Scott Vollum, 1 Jacqueline Buffington-Vollum, and Dennis R. Longmire Moral Disengagement and Attitudes about Violence toward Animals ABSTRACT Despite a growing body of evidence linking nonhuman animal cruelty to violence toward humans and increasing knowledge of the pain and suffering that animals experience at the hands of humans, research on violence toward animals is relatively sparse. This study examines public attitudes about violence against ani- mals and the criminal justice response to such acts. The study included, as part of a statewide survey, questions of Texas resi- dents gauging the perceived severity of numerous violent acts against nonhuman animals as well as the preferred criminal jus- tice response. The paper presents descriptive analyses and employs OLS Regression to assess the relationship between Bandura’s (1990, 1999) mechanisms of moral disengagement and violence toward animals. The paper discusses implications for future research on animal cruelty and animal abuse. The study of violence against nonhuman animals largely has been ignored in the realm of crimino- logical inquiry. Although much research has addressed animal cruelty as predictive or indicative of other violence against humans (Arluke, Levin, Luke & Ascione, 1999; Ascione, 1999, 2001; Merz- Perez & Heide, 2004; Merz-Perez, Heide & Silverman, Society & Animals 12:3 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 S&A_f3_208-235 1/15/05 5:49 AM Page 209