Animal Cruelty and Family and Interpersonal Violence
State-Specific Link Bench Tools
As a resource to assist judges handling family law matters (domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse,
juvenile offending, divorce, and custody), the NCJFCJ, in partnership with the ALDF, is developing state-
specific bench tools to inform judges of the interconnections and link between animal abuse and
interpersonal violence as well as the measures available, through state laws, to address the safety needs
of children, adults, and pets experiencing abuse. Created with input from state judges, each bench tool
is tailored to a state’s statutes, judicial authority, and resources.
Arizona
View Bench ToolColorado
View Bench ToolFlorida
View Bench ToolGeorgia
View Bench ToolKansas
View Bench ToolNebraska
View Bench ToolNevada
Oregon
View Bench ToolWisconsin
View Bench ToolJudge Rosa Figarola, (ret.) Senior Judge, FL, active in NCJFCJ’s work to develop education and resources for judges, notes that one way to address the link is for judges to ask about pets in cases involving troubled homes. “When judges bring minors into chambers… it’s …useful to ask children questions such as ‘Do you have any pets?’ ‘What happens to the pets?’ …Examining the treatment of pets can yield clues about hidden family dynamics.”
Judge Rosa Figarola (Ret.) talked with Wendy Lyons Sunshine on how the human-animal bond can inform domestic violence and child placement cases during Animal Cruelty Prevention Month. Children, especially, tend to remain quiet about domestic problems they witness or experience. Often, in “these families, kids have been indoctrinated not to talk to people about what’s happening in the house,” says Figarola. “Kids are smart and know that they’re being brought into court; they may have fears that they’re going to be removed.”
