
vary by jurisdiction, these crime victim rights focus on ensuring crime
victims are acknowledged, respected, kept safe, and able to have a voice in
the criminal justice process.
Additionally, when a crime results in multiple victims, many jurisdictions
acknowledge each victim by ensuring that each victim ‘counts’ for sentencing
purposes.
Animals as Crime Victims Today and Moving Forward
Animals are increasingly achieving crime victim status, particularly as it
relates to which victims count at sentencing. Both federal and state courts
have recognized that each individual animal who suffered as a result of a
crime are crime victims for sentencing purposes—an important step forward
for animals and for justice. These decisions mean, in effect, that those who
commit criminal cruelty against animals no longer receive an ‘abuse one, get
the rest free’ sentence, where all their victims would be consolidated.
Courts today are also more willing to hear about how animal crime victims
have been individually impacted by the cruelty against them, much like any
other victim impact statement.
Finally, by authorizing courts to appoint volunteer attorneys and law
students to speak to the legal interests of animal crime victims, Courtroom
Animal Advocate Programs (CAAPs)—also known as Desmond’s Law— provide a
process for animal crime victims to properly fit into a modern, crime
victim-aware criminal justice system.
However, animal crime victims do not have every right held by human crime
victims. Clearly, not all crime victim rights are relevant to animals.
Animal crime victims are not, for example, likely to benefit from attending
court proceedings, consulting with the prosecutor, or being heard at
sentencing. There are, however, a range of crime victim rights whose
applicability to animal crime victims would address chronic issues that tend
to arise in animal cruelty cases.
In many cases, for example, animal victims are held in kennels pending
resolution of their abuser’s trial. Unfortunately, even the best kennel
environment tends to be detrimental to an animal’s long-term health[2].
Recognizing that animal crime victims have a legally enforceable interest—a
crime victim’s right, in other words—in having their case resolved without
undue delay would help spare these animal victims further trauma (and lower
the burden on cities and counties that must care for them). Concerns about
animals languishing in shelters while a criminal case proceeds has also led
to the rise of pre-conviction forfeiture statutes which help expedite the
placement of abused and neglected animals in foster or adoptive homes.
Similarly, while many jurisdictions have legal mechanisms for pre-conviction
restitution (allowing agencies caring for abused animals to recover their
expenses from the defendants), this does not always cover an animal crime
victim’s reasonable medical expenses.
In 2018, a horse named Justice, represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against his abuser to recover the costs of his ongoing medical care, directly related to his abuse, as well as his pain and suffering.
Justice suffered starvation, frostbite, and other grave injuries due to
Vercher’s failure to provide him with basic care, including food and
shelter. As a result of Vercher’s criminal neglect, Justice has permanent
injuries that will require costly medical care for the rest of his life.
But recognizing that people who are found guilty of
animal cruelty owe their victims restitution would help make that sort of
justice a baseline expectation.
One of the most important advances associated with recognizing animals as
crime victims is so subtle that it is easy to miss. Criminal law is about
more than making sure that perpetrators compensate victims—tort law
addresses recovery from harm. Our criminal justice system is also not solely
about enforcing government policy—the state can use civil fines and
administrative enforcement for such purposes. At its heart, our criminal
justice system recognizes that crimes against victims are attempts on the
part of the perpetrator to treat victims as nothing more than means to an
end—a way to gratify their anger or greed.
In response, our criminal justice system says to the perpetrator, victim,
and the public that the victim has intrinsic value. The victim matters
because they are someone, and the crime victim cannot be reduced to a mere
means to an end. This powerful statement, that a crime victim is a who, not
a what—a someone who matters, not a piece of evidence—represents a
significant step forward not only for individual animal crime victims, but
for justice.
Looking at the development of animal cruelty laws in the United States, it’s
clear that substantial progress has been made. The legal system is shifting
from a model where animal cruelty laws focused on furthering human interests
(such as property rights) to one that is beginning to recognize animals as
crime victims.
However, there is still considerable work to be done. To that end, the
Animal Legal Defense Fund works with state legislators to strengthen
criminal animal protection laws, provides free legal assistance to
prosecutors, law enforcement, judges, and veterinarians handling animal
cruelty cases, and files groundbreaking lawsuits to stop animal abuse and
expand the boundaries of animal law.
Footnotes:
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