Purpose: This bill would require that the FBI add animal cruelty as a separate category in its crime data reporting systems – including the National Incident Based Reporting System, the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, and the Law Enforcement National Data Exchange Program. For the first time, cruelty to animals would be listed as a separate offense category and data on these crimes maintained separately from other crimes.
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Status: Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Action: SUPPORT. Please contact your two U.S. Senators and urge them to support S. 2439. Tell your Senators that animal cruelty should be treated as the serious crime that it is.
Talking Points for your letter:
- The link between animal cruelty and other forms of societal violence is a national concern. Laws that enable law enforcement agencies to address animal cruelty improve the lives of animals.
- Reported incidents of animal cruelty do not receive the attention they deserve because there is no national system designed to track these crimes. Instead, when local and state police agencies report animal cruelty incidents to the FBI, they are labeled as “other offenses.” This makes it nearly impossible to access and respond to even the most basic information about animal cruelty crimes and their perpetrators.
- The time has come to improve our national reporting systems. S. 2439 would require the FBI to add animal cruelty as a separate category in its National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). This, in turn, will help law enforcement agencies track animal cruelty crimes, which will help stop the cycle of violence and allow researchers to study animal cruelty’s connection to other forms of societal violence.