Juvenile animal abuse: Practice and policy implications for PNPs

Animal abuse has long been recognized as a sign of family violence and a warning sign of future aggression in children and adolescents. As leaders in youth violence prevention, pediatric nurse practitioners need to be aware of the prevalence and types of juvenile animal cruelty and its relationship to human violence. In doing so, they can champion for health care and related policies for this disturbing problem, described by Ascione as an underreported and understudied issue that may add to the understanding and prevention of youth violence.

“[One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child] is when the child who kills or tortures [an animal] is not caught, or if caught is not punished.”

—Anthropologist Margaret Mead (1964, p. 21)