Paper - "then They Came For The Dogs"

[corvus]

Crime, Law and Social Change (2011) 55:391–403 DOI 10.1007/s10611-011-9293-6

Then they came for the dogs!

Simon Hallsworth

Published online: 15 April 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract

This paper examines the British state’s desire to liquidate the Pit Bull as a breed. It examines the moral panic that brought the Pit Bull Terrier to public attention and traces the government’s knee-jerk response that resulted in the Dangerous Dogs Act (1991), the legal instrument that mandated Britain’s first attempt at canine genocide. Though public protection was the stated justification of this exercise in state violence, there was and is no evidence to support the case for canine killing through the indiscriminate blanket medium of breed specific legislation. Far from conceiving the dog an aggressor and humans its victims, this paper precedes on the assumption that the dogs are the victims and humans the inhuman aggressor. The paper concludes by examining the factors that provoked the UK’s descent into mass dog killing.

ETA link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/b0443t7441128441/

Edited October 19, 2011 by corvus

[Sticky]

Crime, Law and Social Change (2011) 55:391–403 DOI 10.1007/s10611-011-9293-6

Then they came for the dogs!

Simon Hallsworth

Published online: 15 April 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract

This paper examines the British state’s desire to liquidate the Pit Bull as a breed. It examines the moral panic that brought the Pit Bull Terrier to public attention and traces the government’s knee-jerk response that resulted in the Dangerous Dogs Act (1991), the legal instrument that mandated Britain’s first attempt at canine genocide. Though public protection was the stated justification of this exercise in state violence, there was and is no evidence to support the case for canine killing through the indiscriminate blanket medium of breed specific legislation. Far from conceiving the dog an aggressor and humans its victims, this paper precedes on the assumption that the dogs are the victims and humans the inhuman aggressor. The paper concludes by examining the factors that provoked the UK’s descent into mass dog killing.

ETA link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/b0443t7441128441/

Excellent article!

+1000

S

[sandgrubber]

Thanks for posting. The whole journal special issue looks interesting . . . maybe worth posting it under 'articles about dogs' in the general forum as well.