Community Should Fear Future Incidents, Say Experts

For more information, please visit HelpingAnimals.com. Video footage of the vicious attack on this dog can be viewed at PETATV.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=skateboard_abuse.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the world’s largest animal rights organization, with more than 800,000 members and supporters dedicated to animal protection. This letter concerns a recent cruelty-to-animals case that your office is handling, involving Joshua Benjamin Johnson and Kevin Ward Wright, both 17. The defendants face felony charges stemming from their reported beating of a hapless stray dog in a West Twohig Avenue parking garage earlier this year. Video footage of the alleged incident appears to show the accused repeatedly bludgeoning the unsuspecting animal¯who had been sitting motionless, quietly resting beside a vending machine¯with a skateboard across her face and neck. Local officials could not confirm whether the dog, who may have received fatal blows from Johnson and Wright, was ever found.

We have viewed the video footage apparently recorded by the suspected perpetrators of this cowardly attack, and—even amidst the barrage of cruelty cases we contend with every week—we consider Johnson and Wright’s alleged actions some of the most heinous and idiotic we’ve encountered in recent memory. We understand that the accused are scheduled to answer these charges in court on Tuesday, July 6.

Mental health professionals and top law-enforcement officials consider animal abuse to be a red flag. The American Psychiatric Association identifies cruelty to animals as one of the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorders, and the FBI uses reports of animal abuse in analyzing the threat potential of suspected and known criminals. Experts agree that it is the severity of the behavior—not the species of the victim—that matters (see enclosure).

FBI interviews with murderers showed that 36 percent had tortured and killed animals as children and that 46 percent had done so as adolescents. In recent years, many schools have suffered the tragic consequences of cruelty to animals that was ignored or casually dismissed. Mississippi’s Luke Woodham, 16; Kentucky’s Michael Carneal, 14; Arkansas’ Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11; Oregon’s Kip Kinkel, 15; Georgia’s Thomas "TJ" Solomon Jr., 15; and Colorado’s Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 17, who perpetrated killing sprees in their schools, all had histories of killing animals, as did serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert DeSalvo (the "Boston Strangler"), David Berkowitz (the "Son of Sam"), Russell Weston, and Lee Boyd Malvo.

With violence in our schools at an all-time high and given the undeniable connection between cruelty to animals and violence toward humans, it is imperative that animal abuse be taken seriously. On behalf of our thousands of members in Texas, we ask that, upon conviction and in addition to a period of incarceration, Joshua Johnson and Kevin Wright be required to undergo thorough psychiatric evaluations followed by mandatory counseling¯the safety of the community may depend on it. Because repeat crimes are the rule rather than the exception among animal abusers and given the appalling nature of the suspects’ alleged crime, we implore you to take every measure necessary to ensure that both are barred from all contact with animals and that any who may remain in their respective custodies are immediately seized.