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The Companion Animal Protection Act

 

Why Our Justice System Needs Reform

In Des Moines Iowa, a 71 year old man has been behind bars for ‘30' years. His crime, he lit a cigarette while intoxicated, setting a fire in his apartment that unintentionally killed 5 people. He has been incarcerated for 30 years because of a deadly accident. Did he wake up that morning and think to himself, ‘I’m going to kill 5 people today’? NO! These are the types of crimes that fill our prisons today.
 
A 5 year old girl is dead, and the mother’s boyfriend was just arrested on child pornography charges. They found over 1,000 images on his computer hard drive. He was convicted before this for digitally penetrating a minor, a very young girl, with minimal charges and punishment. He was seen by a psychiatrist for 6-8 weeks who concluded he was, ‘not a danger’ and should be released. Did he wake up that morning with thoughts of child pornography, and the intentions of his next victim? YES! Unfortunately, this is the case with the majority of these criminals, they are let out early for completing therapy, or good behavior.
 
Another crime that is over-looked and under-punished is animal torture, abuse, and animal cruelty. This is a crime of inflicting inhumane, unreasonable, severe, harsh distressing, pain and suffering to animals. Does this type of person wake up with thoughts on how he can cause pain and suffering that day? YES! Many times the inflicter is a habitual offender to these and other similar crimes such as child abuse and possibly murder as mentioned above. They are not punished accordingly because their victim ‘was just an animal’.
 
We must take a closer look at our justice system and ask our courts to revise and correct these errors of punishment. Charges and punishments against animal abusers are usually classified as misdemeanors. This means they are guilty, but not subjected to the same prison regulations as a criminal, nor considered as a person convicted of a crime, and is treated in a manner that makes it of no practical value. I find this very appalling, the horror of these crimes fill me with a chilling fear, and I believe my fear should be recognized in a court of law and be constituted and regarded as lawful.
 
Sally Hayward, Vice President
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Four Legged Justice-NOW!!