Virginia Bench Guide for Addressing the Link between Animal Abuse and Human Abuse

Juvenile and family court judges have an important role in preventing, addressing, and intervening in interpersonal violence against household members, including pets, in juvenile or family law cases. To increase awareness of the link between animal cruelty and interpersonal harm and to provide judges with a tool to consider the link in decisions they make, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) and the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) are collaborating to create state-specific “link” bench tools. NCJFCJ Bench Tool Project staff are working with interested judicial officers in each state to develop a bench tool specific to their state that contains relevant statutes, questions to ask, and orders. The bench tool will assist judicial officers to make decisions informed by how humans and companion animals are affected by violence or threats of violence or abuse in specific cases and how their safety and wellbeing can be best protected.

The NCJFCJ has developed tools for the states of DE, FL, GA, OR, and WI and is working with judges in the states of AZ, CO, KS, NE, NV, OH, and PA to develop a tool for their states.  If you would like to learn more about the NCJFCJ’s State-Specific Bench Tool Project, or be involved in assisting with the development of a tool for your states,
please contact:

Dr. Martha Blomquist at mblomquist@ncjfcj.org

Ms. Karen Brindisi at kbrindisi@ncjfcj.org