Lacey Levitt – författare

Animal maltreatment includes physical or sexual abuse, neglect, or hoarding of animals, and all states have laws prohibiting various forms of animal maltreatment. About one-half have statutory provisions mandating or allowing courts to order forensic mental health assessments of individuals convicted of animal maltreatment offenses. Yet there are few resources on this topic for mental health and legal professionals and none that offer guidance for evaluations in animal maltreatment cases.Animal Maltreatment is the first book to provide an overview of animal maltreatment as a legal, clinical, and forensic issue. It offers guidance for mental health and legal professionals involved in the adjudication of animal maltreatment offenses, with a special focus on forensic mental health assessments in such cases. The book reviews the legal and social contexts of animal maltreatment and then describes research-based and clinical knowledge within the area. It offers perspectives on social and clinical responses in animal maltreatment cases and describes prospects for an area of forensic mental health assessment focused specifically on the forensic evaluation in cases of animal maltreatment. This is the first book that brings together descriptions of the characteristics of those who maltreat animals, factors associated with animal maltreatment behaviors, information about the impact on the animals themselves, and evaluations of offenders to assist courts in decisions about their rehabilitation. Animal Maltreatment will be of great benefit and interest to general and forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, as well as lawyers, legal scholars and students, veterinarians, humane law enforcement professionals, and others involved in animal welfare advocacy.

Animal maltreatment includes physical or sexual abuse, neglect, or hoarding of animals, and all states have laws prohibiting various forms of animal maltreatment. About one-half have statutory provisions mandating or allowing courts to order forensic mental health assessments of individuals convicted of animal maltreatment offenses. Yet there are few resources on this topic for mental health and legal professionals and none that offer guidance for evaluations in animal maltreatment cases.Animal Maltreatment is the first book to provide an overview of animal maltreatment as a legal, clinical, and forensic issue. It offers guidance for mental health and legal professionals involved in the adjudication of animal maltreatment offenses, with a special focus on forensic mental health assessments in such cases. The book reviews the legal and social contexts of animal maltreatment and then describes research-based and clinical knowledge within the area. It offers perspectives on social and clinical responses in animal maltreatment cases and describes prospects for an area of forensic mental health assessment focused specifically on the forensic evaluation in cases of animal maltreatment. This is the first book that brings together descriptions of the characteristics of those who maltreat animals, factors associated with animal maltreatment behaviors, information about the impact on the animals themselves, and evaluations of offenders to assist courts in decisions about their rehabilitation. Animal Maltreatment will be of great benefit and interest to general and forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, as well as lawyers, legal scholars and students, veterinarians, humane law enforcement professionals, and others involved in animal welfare advocacy.

This innovative and prescient book offers a multidisciplinary framework which reconceptualizes maltreated animals as crime victims. Articulating more active and involved responses to animal maltreatment, Animals as Crime Victims provides guidance to attorneys, law enforcement personnel, veterinarians, and educators by reimagining how animals are positioned within the law.Lacey Levitt, David B. Rosengard, and Jessica Rubin bring together expert contributors from various fields who argue for reconceptualizing animals as crime victims and examine the legal ramifications of doing so. Chapters explore how recognition as crime victims not only makes animals and their own interests visible within the law but affords them substantive rights. Alongside a proposed legal framework, this incisive book details modern scientific discoveries regarding the complexity of animals' cognition and emotions and the historical and contemporary sociological shifts in our relationships with animals.Animals as Crime Victims will be a vital read for academics, students, and practitioners whose work focuses on animal maltreatment, animal law, or human-animal studies. Including in-depth examples, practical information, and exploration of substantive law alongside legal theory, this book will be useful to lawyers, law enforcement personnel, criminologists, and veterinary and mental health professionals confronting crimes against animals or the humans committing them.