Addressing Animal Abuse: A Content Analysis of Introductory Criminal Justice Textbooks

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

As illustrated by the fact that all 50 states now have felony animal cruelty laws and the FBI has recently begun recording the crime of animal cruelty in its National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), there is growing recognition by lawmakers and criminal justice professionals that animal abuse should be taken seriously and properly addressed by the criminal justice system. This poster presents findings from a content analysis that was performed of recently published and widely used introductory criminal justice textbooks to determine whether these texts share this sentiment by paying attention to the crime of animal abuse. The purpose of this study was to determine whether animal abuse is given consideration in college criminal justice textbooks, and if so, to assess how extensive and meaningful such coverage is. Results are discussed and implications of findings are offered.

Author

• Jen Girgen, Salem State University