[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5337 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5337

 To amend section 48 (relating to depiction of extreme animal cruelty) 
        of title 18, United States Code, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 18, 2010

  Mr. Peters introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend section 48 (relating to depiction of extreme animal cruelty) 
        of title 18, United States Code, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Animal Torture Prevention Act of 
2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal Government and the several States have a 
        compelling interest in preventing acts of extreme animal 
        cruelty.
            (2) Each of the several States and the District of Columbia 
        criminalize intentional acts of extreme animal cruelty.
            (3) The clandestine nature of certain acts of extreme 
        animal cruelty allows the perpetrators of such crimes to remain 
        anonymous, thus frustrating the ability of Federal and State 
        authorities to enforce the criminal statutes prohibiting such 
        behavior.
            (4) These criminal acts constitute an integral part of the 
        production of and market for so-called crush videos and other 
        depictions of extreme animal cruelty.
            (5) The creation, advertisement, and sale of crush videos 
        and other depictions of extreme animal cruelty provide an 
        economic incentive for, and are intrinsically related to, the 
        underlying acts of criminal conduct.

SEC. 3. DEPICTION OF EXTREME ANIMAL CRUELTY.

    (a) In General.--Section 48 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 48. Depiction of extreme animal cruelty
    ``(a) Prohibition.--Whoever, in or affecting interstate or foreign 
commerce, knowingly creates, sells, distributes, or offers to sell or 
distribute a depiction of extreme animal cruelty shall be fined under 
this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `depiction of extreme animal cruelty' means 
        any visual depiction, including any photograph, motion-picture 
        film, video recording, or electronic image, that--
                    ``(A) depicts actual conduct in which one or more 
                animals is tortured, maimed, mutilated, or subjected to 
                other acts of extreme animal cruelty, if such conduct 
                is committed for the primary purpose of creating the 
                depiction;
                    ``(B) depicts conduct that violates a criminal 
                prohibition of intentional cruelty to animals under 
                Federal law or the law of the State in which the 
                depiction is created, sold, or distributed;
                    ``(C) appeals to the prurient interest; and
                    ``(D) taken as a whole, does not have more than de 
                minimis religious, political, scientific, educational, 
                journalistic, historical, or artistic value;
            ``(2) the term `State' means each of the several States, 
        the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 
        Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 
        Northern Mariana Islands, and any other commonwealth, 
        territory, or possession of the United States; and
            ``(3) the term `animal' means any live amphibian, reptile, 
        bird, or mammal, except human beings.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The item relating to section 48 in the 
table of sections at the beginning of chapter 3 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows:

``48. Depiction of extreme animal cruelty.''.
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