5/14/2014
It's a connection that many people might not know about: 85 percent of women and 63 percent of children seeking shelter from domestic violence report animal abuse in the home.
UNM law students propose animal welfare court
It's a connection that many people might not know about: 85 percent of women and 63 percent of children seeking shelter from domestic violence report animal abuse in the home.
For months now, UNM law students Laura Castille and Amber Macias-Mayo researched the issues and found a connection between animal abuse and domestic violence.
They found that many times in the cases they studied, animals had been used in domestic violence situations as a way to control their victims. They also found many of the suspects in those cases were never prosecuted for animal cruelty.
Macias-Mayo and Castille shared those findings with the State Bar of New Mexico.
"It's not shocking enough to enforce and even prosecute people for acts of animal cruelty," Macias-Mayo said.
That's why the duo believes the Albuquerque metro needs an animal welfare court.
Tucson's Pima County has a specialty court that enforces animal cruelty laws to help protect families.
"It's not just trying to protect our dogs and cats and our home," Macias-Mayo said.
This specialty court would either sentence the suspect to jail or counseling that the suspect would have to pay for.
Macias-Mayo and Castille have learned local judges want to meet with the to talk about possibly bringing a similar court to the metro.
"I'm glad we had the idea and they have the knowledge to just get the discussion going," Macias-Mayo said.
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