The One Health approach recognizes that animal welfare is critical, as the outcomes of animals impact the outcomes of humans and the whole ecosystem. This session explores animal welfare and how modern society deals with animal cruelty, and how a One Health Perspective allows us to address animal cruelty holistically.

This session’s instructors are Animal Legal Defense Fund’s (ALDF) David Rosengard and Jessica Chapman. David is ALDF’s Managing Partner where he provides various forms of assistance and training to criminal justice stakeholders on behalf of animal cruelty victims. Meanwhile, Jessica is a Criminal Justice Program Fellow who works alongside stakeholders to resolve the impetus and effect of animal cruelty on victims, offenders, and communities.

Specifics of their presentation are on:

• A brief discussion of the origins of animal protection that revolves around the shifts in how society and law view animals in the legal setting.
• How the civil option tends to be the default method when trying to resolve animal cruelty cases and the need to shift to a criminal justice response for it to be truly effective.
• Animal-Forward Approach: How this surfaces the animal experience so the legal system can be able to recognize and weigh its significance when making decisions in animal cruelty cases.
• The six penological goals, what each of these looks like, and how these impact either the victim or the offender.
• How the penological goals fail to address the animal experience when it comes to animal law, the factors that exacerbate the existing shortcomings, and the challenge to design more effective and individualized sentencing mechanisms.
• The steps taken by the ALDF and the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work and the Institute for Human Animal Connection for a programmatic response towards a more effective animal cruelty prosecution.
• The Risk, Resilience, and Remediation (3R) Certification: The impetus for the initiative, its goals, how it works, how the training is conducted, and its eligibility for continuing education credits.
• An outline of the 3R course content
  • The foundational concepts that unpacks forms of animal cruelty, the One Health perspective, and the aspects and tools of the legal system when it comes to animal cruelty.
  • An overview of risk assessment and evidence-based approach and the process of developing an individualized assessment tool for animal cruelty.
  • Applying knowledge to practice that deep-dives into sentencing options and alternatives and providing profession-specific support, resources, and expertise.
• A rundown of the program resources provided in the 3R certification that highlight consistently updated literature, a customized toolkit, and an interdisciplinary community that works on animal cruelty cases.
• Solutions proposed seen to be effective that emphasize risk assessments, trauma-informed therapy, inter-discipline and community collaboration, and adopting a One Health lens.
• The concepts maintained in the program that underscore…
  • One Health, animal-forward, and trauma-informed approaches.
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion that recognizes how animal cruelty offenses may be brought about by a lack of resources or impacted by cultural and racial experiences.
  • Inter-disciplinary collaboration that recognizes the value of different perspectives when problem-solving and decision-making.
  • An individualized and case-by-case analysis that espouses evolving discussion.
• The implications and outcomes as to how the 3R certification will evaluate data, evolve and adapt its approach, view animals in the legal system, and pursue effective penological goals and criminal justice positioning.
• An invitation to participate in the certification course as testers and available scholarships.

Questions from the webinar participants are about:

• Measuring diversion effectiveness in animal abuse.
• Cost and continuing education credits for the 3R certification.
• Relevance of the certification for those situated outside of the US.
• Nationwide trends on expanding the scope of animal law and increasing penalties.
• Courtroom Animal Advocate Programs in the US.
• Shifting from a punitive approach to a more resolution-focused culture in animal law.

Other Webinars with this Organization

• Jan 19: Bodies of Evidence: Issues Arising from Search and Seizure of Animal Bodies in Cruelty Investigations
• Feb 22: Towards a More Humane Society: A One-Health Approach to Addressing Criminal Cruelty for Everyone Involved (this webinar)
• March 23:  Always on the Map: An Introduction to Animal Law Issues in the US Territories
• May 9: Lions, and Tigers, and Speech, and Religion, Oh My! Applying an Animal-Forward Lens to First Amendment Jurisprudence
• June 22: Stand Up for the Animals with a Case You Can Stand Behind
• Aug 24: Lessons from the Field: How One Community Transformed Its Response to Animal Cruelty through Collaboration
• Oct 3: The Importance of Pre-Sentence Forensic Psychological Evaluations in Animal Cruelty Cases

Or click here to view and register for other upcoming Animal Welfare webinars on the JCH Platform.

Resources and Handouts

• Handout: The One Health Approach – Why is it so Important? 
• Handout:  Sentencing for Animal Cruelty Crimes ALDF Position Statement
• Webinar Referenced: Courtroom Animal Advocate Programs: Approaching Animals as Quasi-Party Crime Victims

Audience Comments

• “An interesting new topic of discussion and its importance.” — Anaia
• “I enjoyed the discussion on addressing the big picture rather than placing a bandaid on animal cruelty. I think ASO’s should receive training in this area and have an understanding of what their obligation is to addressing not only the violation but the underlying contributing factors that will cause continued future violations.” — Angel
• “I believe that now, more than ever, we are an animal-loving society, and witnessing the atrocities such as abuse and torture is unacceptable in our society. This webinar solidified the worthiness of all creatures equally. Thank you.” — Margaret
• “This new resource trains professionals to effectively address animal neglect/cruelty. Worked with DU in this area during the early stages of development. So glad to see all of your hard work and dedication come to fruition. Thank You!” — Joe
• “Wonderful to hear the collaborative and interdisciplinary efforts towards healing animals and universal good. I’m very interested in the certification course participation and related One Health information about non-human animal ethics of care.”  — Rachel
• “Sounds like an excellent program. Animal abuse stats are going UP.” — Robert

Founded in 1979, the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. The Animal Legal Defense Fund accomplishes this mission by filing high-impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm, providing free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are held accountable for their crimes, supporting tough animal protection legislation and fighting legislation harmful to animals, and providing resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law.

This webinar has been certified by the National Animal Care & Control Association and is approved for 1 Continuing Education Unit. Please refer to your NACA membership portal for current CEU submission process. Current NACA Members who attend the live presentation or watch the recording will be able to download a jointly issued attendance certificate that includes the National Animal Care & Control Association logo. Visit the NACA training page for a complete list of future trainings.