Animal Abuse Prosecution Project

APA recognizes animal cruelty and fighting not only as precursor crimes to family and interpersonal violent crime, but also violent crime that should be effectively prosecuted. To achieve this end, APA developed a statement of principles regarding the prosecution of animal cruelty crimes and continues to provide a national technical assistance network as well as produce a quarterly newsletter, the Lex Canis. APA has also partnered with various animal welfare and other law enforcement organizations to hold an annual Animal Abuse and Fighting Summit to continue to develop ideas to fight animal cruelty and fighting.

APA Animal Cruelty and Fighting Statement of Principles:

• Animals are sentient beings with the undeniable capacity to suffer pain.
• Every state’s criminal code recognizes animals’ capacity to suffer, with 49 states identifying certain acts of animal cruelty as felonies.
• There is a direct link between the criminal acts of animal abuse and interpersonal violence including murder, child abuse, domestic violence, and elder abuse.
• Under-enforcement of animal cruelty laws is directly correlated to a host of corrosive societal ills—such as animal fighting in gangs and the harming or killing of companion animals in domestic violence situations.
• Animal cruelty, both active and passive, is a crime of violence, and as such requires a prosecutor’s full attention, with the accompanying allocation of resources to hold the offenders accountable and achieve just results.
• Prosecutors, in exercising their professional discretion, should give animal cruelty cases priority and make certain they are handled in the same professional manner as other crimes of violence.

Animal Cruelty Advisory Committee Members:

Madeline Bernstein, President
spcaLA
Los Angeles, CA

Nancy Blaney, Director of Government Affairs
Animal Welfare Institute
Washington, DC

Nicoletta J. Caferri, Former Chief
Animal Cruelty Prosecutions
Queens County District Attorney’s Office

Sam Cogen, Sheriff
Office of the Sheriff
Baltimore, MD

Jennifer H. Chin, Esq., Vice President, Legal Advocacy
ASPCA
New York, NY

Lauryn Day, Assistant State Attorney
Chief of 9th Circuit Special Victims/Animal Cruelty Unit
Orlando, FL

Gillian Deegan, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney
Botetourt County
Fincastle, VA

Lora Dunn, Director of Criminal Justice Programs
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Portland, OR

Elaine Fehrs, Assistant State’s Attorney
Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office
Milwaukee, WI

Reese Frederickson, County Attorney
Pine County Attorney’s Office
Pine City, MN

Alexandra Gadeberg, Deputy District Attorney
Santa Clara County Office of the District Atty
San Jose, CA

Caroline A. Griffin, Esquire, Co-Founder
Show Your Soft Side Anti-Cruelty Campaign
Baltimore, MD

Dr. Maya Gupta, Ph.D., Senior Director of Applied Research
Strategy, Research & Development
ASPCA

Nicole Harris, JD, Contract Attorney
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Portland, OR

Jill Hollander, Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney
Atlanta Judicial Circuit
Atlanta, GA

Ashley Mauceri, Law Enforcement Outreach Director
The Humane Society of the United States
Washington, DC

Melinda D. Merck, DVM
Veterinary Forensics Consulting, LLC
Austin, TX 78705

Kris Otteman, DVM
ABVP Shelter Medicine, CAWA
Courtesy Faculty, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University
Portland, OR

Gale Rasin, Senior Judge
Baltimore City Circuit Court-8th Jud. Circuit
Chestertown, MD

Sherwin Safir, Unit Chief
Animal Crimes Unit
Nassau County District Attorney’s Office
Mineola, NY

Amy Taylor, Investigator
Office of the Attorney General
Richmond, VA

Michelle Welch, Senior Assistant Attorney General
Director of the Animal Unit
Office of the Attorney General
Richmond, VA