Animal cruelty and freedom of speech : when worlds collide

Author/Creator:

Perdue, Abigail, author

Publication/Creation:

West Lafayette, Indiana : Purdue University Press, [2014]

Format:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

Animal cruelty and freedom of speech : when worlds collide / Abigail Perdue and Randall Lockwood

Series Titles:

New directions in the human-animal bond
New directions in the human-animal bond.

Related Names

Additional Author/Creators:

Lockwood, Randall, 1948-, author

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

Animal welfare--Law and legislation--United States
Animal welfare--Law and legislation--United States--Cases
Animal rights--United States
Animals--Law and legislation--United States
Freedom of speech--United States
Human-animal relationships--United States

Description/Summary

Bibliography:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-238) and index.

Summary:

"A collaboration between an attorney and an animal protection advocate, this work utilizes the extremely controversial and high-profile "crush video" case, US v. Stevens, to explore how American society attempts to balance the protection of free speech and the prevention of animal cruelty. Starting from the detailed case study of a single prominent ruling, the authors provide a masterful survey of important issues facing society in the area of animal welfare. The Stevens case included various "hot topic" elements connected to the role of government as arbiter of public morality, including judicial attitudes to sexual deviance and dogfighting. Because it is one of only two animal rights cases that the US Supreme Court has handled, and the only case discussing the competing interests of free speech and animal cruelty, it will be an important topic for discussion in constitutional and animal law courses for decades to come.The Stevens case arose from the first conviction under 18 USC § 48 (Section 48), a federal law enacted in 1999, which criminalized the creation, sale, and/or possession of certain depictions of animal cruelty. The US Congress intended Section 48 to end the creation and interstate trafficking of depictions of animal cruelty in which animals are abused or even killed for entertainment's sake. Proponents of Section 48 predicted that countless benefits to both humans and animals would flow from its enforcement. Opponents of the law argued that it was too far-reaching and would stifle protected speech. Critics of Section 48 appeared to have prevailed when the US Supreme Court struck the law down as unconstitutionally overbroad. Although a law tailored to address the Supreme Court's concerns was quickly enacted, the free speech/animal cruelty controversy is far from over"--

Language:

English

Physical Type/Description:

x, 245 pages ; 23 cm

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

990034717240302486

ISBN:

1557536333 (pbk.)
9781557536334 (pbk.)

OCLC Number:

854609727

Barcode:

010002819453