Department of Sociology and Criminology Brown Bag Series Presents
Factors Influencing Arrest in U. S. Animal Cruelty Cases: An exploration of NIBRS data, 2020-2022
From Dr. Tiffany Rogers
Animal cruelty research in the United States follows two basic trends: 1) "the link" between violence between people and violence against animals, and 2) cultural factors influencing cruelty. NIBRS began collecting animal cruelty data in 2016, allowing exploration of incident characteristics and the decision to arrest. Unfortunately, NIBRS provides cruelty data as an aggregate measure, and differentiation of offenses by type has not been explored. We combined data from NIBRS and the Animal Welfare Institute to analyze the nuance of these incidents, using conjunctive analysis of case configuration (CACC), focusing on the arrest decision and the arrest outcomes. Our findings address two research questions:
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How do demographic characteristics of offenders influence arrest decisions in animal cruelty cases?
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To what extent does the severity of animal cruelty incidents—categorized by abuse type (e.g., intentional torture, neglect, organized cruelty, or sexual abuse)—impact arrest outcomes?
Join us March 27 at 3:30 p.m.
281 Bear Hall
Graduate Students Preparing for Southern Sociological Society
