Posted on 11/19/2006 11:23:41 PM PST by Omega Man II
Pit bull owners more likely to be criminals
Washington
November 17, 2006 - 12:23PM
People who own vicious dogs such as pit bulls have significantly more criminal convictions - including crimes against children - than owners of licensed, gentler dogs such as beagles, American researchers report.
A study of 355 dog owners in Ohio showed that every owner of a high-risk breed known for aggression had at least one brush with the law, from traffic citations to serious criminal convictions.
And 30 per cent of people who owned an aggressive breed of dog and who also had been cited at least once for failure to register it had at least five criminal convictions or traffic citations.
This compared to one per cent of owners of low-risk, licensed dogs such as poodles, beagles or collies, the researchers reported in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
"Owners of vicious dogs who have been cited for failing to register a dog (or) failing to keep a dog confined on the premises ... are more than nine times more likely to have been convicted for a crime involving children, three times more likely to have been convicted of domestic violence ... and nearly eight times more likely to be charged with drug (crimes) than owners of low-risk licensed dogs," said Jaclyn Barnes of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Centre.
Barnes and colleagues used public records to check on the criminal pasts of dog owners.
They used agreed definitions of vicious dogs used in writing local ordinances. "A 'vicious dog" means a dog that, without provocation, has killed or caused serious injury to any person, has killed another dog, or belongs to a breed that is commonly known as a pit bull dog," they wrote in their report.
The definition excludes dogs used in law enforcement or dogs protecting an owner or property.
Aggressive breeds identified by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and some insurance companies include pit bulls, rottweilers, akitas and chows.
The most frequent low-risk breeds seen in the study included terriers, beagles, collies and poodles.
Reuters
What happened to freedom?
Freedom didn't go anywhere. The data seems to indicate that certain people tend to buy certain kinds of dogs.
Nothing at all -- you're free to get whatever kind of dog you want. A correlation statistic does not brand you as a deviant -- the person chooses the dog, not the other way around. If the dog chose their owner, then maybe you'd have a valid complaint. But they don't.
So nothing in the stat says that owning a bit bull makes you a deviant. It -does- say that if you're a criminal, you might tend to get a pit bull rather than, say, a weiner dog or a french poodle. No surprises there.
Pit Bulls do not belong anywhere but in a Zoo with Tigers
and bears. Owners should be culpable as owning a lethal weapon if they have these dogs. You can have your freedom but responsibility
goes with it.
Heh, seems I was channeling your thought, all the way from NY...
I spent 6 years in Rochester, NY (going to school) - must be something in the water or in the "Lake Effect" snow.
Handmade license plates ?? yeah that could be a clue.
"One can argue that choosing to own a vicious dog is a marker of social deviance because a vicious dog is, by definition, a socially deviant animal," said Barbara Boat, director of The Childhood Trust at the University of Cincinnati, who worked on the study.
The researchers said their findings could be useful for social and law enforcement workers.
"We suggest, regardless of dog breed, that failure to license a dog is a potential warning sign of other deviant behavior," they wrote.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=4F97B077257BC3754BF87D1AA6965739
"""had at least one brush with the law, from traffic citations to serious criminal convictions."""
Traffic citations?
With that broad of brush, you've pretty much got everyone covered.
I assume you are in the "Pit Bulls are just another dog" group? - or are you referring to something else?
I can't believe that only one percent of poodle owners have had traffic violations. I rarely see pit bulls sitting on the driver's laps.
Gee! I dunno!
Are you willing to say it's "gone to tha Dogs"?
Another bogus 'study' written with a particular agenda in mind from the beginning. Then, completely unsuprisingly, the cooked up 'data' supports the already decided upon 'conclusions'.
Equally unsuprising is the number of low IQ mouth breathing cretins who fall for this swill being passed off as 'science'.
L
Doberman's are sooo 70s. ;)
Granted, they look funny, but the Dachshund was bred to wail on badgers. The name means "badger dog." In packs, they used to hunt wild boar & wolverine!
My wife didn't know their history; she thought they were cute little lap dogs until one afternoon a rabbit snuck under our fence. What it was like: imagine a skinny black shark going after a manatee. Imagine me dragging my hysterical wife inside (Intervene? I like the whole 5 finger design).
I've lost the link, but Dashchund owners are 80% more likely to be geniuses.
You'd never see this article if not for the fact that nine out of ten pit bulls vote CONSERVATIVE!!!!
Dachshund vs Pit Bull on Youtube. Cute!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXQsHHzlmHY
Dachshund Jailbreak!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c93SEnVv7DM
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