Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 4:39 AM
Subject: Is your child a killer ? please read on ....
Out of 135 criminals, including robbers and rapists, 118 admitted that when they were children they burned, hanged and stabbed domestic animals. - Ogonyok (1
Think Again: MORNING SHOWS THE DAY
www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=30&id=224963&usrsess=1
Violence against animals is a prelude to violence against human beings. Behavioural research has revealed that criminals share a common history of cruelty to animals. So please stop your child when he pelts stones at dogs or stamps a scuttling ant, says Maneka Gandhi
Parents instill the fear of animals in children. They, often inadvertently, teach them that animals are irrelevant in the general scheme of things. No child is born with the understanding that he or she is the monarch of the natural kingdom. He loves animals as god loves his creatures. By the time he is three years old, this aberration is knocked out of his psyche. I have seen so many parents apologise shamefacedly: "My son is so very peculiar, he loves animals more than anything else. He cries when he sees cruelty". "My daughter carries home all hungry animals in the streets. We need to scold her all the time," said a concerned mother. An outing to the zoo is considered an entertainment. Parents laugh when their children sneer at the caged creatures.
How many times have you seen a child being cruel to an animal while his parents look on fondly? Stamping a scuttling ant, killing a lizard, hitting a dog or pelting stones at a starved cat are scenes that often meet the eye. Parents buy their children air guns, which are used to wound crows and sparrows.
Behavioural research on prisoners and countless legal cases has shown that a correlation exists between animal abuse in childhood and the later propensity to violence. Criminals share a common history of cruelty to animals. The American Humane Association has gathered evidence from years of research by psychologists all over the world. The data alerts prosecutors, judges and social leaders of the importance of animal cruelty that points to disturbed family relationships and future anti-social behaviour. If your child likes killing insects and hurting dogs you should be alert so as not to let his violent mentality aggravate. Remember you aren't nurturing an empire builder or anything of the sort whose future home might well be Tihar.
Alan Felthouse and Stephen Kelert studied 1152 aggressive and non aggressive criminals. Around 82 per cent showed signs of severe repetitive cruelty towards animals when they were young adults. Researchers suggest that a child who learns aggression against living creatures is more likely to rape, abuse and kill human beings.
Dr Daniel Hellman and Dr Nathan Blackman studied 82 prisoners in a bid to unveil the hidden workings of their minds. They noted that as many as 31 prisoners had the same combination of bedwetting and animal abuse.
In a study of 557 families convicted of child abuse Elizabeth Deviney, Jeffrey Dickert and Randall Lockwood found that animal cruelty was "the sign of a deeply disturbed family". They found that 88 per cent of the families culpable of mistreating children had history of animal abuse. In two thirds of the cases, the abusive parent had either beaten or killed an animal palpably to teach the child discipline. In one third of the cases children abused animals to vent anger. Michael Robin, Robert Bensel, Quigly and Anderson said that they found 34 per cent of delinquent adolescents owned pets, which had once been killed by their parents. About 17 per cent of delinquent adolescents said they abused animals out of sheer rage. Other studies have revealed that 58 per cent adult sexual homicide perpetrators reported high rates of childhood animal cruelty.
According to Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, animals are abused in 88 per cent of all families where childen are abused
. Serial murderers like Jefrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, Albert De Salvo and others begun their murderous careers by killing animasl.
. A 1985 study of federal penetentiaries found that more than 50 per cent of aggressive criminals reported at least five incidents of childhood cruelty to animals. Less than six per cent of non-aggressive criminals did so. None of the non-criminals interviewed for study reported any act of childhood cruelty to animals
. The FBI has recognised the link between cruelty towards animals and violence and uses it as a tool to identify suspects. In a 1994 report it stated that cruelty to animals was a trait that regularly appeared on its computer records of serial rapists and killers
. A 1995 paper presented at the International Conference on Family Violence in New Hampshire reported that 71 per cent of women seeking shelter from spousal violence reported that their male abusers had threatened, harmed or killed animals
. It goes the other way as well. An analysis of animal cruelty cases in Massachusetts from 1975 to 1996 revealed that 70 per cent of the animal abusers also had criminal records. About 40 per cent had been convicted of violent crimes.
Allen Brantley, FBI's supervising special agent, said, "Taking animal cruelty seriously offers an opportunity to intervene in violent households and with violent individuals. 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." The only reason why I cite these statistics is that no work has yet been done on the issue in India. The man who whips his bullock the whole day has little respect for his wife or children. The boy who kicks a passing animal is bound to be a wife-beater if not worse. The man who believes that all animals should be killed because he wants streets to be clean is an aberration on the human race
. (To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in
* . * . *
There's a boy in class who looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. But give him a cricket bat and he turns into a hitter. He doesn't strike a ball; instead, he lashes out at others in the playground.
