春雨直播app

Dogs, law and animal-assisted intervention

A guide dog-raising program for the rehabilitation of prison inmates

Junko Kato

Professor,

The Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (CAIR) at the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics aims to make practical use of interdisciplinary research results for the benefit of society. One of the topics researched at CAIR is the verification of the effectiveness of puppy-raising programs for the rehabilitation of prison inmates. We asked Professor Kato, who is in charge of this research, to tell us about it.

Is the key oxytocin, the so-called “love hormone”?

Dog-training programs are implemented widely at correctional facilities in Western countries. It is reported that inmates who participate in these programs exhibit increased levels of self-esteem and personal responsibility. This in turn helps them effect a smooth return to society and leads to reduced rates of recidivism. But the reason for these effects has not yet been scientifically clarified.

In the search for a scientific reason, we focused on oxytocin, otherwise known as the “love hormone.” When a mother breastfeeds her baby, the secretion of oxytocin is promoted in both mother and child. It is therefore an important bonding hormone and is said to influence social behavior. Research conducted by Professor Takefumi Kikusui at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Azabu University has confirmed that this hormone is also produced in the body when dogs and their owners gaze at each other. I have been engaged in research with on a program at the , a correctional facility in Shimane Prefecture that is jointly run by the government and the private sector. In this program, inmates raise puppies that are candidates to become guide dogs. This is one of the research programs undertaken by the Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, in which legal scholars, including Emeritus Professor Shozo Ota and Associate Professor Hiroharu Saito from the Institute of Social Science. are also participating.

Inmates participate voluntarily in this “Shimane Asahi Puppy Project” and must meet predefined selection criteria. They raise the puppies from the age of approximately four to five months until their first birthday. To foster trust in humans, it is considered important for puppies to receive a lot of attention and affection during this period. In the program, one puppy is cared for by four or five inmates, who spend 24 hours a day with the dog for two weeks (except for weekends) in rotation. According to Professor Kikusui, letting the dogs sleep with the inmates also helps build trust. We interviewed inmates at the start and end of the program to measure changes in their sociality and psychological status while also checking the amount of oxytocin in their urine. We are currently analyzing the data obtained in the three rounds of the program implemented from March 2019 to September 2022.

I specialize in political science. I believe that what we can learn only from observing human behaviors and institutions in society is limited. I thus have conducted MRI experiments to study human social behavior. The more I learn about human beings, the more I am interested in human existence. But there is only so much one can learn about human feelings, impulses, logic and rationality by external observation. I hope to learn more about our species through interdisciplinary research between the social sciences and neurosciences.