Reporting animal crime: Individual, family, and community influences

In this study, I borrow from Bronfenbrenner's ecological model to examine motivations to report animal crime. I argue that such motivations are related to individual traits, early socialization, and attitudes toward animals, as well as the neighborhood context of social control. Using survey data from 494 respondents, I analyze the effects of demographic and personality characteristics, attitudinal variables, and neighborhood informal social control on one's own reporting of animal crime, as well as their perceptions that neighbors would report such crime. Results indicated that individuals are more likely to report animal crime if they have previously witnessed animal abuse, possess attitudes that promote animal violence as just as significant as human violence, and support punitive measures for animal abusers. Neighborhood informal social control exerted a negative effect on animal crime reporting, so respondents who live in neighborhoods higher in informal social control are less likely to report animal crime. But neighborhood informal social control had a positive effect on perceptions of neighbor's reporting of animal crime. Implications for theory, future research, practice, and policy are discussed.