What makes achild turn violent, or even into a killer? Less than a week after Abhishek Tyagi of Gurgaon's Euro International School was killed by his classmates, questions are still being asked. How does a student pull a trigger?Are there signs that achild may be treading the dangerous path of extreme violence?
Calcutta-based consultant psychiatrist Rima Mukherji is not the least bit surprised that achild can turn into a killer. "Children are capable of extreme violence and can go to the extent of killing. Children have used wickets and bats to attack each other and have even killed and tried to hide the corpse," she says.
Experts say the signs of violent behaviour are visible from an early age. "Such children are easily irritable, have poor concentration, are destructive by nature and insensitive to others' feelings," says Bhavna Barmi, senior psychologist, Escorts Hospital, Delhi.
In a competitive, performance-driven society where inter-personal relations have taken a beating, violence is sometimes the easy way out for the young. "I see children as young as four with such behavioural problems," says Barmi. She argues that when parents have little time to spend with their children, achild feels it can draw attention with aggression — which initially starts with a tantrum.
Of course, more often than not it's achild's environment that leads to violence. According toThe Daily Telegraph, the UK newspaper, recent research has shown that a loveless, abusive or chaotic upbringing can do long-term damage to the brain. A project, carried out in a Romanian orphanage by Mary Carlson from the Harvard Medical School, says the lack of physical affection can cause an abnormal release of cortisol, the stress hormone that stunts physical stature and mental abilities. It also found that 85 per cent of those who had been maltreated as children, and had a gene associated with low activity, were much more likely to have demonstrated anti-social behaviour, such as convictions for violent crime.
In a site calledviolentkids. com, US-based forensic psychologist Helen Smith lists the warning signs.Children on the brink of extreme violence show cruelty to animalsand smaller children, have an abnormally morbid fascination with violence and death and like to play with fire. They talk about killing or harming others, throw uncontrolled tantrums and are narcissistic.
Smith recounts her meeting with a juvenile killer before he had committed the crime in an article published inThe Christian Science Monitor in October, 1997. "Alarm bells immediately went off in my head as I noted the glazed eyes and withdrawn stance," she writes. "I knew it was only a matter of time before his short fuse would dangerously ignite. Two weeks later, I got the news that my patient had... killed a man."
Mukherji says almost 10 per cent of children in the 3-6 age group who come for counselling show aggressive behaviour. "Aggressive children usually fall into three types: those who are temperamentally aggressive, those who feel emotionally neglected and those who've faced aggression themselves," she says.
The early signs of violence, the experts say, are verbal or even mild physical assaults. As the troubled youngsters enter school, they develop an aversion to figures of authority, including prefects and principals. Soon they are known for their rebellious and bullying nature.
According to a Delhi school counsellor, four out of 10 students referred to her are involved in bullying. In the Gurgaon incident the two alleged killers said they were troubled by Tyagi's bullying ways.
Bullying or being bullied is often the cause of violence. On October 23, 1998, a Delhi boy stoned his junior to death. Chaman Singh (name changed), a class XI student of Army Public School, used to extort money from other students. He smashed the skull of 14-year-old Abhinav Singhal when he refused to pay up.
Experts say both the bully and the bullied need help. If the problem is not attended to, it can lead to a serious disorder. "In the Gurgaon incident the students would not have decided to shoot their classmate in one day. They would have been brooding over it for days. Children take such an extreme step when they have no positive thoughts, an overbearing feeling of frustration and helplessness that eventually makes them lose all logical thinking," says Geetanjali Kumar, counsellor at Hansraj Model School, Delhi.
There is, clearly, no one reason why some children are murderously violent. But children, the experts stress, follow adult behaviour.. "And in the adult world in India it is becoming increasingly permissible to be aggressive," says Samir Parikh, consultant psychiatrist at Max Healthcare, Delhi.
Violence is further propagated by what the young see in films, on television and the Internet.
Mukherji believes that domestic violence is more rampant in nuclear families. She feels the presence of relatives in a joint family can often mitigate violent acts on children carried out by parents. "A lot of aggression is caused by individuals who were bullied as children."
The signs are all there — but seldom noticed. Till last week, the two boys of Gurgaon were ordinary students, showing what their elders may have thought were the usual signs of aggressive teenagers. Today, they are being described as cold-blooded killers.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHUBHOBROTO
GHOSH IN CALCUTTA
* . * . *
|
|
|
The Telegraph, Calcutta Sunday,
December 16, 2007 |
Hong Kong Standard (By Timothy Chui 2008-04-14)
Pet abusers
`killers in the making'
Hundreds of protesters marched to demand better protection for
animals
yesterday in the wake of a series of sickening attacks.
Dressed in black and bearing white ribbons and flowers, the
group
gathered at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai to call for more
action.
