§48 — Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure | U.S. Code

Summary

Makes it a federal crime to purposely hurt or kill nonhuman animals by crushing or similar violent acts when the act or related images cross state or national lines or happen on U.S. federal land. It also bans knowingly making, selling, or sharing obscene photos or videos that show that cruelty if those images are sent in interstate or foreign commerce, or are meant to be sent into the United States. The rule also covers conduct done outside the U.S. if the person expects the images will be brought into the U.S. or if they are brought in. People who break the rule can be fined, put in prison for up to 7 years, or both. The law does not apply to normal veterinary or farm care, animals slaughtered for food, lawful hunting/trapping/fishing or other permitted sport or pest control, medical or scientific research, actions needed to protect life or property, humane euthanasia, good-faith sharing with law enforcement or experts for review, or accidental harm. Enforcement must follow section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–1). Definitions: Animal crushing — purposely crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling, or otherwise causing serious injury to certain nonhuman mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians. Animal crush video — a photo, film, or digital image that shows animal crushing and is obscene. Euthanizing an animal — killing an animal humanely so it becomes unconscious quickly and dies without pain, or using anesthesia that causes painless death.

Title 18, §48

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)It shall be unlawful for any person to purposely engage in animal crushing in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

(2)It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly create an animal crush video, if—

(A)the person intends or has reason to know that the animal crush video will be distributed in, or using a means or facility of, interstate or foreign commerce; or

(B)the animal crush video is distributed in, or using a means or facility of, interstate or foreign commerce.

(3)It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly sell, market, advertise, exchange, or distribute an animal crush video in, or using a means or facility of, interstate or foreign commerce.

(b)This section applies to the knowing sale, marketing, advertising, exchange, distribution, or creation of an animal crush video outside of the United States, if—

(1)the person engaging in such conduct intends or has reason to know that the animal crush video will be transported into the United States or its territories or possessions; or

(2)the animal crush video is transported into the United States or its territories or possessions.

(c)Whoever violates this section shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 7 years, or both.

(d)(1)This section does not apply with regard to any conduct, or a visual depiction of that conduct, that is—

(A)a customary and normal veterinary, agricultural husbandry, or other animal management practice;

(B)the slaughter of animals for food;

(C)hunting, trapping, fishing, a sporting activity not otherwise prohibited by Federal law, predator control, or pest control;

(D)medical or scientific research;

(E)necessary to protect the life or property of a person; or

(F)performed as part of euthanizing an animal.

(2)This section does not apply to the good-faith distribution of an animal crush video to—

(A)a law enforcement agency; or

(B)a third party for the sole purpose of analysis to determine if referral to a law enforcement agency is appropriate.

(3)This section does not apply to unintentional conduct that injures or kills an animal.

(4)This section shall be enforced in a manner that is consistent with section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–1).

(e)Nothing in this section shall be construed to preempt the law of any State or local subdivision thereof to protect animals.

(f)In this section—

(1)the term “animal crushing” means actual conduct in which one or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 and including conduct that, if committed against a person and in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, would violate section 2241 or 2242);

(2)the term “animal crush video” means any photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital recording, or electronic image that—

(A)depicts animal crushing; and

(B)is obscene; and

(3)the term “euthanizing an animal” means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by a method that—

(A)produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent death without evidence of pain or distress; or

(B)uses anesthesia produced by an agent that causes painless loss of consciousness and subsequent death.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2019—Pub. L. 116–72 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section related to animal crush videos. 2010—Pub. L. 111–294 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section related to depiction of animal cruelty.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Severability

Pub. L. 111–294, § 3(c), Dec. 9, 2010, 124 Stat. 3179, provided that: “If any provision of section 48 of title 18, United States Code (as amended by this section), or the application of the provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the provision and the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.” Findings Pub. L. 111–294, § 2, Dec. 9, 2010, 124 Stat. 3177, provided that: “The Congress finds the following: “(1) The United States has a long history of prohibiting the interstate sale, marketing, advertising, exchange, and distribution of obscene material and speech that is integral to criminal conduct. “(2) The Federal Government and the States have a compelling interest in preventing intentional acts of extreme animal cruelty. “(3) Each of the several States and the District of Columbia criminalize intentional acts of extreme animal cruelty, such as the intentional crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, or impaling of animals for no socially redeeming purpose. “(4) There are certain extreme acts of animal cruelty that appeal to a specific sexual fetish. These acts of extreme animal cruelty are videotaped, and the resulting video tapes are commonly referred to as ‘animal crush videos’. “(5) The Supreme Court of the United States has long held that obscenity is an exception to speech protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. “(6) In the judgment of Congress, many animal crush videos are obscene in the sense that the depictions, taken as a whole—“(A) appeal to the prurient interest in sex; “(B) are patently offensive; and “(C) lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. “(7) Serious criminal acts of extreme animal cruelty are integral to the creation, sale, distribution, advertising, marketing, and exchange of animal crush videos. “(8) The creation, sale, distribution, advertising, marketing, and exchange of animal crush videos is intrinsically related and integral to creating an incentive for, directly causing, and perpetuating demand for the serious acts of extreme animal cruelty the videos depict. The primary reason for those criminal acts is the creation, sale, distribution, advertising, marketing, and exchange of the animal crush video image. “(9) The serious acts of extreme animal cruelty necessary to make animal crush videos are committed in a clandestine manner that—“(A) allows the perpetrators of such crimes to remain anonymous; “(B) makes it extraordinarily difficult to establish the jurisdiction within which the underlying criminal acts of extreme animal cruelty occurred; and “(C) often precludes proof that the criminal acts occurred within the statute of limitations. “(10) Each of the difficulties described in paragraph (9) seriously frustrates and impedes the ability of State authorities to enforce the criminal statutes prohibiting such behavior.”

§48 Animal Crushing