An Investigation of Animal Cruelty Cases in Ohio
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Date
2019-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Animal cruelty is widespread, affecting millions of animals each year. All US states have enacted felony-level animal cruelty legislation. Reporting is not standardized and there has been minimal research into the metrics of these crimes at the state or national level. In Ohio, Goddard’s Law revised penalties such that intentional cruelty leading to serious harm can be charged as a 5th degree felony instead of a misdemeanor. The goal of this project is to analyze case records associated with animal cruelty charges filed in Ohio to identify trends and associations including a comparison of data before and after Goddard’s Law took effect on September 13, 2016.
A public records request was sent to all 231 Municipal, County, and Common Pleas courts in Ohio requesting records for each animal cruelty charge filed over a three-year period. For those that did not respond within four months, the request was repeated. Official online court records, when available, were used to resolve incomplete data. Relevant case information was manually entered into Microsoft Excel and all analysis were conducted using statistical software. Of 231 courts, 212 (92%) responded to the public records request, including at least 1 court from every county. In total, 2,499 charges were filed including 96 (4%) felonies and 2,311 (92%) misdemeanors. Franklin County reported the most, 557/2,499 (22%). The most common outcomes included 1,101/2,339 (47%) dismissed and 971/2,339 (42%) guilty. Jail time was ordered for 696/2,339 (30%) of the charges, though all except 208/696 (30%) of jail terms were suspended; 281/2,339 (12%) resulted in some type of animal restriction and 583/2,339 (25%) resulted in fines. Charges were filed against 1,165 people, including 205/466 (44%) women and 261/466 (56%) men.
This study is the first to examine animal cruelty crimes in Ohio and will provide valuable information for policymakers and those working in law enforcement and animal welfare sectors.
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Keywords
animal cruelty, Ohio, legislation, felony, misdemeanor