[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3841 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3841

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the creation, sale, 
  distribution, advertising, marketing, and exchange of animal crush 
   videos that depict obscene acts of animal cruelty, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 27, 2010

    Mr. Kyl (for himself, Mr. Merkley, and Mr. Burr) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the creation, sale, 
  distribution, advertising, marketing, and exchange of animal crush 
   videos that depict obscene acts of animal cruelty, 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 Crush Video Prohibition Act 
of 2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    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.

SEC. 3. ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS.

    (a) In General.--Section 48 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 48. Animal crush videos
    ``(a) Definition.--In this section the term `animal crush video' 
means any photograph, motion-picture film, video or digital recording, 
or electronic image that--
            ``(1) depicts actual conduct in which 1 or more living non-
        human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is intentionally 
        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); and
            ``(2) is obscene.
    ``(b) Prohibitions.--
            ``(1) Creation of animal crush videos.--It shall be 
        unlawful for any person to knowingly create an animal crush 
        video, or to attempt or conspire to do so, 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.
            ``(2) Distribution of animal crush videos.--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, or to 
        attempt or conspire to do so.
    ``(c) Extraterritorial Application.--Subsection (b) shall apply to 
the knowing sale, marketing, advertising, exchange, distribution, or 
creation of an animal crush video outside of the United States, or any 
attempt or conspiracy to do so, 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.''
    ``(d) Penalty.--Any person who violates subsection (b) shall be 
fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 7 years, or both.
    ``(e) Exceptions.--
            ``(1) In general.--This section shall not apply with regard 
        to any visual depiction of--
                    ``(A) customary and normal veterinary or 
                agricultural husbandry practices;
                    ``(B) the slaughter of animals for food; or
                    ``(C) hunting, trapping, or fishing.
            ``(2) Good-faith distribution.--This section shall 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.
    ``(f) No Preemption.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
preempt the law of any State or local subdivision thereof to protect 
animals.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The item relating to section 48 in the 
table of sections for chapter 3 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:

``48. Animal crush videos.''.
    (c) Severability.--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.
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