This is a horrific story of a burglary where some sicko burglars thought that it would be fun to roast the pet dog in the oven:
She was able to find one of her dogs, a 6-year-old shi tzu named Pepper. But she was unable to find her other dog, a 1-year-old rat terrier. Police later found the dog burned to death in the oven, which had been set to 400 degrees.
The real sick part is that there are no laws keeping these people in prison for life, and the $9k bond is a joke. I think that anyone would tortures small animals should be imprisoned before they escalate into killing people:
Alexander Davis, 19 and Evelyn Jeanette Williams, 24, were arrested after police received an anonymous tip. Authorities suspect Davis also has burglarized another home in the area.
Davis is charged with two counts of burglary and one count of cruelty to animals, which is a felony. No bond has been set in his case. Williams has not been charged in the burglaries but was charged with theft by receiving stolen property. Her bond was set at $8,300.
Let's start a psychopath and sociopath registry
We have public reporting facilities for sex offenders and I wonder if we should encourage laws to warn the public about people who exhibit minor offenses that are recognized precursors to more serious crimes.
In this article, we see a clear correlation between animal abuse, insensitivity about the feelings of others, and violent criminal behavior. The act of deriving pleasure from exercising power over the weak and helpless (i.e. mocking sick or disabled people, torturing children and pets), appear to be classic signs of serious illness and a potential threat to society.
“Cruelty to animals has been identified as a symptom of disease. It's usually one of the earliest reported signs of conduct disorder, appearing as early as 6 and a half, and is also one of the better diagnostic indicators of a psychopathic personality. Animal cruelty is associated with increasingly violent behavior and is an indicator of the potential threat of escalating violence, abuse and criminal activity. . .
In 1996, Drs. D. S. Hellman and Nathan Blackman published their formal study on the link between human violence and animal abuse. Their analysis of 84 prison inmates' life histories showed that three fourths of these violent criminals had early records of cruelty to animals.
Many serial killers began their careers by torturing or murdering animals. Ted Bundy, executed in 1989 for 50 murders, spent much of his youth torturing animals. The Boston Strangler, Albert DiSalvo, who killed 13 women in the early 1960s, spent his youth trapping dogs and cats in orange crates and shooting arrows into them. And the infamous Jeffrey Dahmer tortured animals before he turned to young men.”
Studies show that these unspeakable acts, while not serious in and of themselves, can indicate a presidposition to excalating violence and that society has a right to be warned about these people. Convicted criminals loose their civil rights everyday, and I sometimes wonder if public identification of those with predatory sexual disorders and psychopathological behaviors might be appropriate.
The failure of the sex offenders registry
If the goal is to protect the public then the sex offender should be readily identifiable. This MSNBC article notes that over 15,000 registered sex offenders have gone missing because of Hurricane Katrina, and the existing regulations are falling short and even the new proposals are wanting:
“Last week in Washington, the House approved the Children's Safety Act, which would create a national Web site for child sex offenders and stipulates the sex felons face up to 20 years in prison for failing to comply with registration requirements.”
The scarlet letter of the 21st Century
If the goal is to warn people about those predisposed to commit certain crimes, a more active identification system is required. I don’t like the registered sex offenders program because it is passive and you have to check to see the sex offenders in your area. The SexOffender.com database provides access to registered sex offenders, and it’s scary to find out how many potential predators live in my NC area. There are six registered sex offenders within a few miles of my house, but I'm more concerned about people who have a history of torturing the weak.
I firmly believe the statistics that show that people who are convicted of tormenting animals, children and sick or disabled people should also be in some sort of registry, and I'm far more concerned about the threats of these types of sicko’s than from the sex offenders.
We require identification and warning for convicted sex offenders, why not a public registry for anyone caught displaying sociapathic apathetic behaviors? Hey, the scarlet letters worked great for the Puritans and allowed them to identify a hussey, why not the same for these deviants? Charles Manson has a great idea, maybe forehead tattoo's:
