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History
- Referred to finance
Full text
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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S6401
Title of bill
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the creation of an animal cruelty and animal fighting database
Purpose of bill
The purpose of this bill is to require the establishment and maintenance of a database for the collection and analysis of information relating to crimes against animals. The information contained in this database would be available to various law enforcement and humanitarian agencies.
Summary of provisions
Section one explains how studies have demonstrated that violent offenders often have histories of repeated animal cruelty.
Section two amends the executive law by adding section 837-s which stipulates that the division shall establish and maintain a crime database on all crimes of animal cruelty and fighting in New York State. Data must be collected and displayed in such a manner that facilitates analysis. The database shall include, but not be limited to, names of people convicted under article 26 of the agriculture and markets law as well as the specific acts of animal cruelty that were the basis of conviction. Also, the database shall include information on persons who have pled guilty to other charges in satisfaction of the animal cruelty/fighting charge. The database shall be both in print and electronic form, and be available to all law enforcement officers, district attorneys, humane societies for the prevention of animal cruelty, dog or cat protective associations, and animal control officers.
Section 3 sets out the effective date.
Justification
Since the 1970s, the FBI has linked the repeated instances of animal killing and torture with its analyses of the lives of serial killers. Studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology have further demonstrated that violent offenders often have childhood and adolescent histories of repeated and serious animal abuse. Other research has shown consistent patterns of animal cruelty among the perpetrators of other forms of violence such as child abuse, spousal abuse, and elder abuse. Because the American Psychiatric Association considers animal cruelty one of the diagnostic criteria of conduct disorder, creating a database to analyze the incidences of animal cruelty will provide a valuable resource for law enforcement officials who seek to establish a link between animal cruelty and related crimes.
Prior legislative history
S.8433 of 2009-2010 Referred to Rules S.3971 of 2011-2012 Referred to Finance
Fiscal implications
Minimal.
Effective date
June 1, 2015 provided that, effective immediately, the division of criminal justice services shall promulgate rules and regulations as it deems necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act, on or before such effective date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.