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.
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.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 391-403
- DOI 10.1007/s10611-011-9293-6
- Authors
- Simon Hallsworth, London Metropolitan University, London, England, UK
- Journal Crime, Law and Social Change
- Online ISSN 1573-0751
- Print ISSN 0925-4994
- Journal Volume Volume 55
- Journal Issue Volume 55, Number 5
[...] “Then they came for the dogs” Professor Simon Hallsworth, Director of the Centre for Social and Evaluation Research at London Metropolitan University [...]