A special focus was the killing of a cat last month for which 10
youths
- the youngest just 13 - have been arrested. ``It is time for
the
government to get serious because not enough is being done,''
Animal
Earth officer Cheung Yuen-man said.
``As for animal abusers, where is their compassion and caring? If
they
are allowed to continue to get away with their crimes, there is no
doubt
they will graduate into people killers when they grow up.''
After a moment of silence, Cheung led the procession to the High
Court
in Admiralty where a letter was left calling for heavier and
mandatory
sentences for animal-abuse crimes .
``These incidents are still happening because the penalties are
too
lenient,'' Animal Earth convenor David Wong Kai-yan said.
He said an animal rights volunteer had on Saturday found an adult
cat
that was apparently dissected.
The cat was mutilated and its hind legs dissected, but there was
no
blood where the carcass lay.
Speaking at the ceremony outside the Hong Kong Exhibition and
Convention
Centre, Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun called for
the
formation of a dedicated unit within the police to tackle
animal-abuse
cases.
He added the chances of mandatory sentencing being attached to
animal-
abuse laws, or any other law save for murder, were highly
unlikely.
Conservation activist Ho Loy said she is not holding her breath at
the
chances of government action, but she is studying the possibility
of
creating a response team for animal-abuse cases with the Lantau
Animal
Welfare Concern.
She is also looking at raising funds to provide a cash pool to
reward
informants who spot animal abuse.
``I think everyone is getting tired of criticizing the police. It
is
time for the grassroots to do what they can,'' she said.
New guidelines on the handling of animal-abuse cases were issued
by
police in January.
This was the result of a task force comprising the police, the Food
and
Environmental Hygiene and the Agriculture, Fisheries and
Conservation
departments and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals.
timothy.chui@singtaonewscorp.com
* . * . *
On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 9:56 PM,
Rishi Dev
wrote:
Dear
friends,
While this email was
copied to me and was send to H.T. with ref to the artilce, yet the
most interesting thing about this letter is the quotes that are
made and the references to how a tendency to abuse animals is a
prologue to a cold blooded serial killer of future. The ref is of
FBI and holds a lot of reserach credibility which must be shared..
Hence I am forwarding this email to all for ref. These facts must
be looked upon with much seriousness and also should be send to JNU
profesors at once.
Thanks Inara for
informing us about these facts
Rishi
----------
Forwarded message ----------
From: Inara
Shahnawaz
Date: Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 8:54 AM
Subject: Ref: Article published on July 23, 2008.
To: htreporters@hindustantimes.com,
feedback@hindustantimes.com
Dear
Editor,
I would like to
refer to your article
"Can anybody be punished for killing a dog?" published on page 9 of
your paper on July 23 2008
I am a
citizen of India and currently reside in the United States
of America.
All these years,
I have been depending on your newspaper and continue to do so to
get realistic, equitable and unbiased pieces of news bulletin.
However, the above stated article has let down all the expectations
and trust that I had in this newspaper over those many years. I
truly hope that this article did not mean to (though it has done)
support the heinous act done by a well-informed person doing his
Phd.
It was so
shocking, upsetting and disturbing to read that such a
reputed section of media as yours stooped down to bring up the
figures demonstrating the costs of a life! What are we trying to
prove here???
I thought of
bringing to light a few researches put forward by the
FBI.
"All
animal cruelty is a concern because it is wrong to inflict
suffering on any living creature. Intentional cruelty is a
particular concern because it is a sign of psychological distress
and often indicates that an individual either has already
experienced violence or may be predisposed to committing acts of
violence.
Is
there any evidence of a connection between animal cruelty and human
violence?
Absolutely.
Many studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology during the
last 25 years have demonstrated that violent offenders frequently
have childhood and adolescent histories of serious and repeated
animal cruelty.
The FBI has recognized the connection since the 1970s, when its
analysis of the lives of serial killers suggested that most had
killed or tortured animals as children. Other
research has shown consistent patterns of animal cruelty among
perpetrators of more common forms of violence, including child
abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse. In fact, the American
Psychiatric Association considers animal cruelty one of the
diagnostic criteria of conduct disorder.
Why
would anyone be cruel to animals?
There
can be many reasons. Animal cruelty, like any other form of
violence, is often committed by a person who feels powerless,
unnoticed, and under the control of others. The motive may be to
shock, threaten, intimidate, or offend others or to demonstrate
rejection of society's rules. Some who are cruel to animals copy
things they have seen or that have been done to them. Others see
harming an animal as a safe way to get revenge on someone who cares
about that animal. "
Source
–
www.hfus.org
Having said all,
I sincerely look forward to an article which condemns showing ZERO
TOLERANCE towards this horrendous act by a student. And with this I
also hope that I and many others like me then continue to respect
and trust your esteemed newspaper.
Thanks in
advance for your help.
Regards,
Inara
Ali
