Wesley asked the class if animal cruelty should be considered a misdemeanor or a felony. How has the media and the economics of "no-fault" insurance played a role in this man's life?
Were there laws broken by the dog's owner? If you were the defense attorney what might you have mentioned in your case?
Were there laws broken by the dog's owner? If you were the defense attorney what might you have mentioned in your case?
12 comments:
Courteney Richardson
Well to answer wesley's question, YES cruelty to animals should be considered a misdemeanor or a felony. Animals have rights just as much as we do to. To me I think the man didnt deliberalty mean to kill the dog but I feel that it was his first reaction from when the dog bit him. He does deserve to pay time for the murder of the dog and also leaving the scene of the crime. Your never suppose to leave the scence of a crime especially when your the main suspect. But then i again I think the people shouldnt spend the rest of their lives behind bars for accidents towards animals which i think this man only commited a reaction.
In our class discussion many people felt that animal cruelty should be considered a misdemeanor, but me I feel depending on the situation and how badly hurt the animal depends on what should be the charge. The media and economics played a big role in the man’s life of “no fault” insurance for the simple that in California the insurance doesn’t cover a hit and run which is the economic part and the media took sympathy toward the dog and the owner. Known of the laws were broken by the dog owner. Yea I understand she walked back to her car. The outcome could have been a hit and run and yes it would have been wrong, but the outcome of the whole thing was wrong. If I was the defense attorney I would have mentioned that the man was bite, the lady was going to run away and he was just going to stop her from leaving.
Read this it explains the laws in states for animal cruelty
When I first read the article and saw that it was about a man who threw a dog out of a car window and into on-coming traffic, I automatically thought the man was a monster. Who would throw a poor innocent dog into traffic? He was obviously in the wrong. But with closer examination, we see that the man did not do it maliciously, he was under stress and was just reacting to being bit. I cannot say I would not do the same in the same situation.
This case also shows how inflential the media can be in covicting a person or finding them innocent. Because the case was so publicized, and most people had the same reaction as I did to this story, this man was made an example of. It shows the others that are abusing dogs to think twice because they could recieve three years in prison. I believe this should be a misdemeanor. One year in jail is plety of time to get the message across that they should not have abused an animal. If this was considered a felony we would be putting almost the same amount of weight on an animal life as a human.
Would this case have turned out differently if the man had committed the act deliberately?
Well in all honesty if the media had not gotten involved then the punishment wouldn't have been so bad. At most he would have gotten a year in jail, but the media intervined and he got three years. Now he obviously wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but there were a number of things that were probably not brought up at the trial. The insurance laws in california, the fact that he was bitten, and so on. The reward to find this dog's killer was more than most kids get when they are kidnapped. Something is very wrong there. Also, was that picture before or after the dog was hit by a car?
I agree with Samantha's point of view, that it depends on the situation and how badly the animal is hurt.
Where does it in any U.S. offical document say their are rights for a dog?
I agree with John that if the media did not get involved the punishment would have not been that bad. Media plays a big role in today's world, when it come to issues. The media is there to turn small issues into a bigger issue.
I agree with what some of the students have said about how cruelty to the animals should be a misdeameanor or felony. They have rights and I bet that if we were treated like that, cruelty, we wouldn't like it very much. But I think that the man who killed the dog was just angry because the dog bit him. But he should be punished for his actions because he did kill the dog anyway. Even though the dog bit him, he didnt have to die, he couldve been punished another way instead.
-Simran Kaur
While reading this article in class I just thought to myself how a indiviual can hurt an animal in this type of way. But everyone see's it in a different perspective. I think he actually should one of those who commit a felony. I understand you got bit in a very harsh way but not to murder the dog. Like come on animals have feelings also. He should pay time for the murder even he should have gotten atleast one year and half but instead he got three. But In my opinion anilas do HAVE RIGHTS such as we do.
-Sorybel
To answer Wesley's question,
Yes, cruelty to animals should be considered a misdemeanor or a felony. Even though animals doesn't have the same rights as us, it still doesn't mean that the man should live his everyday life. I also think the same as Courteney said, I believe he didn't mean to do it but it was his actions that the dog reacted to. The media also played a huge role in the man's life of "no fault" insurance. In California, insurance does not cover hit and run situations and the media took to consideration that the man did not deliberately do it.
And to answer Vickie's question, if the man did commit the act deliberately, the whole situation would be different. I am pretty sure that people that thought he isn't guilty will most probably change their minds and say he is guilty.
-Anta R.
This topic is a very hard topic to have one complete straight answer for. I absoultely believe that animal should have as many rights as people do. They do feel pain, hunger, unhappines. But at the same time so do horses, and what they go through with every race, and when they are not up to par they get put to sleep, is that really fair. Pepople will never bring that becacuse horse racing brings in money, and anything that brings in money never gets penalized. I believe that it is a horrible crime to miss treat an animal, but i do not think that they should go to jail for an action like that.
i agree with Courteney animal cruelty is worng its in human to do sure thing. because animals sre living things and they can be helpfull and enertaning. we also need them to srevave back in the days before cars were bulit we used horuses. i also agreee that it should be a misdemeanor. they need to learn there lesson that hurting animals is worng. something must be worng with you if u like hurting animals than that means you start to hurt humans to. the dog owner had no rights to have her dog in the front of the car on her lap while shes driving. but it really wasn't the mans fault he propbly had no right to go in her car but the dog shouldn't have bite him he did in reaction of what the dog did.but its not right that the media was speading there time on a case like this when theres other things that is way important than this. i think if the media wasn't involed it won't have been a big deal and it would have been dealed with in a different way.
KEMI AJIROTUTU
Great work.
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