Neglecting Nonhuman Animals: A Content Analysis of Introductory Criminal Justice and Criminology Textbooks

As illustrated by the fact that all states now have felony anti-cruelty laws and the FBI has begun tracking some forms of nonhuman animal abuse in its National Incident-Based Reporting System, there is growing recognition by lawmakers and criminal justice professionals that the abuse of animals should be taken seriously and properly addressed by the criminal justice system. This article assesses 19 popular introductory criminal justice and criminology textbooks to determine whether these texts share this sentiment by giving attention to this offense. Results indicate that animal abuse is given no, or only minimal, attention in most of these textbooks, and when it is included, it tends to be framed more as an environmental problem than one of violence or morality. The article concludes with a call to textbook authors and publishers to better include animal abuse within their texts and offers suggestions for how to accomplish this.