AWI’s new Center for the Study of NIBRS Animal Cruelty Data (the Center) provides easy access to a wealth of information on animal cruelty crimes derived from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). AWI staff members led the 12-year effort to convince the FBI, in 2014, to include animal cruelty as a distinct crime category within NIBRS. Previously, animal cruelty incidents were consigned to the “miscellaneous crimes” category, making them virtually impossible to track and analyze.
The addition of an animal cruelty crimes category to NIBRS was a major breakthrough. Once that had been accomplished, however, AWI recognized the further need to facilitate and promote the use of this data by researchers, policymakers, and animal advocates to better understand animal cruelty crimes and thereby inform intervention and prevention efforts. We set out, therefore, to gather the data and present it in a readily accessible and analyzable format.
The reporting of animal cruelty crimes to NIBRS began in 2016. Animal cruelty data from 2016 to 2022 is now available on the Center’s website as SPSS and Excel files, formats typically used by researchers. NIBRS animal cruelty data is released annually; data from 2023 and beyond will be posted as it becomes available.
A number of studies analyzing NIBRS animal cruelty data have already been published in professional journals, but analysis of animal cruelty data is not simply an academic exercise. Animal cruelty is also associated with other criminal behavior. As Dr. Mary Lou Randour, the Center’s coordinating consultant, explains: “The systematic analysis of animal cruelty crimes can lead to more effective interventions and encourage law enforcement to pay better attention to animal cruelty crimes. Our goal is to help both relevant professionals and the general public understand how these crimes impact not only the welfare of animals, but also the communities in which they live.” In addition to Mary Lou, Center personnel include Claire Coughlin, director of AWI’s Companion Animal Program, and Dr. Lynn Addington, a professor of justice, law, and criminology at American University.
A seven-member advisory board of researchers, law enforcement officials, and subject matter experts also helps guide the Center’s work and advance its mission. Advisory board member Keon Turner stated, “As past president of the Association of State Uniform Crime Reporting Programs, I am keenly aware of the importance of obtaining quality crime data. I am committed, along with my fellow advisory board members, to helping the Center promote awareness of the animal cruelty data available in NIBRS and to encouraging law enforcement to use the knowledge gained by analyzing this data to inform interventions and policies.” Read on to learn more about Keon and the rest of the Center’s distinguished advisory board.
Dr. Bethany L. Backes is an associate professor in the Violence Against Women Faculty Cluster at the University of Central Florida and holds a joint appointment in the School of Social Work. She has over 20 years of combined experience in direct services, research, and policy on gender-based violence. Her areas of scholarship broadly encompass research and evaluation on gender-based violence, including formal and informal help-seeking trajectories, secondary and tertiary violence prevention strategies, and criminal justice, health, and community-based interventions for intimate partner, sexual, and stalking violence.
Dr. Maya Gupta is senior director of research at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Her primary areas of expertise are in connections between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence, the psychology of animal cruelty, and program development and evaluation. More broadly, her interests extend to the application of social science and human service approaches to promoting animal welfare and improving human-animal relationships overall.
Dr. Brinda India Jegatheesan is an associate professor of learning sciences and human development, early childhood and family studies, and anthrozoology at the University of Washington. She serves on the board of directors for the International Society for Anthrozoology and on the editorial board for the Human-Animal Bond Research Initiative Foundation. In her research, she focuses on One Health/One Welfare approaches (involving human-animal interconnections), bioethics in animal-assisted interventions, and the role animals play in the psychological well-being of children.
Dr. Nathan H. Perkins is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago. His professional and research interests include physical and emotional sibling violence, as well as sibling violence and its intersection with family violence, interpersonal violence, and other types of violence. He also explores parental perceptions of physical and emotional sibling violence and the lack of policy that exists to address this form of family violence.
Keon Turner is the Data Analysis and Reporting Team (DART) manager for the Virginia Department of State Police and the past president of the Association of State Uniform Crime Reporting Programs. She has over a decade of experience with the collection, training, qualitative review, and dissemination of NIBRS data for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition to NIBRS data, the DART section she manages collects data related to the use of force, community policing, and photo speed monitoring.
Dr. Michael Vaughn is a William and Helen Reichmann Research Professor in the School of Social Work at Saint Louis University. He also serves as the associate dean of research and director of the university’s PhD program in social work. He has published widely on topics related to violence, drug abuse, and antisocial behavior, including the association between these phenomena and cruelty to animals.
Michelle Welch is a senior assistant attorney general and director of the Animal Law Unit for the Office of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is charged with addressing all animal law questions in Virginia and is called on by agencies all over the commonwealth to act as a special prosecutor in animal cruelty, animal fighting, and wildlife trafficking cases. She frequently advises local law enforcement authorities and prosecutors throughout Virginia, as well as across the nation and internationally, on issues related to the prosecution of animal cruelty crimes.