New AWI Grant Funds Analysis of Animal Cruelty Data to Better Protect Animals and Communities

Washington, DC—The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has awarded an inaugural research grant to encourage the analysis of animal cruelty data to identify distinct characteristics of animal abusers, leading to more targeted intervention and prevention efforts.

Abigail Schweiger, who is pursuing a doctorate in social work at Saint Louis University, will receive a $3,500 stipend to use data acquired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) pertaining to sociodemographics and animal cruelty offenses to construct profiles of animal abusers in the United States. To inform both policy and practice, Schweiger plans to present her research findings in publications and at local or national conferences on social work, criminology, and/or animal welfare.

Last year, AWI launched the Center for the Study of NIBRS Animal Cruelty Data to provide updated animal cruelty data through a condensed version of the NIBRS database. Law enforcement agencies throughout the United States use NIBRS to submit crime data to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

AWI was instrumental in convincing the FBI, in 2014, to include animal cruelty as a distinct crime category within NIBRS. Previously, animal cruelty incidents—to the extent they were reported at all by state and local law enforcement officials—were consigned to the “miscellaneous crimes” category in NIBRS, making retrieval and analysis of data on such incidents all but impossible. Reporting of animal cruelty crimes to NIBRS began in 2016.

“AWI has actively encouraged policymakers, researchers, and advocates to analyze NIBRS animal cruelty data and identify trends to promote effective interventions that protect both animals and people,” said Claire Coughlin, director of AWI’s Companion Animal Program. “We were impressed by this proposal’s focus on examining animal cruelty crime patterns to build distinct offender profiles, which addresses a gap in existing research.

"I’m incredibly grateful to the Animal Welfare Institute for supporting my research in this understudied area of crime and proud to contribute to their mission,” Schweiger said. “This grant provides me with the opportunity to analyze animal cruelty offense patterns in hopes of informing more targeted prevention and intervention efforts that protect both animals and communities."

The application deadline for the next NIBRS grant funding cycle is expected to be announced this fall.