| 1970 | In a 1970's study conducted by the FBI of 36 convicted multiple murderers, 46% admitted to acts of animal torture as adolescents. Recognition of the link between cruelty toward animal and more general violence is now incorporated into FBI routine procedures. |
| 1980 | A 1980 study in England reviewed animal cruelty case histories of families and found that 83% were also known to human social service agencies for having children at risk of abuse or neglect. |
| 1983 | A 1983 survey of families investigated for suspected child abuse by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services found that 60% of the families also had documented cases of animal abuse. In most of the cases, it was the abusive parent who injured or killed the family pet. |
| 1985 | A 1985 study of aggressive and nonaggressive criminals incarcerated in federal penitientiaries found that 25% of aggressive criminals reported 5 or more incidents of animal abuse as compared to less than 6% of nonaggressive criminals, while 0% of the noncriminals interviewed for the study reported acts of cruelty to animals. |
| 1990 | Dr. Lynn Loar of the San Francisco Child Abuse Council stated in 1990: "Animal abuse is the first step in the cycle of violence and early intervention is the best way to prevent further abuse." |
| 1994 | A 1994 report from the FBI stated that cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appears in its computer records of serial rapists and killers: "The future killer's childhood concentration on violence will lead to an adulthood violence focus." |
| 1995 | A 1995 paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Family Violence held in Durham, New Hampshire, reported that 71% of women seeking shelter in northern Utah reported that their male abusers had threatened, harmed, or killed their pets. Further, of the women with children, 32% reported that one of their children had also committed acts of animal cruelty. |
| 1996 | An analysis of animal cruelty cases in Massachusetts from 1975 to 1996 revealed that 70% of the animal abusers in the study also had criminal records, and of these, 40% had been convicted of violent crimes. |
| 1997 | A 1997 study found that women in battered women's shelters reported their abusers victimized the family pet, threatening to harm or kill the animal in order to control the behavior of the women or their children. |
| 1997 | A 1997 study of families treated at Youth and Family Services in New Jersey for incidents of child abuse showed that in 88% of the families, animals were also abused. |
| 1998 | The FBI's Supervising Special Agent Allan Brantley of the Bureau's Investigative Support Unit explained, speaking before a 1998 congressional hearing, "Taking animal cruelty seriously offers an opportunity to intervene in violent households and with violent individuals." He continued, "Violence against animals is synonymous with a history of violence. In many cases we have examples whereby violence against animals is a prelude to violence against humans. You can look at cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans as a continuum." |
| 1998 | In seven months between October 1, 1997, and May 21, 1998, in four schools in Pearl,Mississippi, West Paducah,Kentucky, Jonesboro,Arkansas, and Springfield,Oklahoma, 12 were killed and 44 were wounded by four boys between the ages of 11 and 16 years old. These boys shared a common history: repeated acts of violence towards animals.
Serial killers Albert DeSalvo ("Boston Strangler"), David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam"), Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Carole Edward Cole, and Patrick Sherril all began their predatory careers at young ages by mutilating and killing dogs and cats, some of them their own pets. |
| 1998 | The Toledo Humane Society focused on a link between animal cruelty and organized crime and found that drug and weapons offenses often accompany dog fighting. |
| 1999 | In 1999 the National Domestic Violence Hotline listed 13 warning signs to determine if someone is a batterer. Number 6 states: "Cruelty to animals or children--insensitive to their pain and suffering, may tease and or hurt children and pets. |
