Animal cruelty is a topic that understandably evokes an emotional response. A person that chooses to consistently release their aggression by harming a defenseless pet is the lowest scum in society. Hopefully, there is a special place in hell reserved for despicable individuals that harm dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals.

Reasonable and civilized people can come to an agreement that condemns and punishes those that abuse domesticated animals. While most libertarians probably fall in the camp that believes animals do not have rights, this does not serve to endorse individuals that abuse defenseless cats, dogs, and other lovable pets.

After digging through the archives of Mondays With Murray, a popular feature here at Lions of Liberty, I came across an installment that discussed Murray Rothbard’s view on the topic of animal rights. Rothbard’s animal rights views are based upon the concept of natural rights. To put it simply, natural rights are based upon the idea that humans have the intellectual capacity to make decisions and pursue their consciously chosen desires. This same concept does not apply to animals. Animals do not act using reason; rather, the actions of an animal are instinctual.

I highly recommend reading the aforementioned Lions of Liberty article in its entirety and Rothbard’s book The Ethics of Liberty , especially Chapter 21, where some of his views on animal rights are found.

Now that we have briefly discussed the general viewpoint libertarians hold surrounding animals rights and animal abuse, we can examine the recent news that the FBI has made by making a change to categorize animal cruelty as a top-tier felony.

KHOU in Houston reports the details:

For years, the FBI has filed animal abuse under the label “other” along with a variety of lesser crimes, making cruelty hard to find, hard to count and hard to track. The bureau announced this month that it would make animal cruelty a Group A felony with its own category — the same way crimes like homicide, arson and assault are listed. “It will help get better sentences, sway juries and make for better plea bargains,” said Madeline Bernstein, president and CEO of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles and a former New York prosecutor. The category also will help identify young offenders, and a defendant might realize “if he gets help now, he won’t turn into Jeffrey Dahmer,” she said.

The FBI is using the historical correlation between juveniles that have been charged with animal cruelty and psychotic murders. They are using this correlation as a justification for a change that now categorizes animal cruelty as a Group A felony. This change places Group A felons on the same level as those convicted of homicide, arson, and assault.

Should animal cruelty crimes be on the same level as homicide, arson, and assault? Should an individual that abuses animals essentially have the crime follow them around for the rest of their life and hinder future opportunities even if they have paid for their crime?

The FBI’s increasing tracking of individuals is disconcerting. The individuals on this list will surely be some of the first to be questioned if there is a homicide or other acts of violence in the area surrounding their residence.

In a more free society, property owners could come together in a neighborhood, town, or city-state to draft rules and laws upon which all property owners would need to consent to the acceptable treatment of animals. If someone was caught breaking these rules they would be forced to face the punishment written in the contract.

The FBI is doing nothing to protect animals or to protect people by changing the categorization of those convicted of animal cruelty. The chief objective of this change appears to be growing the list of felons so they can be closely monitored and interrogated if anything terrible should happen in the vicinity of their home. This is a violation of the Fourth Amendment and in the same vein as the government prohibiting felons the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Check out our past editions of Felony Friday!



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