A Jury of Her Peers, Domestic Abuse and Animal Abuse

Caroline Anne Forell, University of Oregon School of Law, has published "Using a Jury of Her Peers to Teach About the Connection Between Domestic Abuse and Animal Abuse," in volume 15 of Animal Law Review (2008). Here is the abstract.

In this essay I examine Susan Glaspell's short story A Jury of Her Peers in the context of teaching about the connection between domestic violence and animal abuse in an Animal Law course. I discuss how Glaspell's story, in which the motive for a woman killing her husband is his killing of her pet bird, enables students to better understand the perspective of battered women who behave in certain ways because they have pets. I pose several questions concerning how the law would and should respond when a battered woman reacts with violence to the killing or serious injury of her pet. I also review the legal options that may be available today to battered women who have companion animals in contrast to the past.

Download the article from SSRN here.