Zoosadism

2020-04-10T14:20:11Z

75.73.25.111: Removed completely irrelevant text, and cleaned up sentence for conciseness and clarity

'''Zoosadism''' is [[pleasure]] derived from [[cruelty to animals]]. It is part of the [[Macdonald triad]], a set of three behaviors that are considered a precursor to [[Psychopathy|psychopathic behavior]].<ref name=macdonald>{{cite journal|author=J. M. MacDonald|title=The Threat to Kill|journal=American Journal of Psychiatry|volume=120|issue=2|pages=125–130|year=1963|doi=10.1176/ajp.120.2.125}}</ref>

==Research==
Some studies have suggested that individuals who are [[cruel to animals]] are more likely to be violent to humans. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'':

{{cquote|The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] has found that a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appear in its computer records of [[Serial rape|serial rapists]] and [[Serial killer|murderers]], and the standard diagnostic and treatment manual for psychiatric and emotional disorders lists cruelty to animals as a diagnostic criterion for [[conduct disorder]]s.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Goleman | first = Daniel | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Child's Love of Cruelty May Hint at the Future Killer | newspaper = New York Times | pages = | year = | date = 7 August 1991 | url = | postscript =  }}</ref>}}

Helen Gavin wrote however in ''Criminological and Forensic Psychology'' (2013):

{{cquote|This is not a universal trait, though. [[Dennis Nilsen]] had difficulty initiating social contact with people, but loved his faithful companion, Bleep, a mongrel bitch. After his arrest, he was very concerned for her welfare, as she was taken to the police station too.<ref name="Helen Gavin 2013 120">{{cite book|author=Helen Gavin|title=Criminological and Forensic Psychology|pages=120|year=2013}}</ref>}}

Alan R. Felthous reported in his paper "Aggression Against Cats, Dogs, and People" (1980):

{{cquote|A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well, including one patient who had murdered a boy.<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Felthous | first = Alan R. | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Aggression Against Cats, Dogs, and People | journal = Child Psychiatry and Human Development | volume = 10 | pages = 169–177 | date = | year = 1980 | url = | doi = 10.1007/bf01433629| id = | postscript =  }}</ref>}}

This is a commonly reported finding, and for this reason, [[cruelty to animals]] is often considered a warning sign of potential violence towards humans.

==Legal status==
In the [[United States]], since 2010, it has been a federal offense to create or distribute "obscene" depictions of "living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians ... subjected to serious bodily injury".<ref>[[Ruthann Robson|Robson, Ruthann]] (2010-12-14) [http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2010/12/animal-porn-criminalized-by-federal-law-again.html Animal Porn - Criminalized by Federal Law Again] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415045939/http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2010/12/animal-porn-criminalized-by-federal-law-again.html |date=2011-04-15 }}, ''Constitutional Law Prof Blog''</ref> This statute replaced an overly broad 1999 statute<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/48.html|title=18 U.S. Code § 48 - Animal crush videos|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|accessdate=23 April 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121143325/http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/48.html|archivedate=21 November 2011}}</ref> which was found unconstitutional in ''[[United States v. Stevens]]''.

==Criticism of alleged link to violence against humans==
Critics of the concept of a propensity for cruelty to humans cite the fact that animals can be cruel to some animals yet caring to other animals. The exact arguments vary, but most critics claim that psychiatric and criminological studies are subject to [[institutional bias]] and [[self-fulfilling prophecy|self-fulfilling prophecies]].<ref>[[Mad in America|Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill]], 2002 RobertWhitaker</ref><ref>The Unpredictable Species: What Makes Humans Unique by Lieberman, P 2013</ref> It is also pointed out that [[correlation does not prove causation]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/caseforanimalexp00foxm|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/caseforanimalexp00foxm/page/76 76]|quote=cruelty to animals humans correlation causation.|title=The Case for Animal Experimentation: An Evolutionary and Ethical Perspective|first=Michael Allen|last=Fox|date=23 April 1986|publisher=University of California Press|accessdate=23 April 2018|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

On the other hand, [[Piers Beirne]], a professor of [[criminology]] at the [[University of Southern Maine]], has criticized existing studies for ignoring socially accepted practices of violence against animals, such as [[animal slaughter]] and [[vivisection]], that might be linked to violence against humans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=criminology |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2017-11-08 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107021521/http://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=criminology |archivedate=2017-11-07 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bloodsport]]
* [[Cruelty to animals]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.forensicnursemag.com/articles/411clinical.html Four-legged Forensics: What Forensic Nurses Need to Know and Do About Animal Cruelty]

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Zoosadism