The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome

In a seven page New York Times article, "The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome," it tells of a story, for example purposes, where a two year old pit bull was doused in gasoline and set alight. It later goes on to say that animal abusers are led to this because they were abused or have psychological issues and will later become much more dangerous consisting of homicide, drug trafficking, rape, spousal and child abuse, and other illegal matters. This article also tells us that policemen don't see animal abuse as a top priority because "they have enough stuff on their plate already," but their mentality is slowly starting to change.

The two year old pit bulls' case whose name was Phoenix was never solved and never fully looked into. Policemen working the case never engaged in a full-out investigation so therefore the abusers walked free.
The article told us that abusive parents had used animal cruelty as a way of controlling the behavior of others in the home. Animal abuse is basically a power-and-control crime. Also, if someone within the home sees a pet as a part of the family, the abuser will see this as intimidating and keep the subjects of his perceived realm in his thrall.

Children whom witness animal abuse may be a corrosive effect on their development and further toward the end of the article the author of this article tells us that animal-therapy programs draw on the same issues of power and control that can give rise to animal cruelty, but elegantly reverse them to more enlightened ends.