Phoenix Dog-Fighting Ring Busted

azcentral.com: A dog-fighting ring in Phoenix was busted recently and nine people have been arrested.  Two more spectators left with injured dogs, which were never found.  Dog-fighting is usually associated with other illegalities.  There is a strong body of evidence that animal cruelty is linked to other crimes, particularly crimes against humans.  According to the New York Times:

“….We discovered that in homes where there was domestic violence or physical abuse of children, the incidence of animal cruelty was close to 90 percent. The most common pattern was that the abusive parent had used animal cruelty as a way of controlling the behaviors of others in the home. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at what links things like animal cruelty and child abuse and domestic violence. And one of the things is the need for power and control. Animal abuse is basically a power-and-control crime.”

Quote by Randall Lockwood, the A.S.P.C.A.’s then-senior vice president for forensic sciences and anticruelty projects and a member of the new Anti-Animal-Abuse Task Force in Baltimore.