I believe this one was co-sponsored by Ang and bones. California Animal-Abuse Registry: Lawmakers Propose Bill - TIME Excerpt... Cruelty to animals, it is said, is often a precursor to graver crimes. So would there not be some usefulness to a registry of individuals convicted of felony animal abuse? Legislators in California want the Golden State to be the first to establish such a record just as California was the first in the nation to create a registry of sex offenders.
I hope Knee-Knee doesn't have any pets. I think it's a good idea, because almost all serial killers started out torturing animals. When looking for a criminal that has deviant behavior, that registry would be a good place to start. Plus, it would keep them from getting other animals to abuse in the future from legit places.
This is a violation of privacy IMO. Although I think it kind of is for pedophiles and other sex offenders, they are a danger to people and their kids, and their extremely high chance of repeat offending makes it justifiable. THis just goes to far IMO, as much as I love animals and think these people are scum that would abuse animals
I have no problem with maintaining a database of convicted animal abusers if it's used, say, by animal shelters to try to keep these people from getting another pet to abuse. After all, that information is public record - it's just being put into one place to access it more easily and effectively. But the whole premise of using it to predict future behavior is wrong. Dead wrong. While many violent felons (murderers, kidnappers, rapists, etc.) start out abusing animals, not all animal abusers go on to bigger and better things. In fact most don't.
That smells an awful lot like the argument that criminalizing weed is a good idea because almost all meth and heroin addicts started out smoking weed. And of course it's bogus. If you want to convince me, find out how many people that have abused animals actually graduate to being serial killers. Like pot smokers, I'd guess it's a tiny fraction of a fraction of a percent.