Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics

International Conference on the Relationship between Animal Abuse and Human Violence

Conference Programme

The one-day conference includes 22 presentations within 2 parallel tracks, as well as keynote presentations. There will be a post conference drinks reception and gala dinner. Overnight accommodation at Keble College is available. The full academic programme can be downloaded below. The conference language will be English.

Animal abuse and interpersonal violence: an overview of past research and pathways to future study
Professor Frank Ascione, Professor of Psychology, University of Utah

Empathy towards humans and animals as an indicator of emotional development
Dr Andrea M. Beetz, Researcher, Humans and Animals Research Group, Department of Education, University of Erlangen, Germany

Responding ethically to animal abuse
Professor Mark Bernstein, Brewer Professor in Applied Ethics, Purdue University, USA

The use of animal cruelty evidence in dangerousness assessments by law enforcement
Alan C. Brantley, Former FBI Supervisory Special Agent (retired) with the FBI’s National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime and the Behavioural Science Units, USA

The new canaries in the mine: the priority of human welfare in animal abuse prosecution
Elizabeth Clawson, Graduate student, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Sport hunting: socially condoned cruelty
Professor Priscilla N. Cohn, Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Penn State University, USA

Offending patterns and criminal profiling of individuals who hunt with dogs
John Cooper, Barrister, Member of the Bar Council and Bar Human Rights Committee, UK

Beauty and the beasts: woman-battering, pet abuse, and human-animal relationships
Professor Clifton P. Flynn, Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina Upstate, USA

Is human rights speciesist?
Professor Conor Gearty, Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, London School of Economics, UK

The link between animal cruelty and human aggression across the lifespan
Professor Eleonora Gullone, Professor of Psychology at Monash University, Victoria, Australia

Animal cruelty and child welfare: a health visitor’s perspective
Dawn Hawksworth, Health Visitor, Kirklees Primary Care Trust, University of Huddersfield, UK

The link between animal abuse and sadistic serial murder
Professor Jack Levin, Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University, Boston ,USA

Can animal abuse really benefit human beings?
The Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey, Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a member of the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, UK

Intensive farming: institutionalising violence
Dr Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Psychoanalyst, author, and former Director of the Freud Archive, Honorary Research Associate, Department of Philosophy, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Hurting without hitting: emotional neglect and abuse in animals and children
Professor Franklin D. McMillan, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine, USA

Shedding light on the role of veterinarians and other animal welfare workers in the reporting of suspected child abuse
Corey C. Montoya, School of Professional Psychology, Pacific University, Oregon, UK

The infantile roots of violence and cruelty
Professor Jean-Claude Nouët, Professor of Medicine and Emeritus Vice Dean of Faculty of Medicine, ‘Pierre et Marie Curie’, Paris, France

Dealing with animal offenders
Angus Nurse, Associate Lecturer in Social Sciences, Open University, UK

The role of animals in public child welfare practice
Professor Christina Risley-Curtiss, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Arizona State University, USA

A legal duty to report suspected animal abuse: are veterinarians ready?
Dr Ian Robertson, Barrister and veterinarian teaching animal law at University of Leeds Law School , UK

The structure of evil
Professor Mark Rowlands, Professor of Philosophy, University of Miami, USA

Legal approaches in the US to better address family violence
Professor Joan E. Schaffner, Associate Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School, USA

Cruelty, children and animals: historically one, not two, causes
Dr Sabrina Tonutti, Researcher in Cultural Anthropology, University of Udine, Italy

Implication for criminal law, sentencing policy and practice
Professor Martin Wasik, Professor of Criminal Justice at Keele University, Crown Court judge and Chair of the Sentencing Advisory Panel, UK

Humans, dolphins and the Socratic dictum: ‘vice harms the doer’
Professor Thomas I. White, Hilton Professor of Business Ethics and Director, Centre for Ethics and Business College of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles