In the Senate of the United States, 

September 28, 2010. 

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 5566) entitled ‘‘An Act to amend title 18, United 

States Code, to prohibit interstate commerce in animal crush 

videos, and for other purposes.’’, do pass with the following 

AMENDMENT: 

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 

following: 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Animal Crush Video 

3 Prohibition Act of 2010’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The United States has a long history of pro7 hibiting the interstate sale, marketing, advertising, 

8 exchange, and distribution of obscene material and 

9 speech that is integral to criminal conduct. 
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1 (2) The Federal Government and the States have 

2 a compelling interest in preventing intentional acts of 

3 extreme animal cruelty. 

4 (3) Each of the several States and the District of 

5 Columbia criminalize intentional acts of extreme ani6 mal cruelty, such as the intentional crushing, burn7 ing, drowning, suffocating, or impaling of animals 

8 for no socially redeeming purpose. 

9 (4) There are certain extreme acts of animal cru10 elty that appeal to a specific sexual fetish. These acts 

11 of extreme animal cruelty are videotaped, and the re12 sulting video tapes are commonly referred to as ‘‘ani13 mal crush videos’’. 

14 (5) The Supreme Court of the United States has 

15 long held that obscenity is an exception to speech pro16 tected under the First Amendment to the Constitution 

17 of the United States. 

18 (6) In the judgment of Congress, many animal 

19 crush videos are obscene in the sense that the depic20 tions, taken as a whole— 

21 (A) appeal to the prurient interest in sex; 

22 (B) are patently offensive; and 

23 (C) lack serious literary, artistic, political, 

24 or scientific value. 
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1 (7) Serious criminal acts of extreme animal cru2 elty are integral to the creation, sale, distribution, ad3 vertising, marketing, and exchange of animal crush 

4 videos. 

5 (8) The creation, sale, distribution, advertising, 

6 marketing, and exchange of animal crush videos is in7 trinsically related and integral to creating an incen8 tive for, directly causing, and perpetuating demand 

9 for the serious acts of extreme animal cruelty the vid10 eos depict. The primary reason for those criminal acts 

11 is the creation, sale, distribution, advertising, mar12 keting, and exchange of the animal crush video image. 

13 (9) The serious acts of extreme animal cruelty 

14 necessary to make animal crush videos are committed 

15 in a clandestine manner that— 

16 (A) allows the perpetrators of such crimes to 

17 remain anonymous; 

18 (B) makes it extraordinarily difficult to es19 tablish the jurisdiction within which the under20 lying criminal acts of extreme animal cruelty oc21 curred; and 

22 (C) often precludes proof that the criminal 

23 acts occurred within the statute of limitations. 

24 (10) Each of the difficulties described in para25 graph (9) seriously frustrates and impedes the ability 
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1 of State authorities to enforce the criminal statutes 

2 prohibiting such behavior. 

3 SEC. 3. ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 48 of title 18, United 

5 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘§ 48. Animal crush videos 

7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section the term ‘animal 

8 crush video’ means any photograph, motion-picture film, 

9 video or digital recording, or electronic image that— 

10 ‘‘(1) depicts actual conduct in which 1 or more 

11 living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or am12 phibians is intentionally crushed, burned, drowned, 

13 suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious 

14 bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 and includ15 ing conduct that, if committed against a person and 

16 in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of 

17 the United States, would violate section 2241 or 

18 2242); and 

19 ‘‘(2) is obscene. 

20 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) CREATION OF ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS.—It 

22 shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly create 

23 an animal crush video, or to attempt or conspire to 

24 do so, if— 
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1 ‘‘(A) the person intends or has reason to 

2 know that the animal crush video will be distrib3 uted in, or using a means or facility of, inter4 state or foreign commerce; or 

5 ‘‘(B) the animal crush video is distributed 

6 in, or using a means or facility of, interstate or 

7 foreign commerce. 

8 ‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMAL CRUSH VID9 EOS.—It shall be unlawful for any person to know10 ingly sell, market, advertise, exchange, or distribute 

11 an animal crush video in, or using a means or facil12 ity of, interstate or foreign commerce, or to attempt 

13 or conspire to do so. 

14 ‘‘(c) EXTRATERRITORIAL APPLICATION.—Subsection 

15 (b) shall apply to the knowing sale, marketing, advertising, 

16 exchange, distribution, or creation of an animal crush video 

17 outside of the United States, or any attempt or conspiracy 

18 to do so, if— 

19 ‘‘(1) the person engaging in such conduct intends 

20 or has reason to know that the animal crush video 

21 will be transported into the United States or its terri22 tories or possessions; or 

23 ‘‘(2) the animal crush video is transported into 

24 the United States or its territories or possessions.’’ 
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1 ‘‘(d) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

2 (b) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more 

3 than 7 years, or both. 

4 ‘‘(e) EXCEPTIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall not apply 

6 with regard to any visual depiction of— 

7 ‘‘(A) customary and normal veterinary or 

8 agricultural husbandry practices; 

9 ‘‘(B) the slaughter of animals for food; or 

10 ‘‘(C) hunting, trapping, or fishing. 

11 ‘‘(2) GOOD-FAITH DISTRIBUTION.—This section 

12 shall not apply to the good-faith distribution of an 

13 animal crush video to— 

14 ‘‘(A) a law enforcement agency; or 

15 ‘‘(B) a third party for the sole purpose of 

16 analysis to determine if referral to a law enforce17 ment agency is appropriate. 

18 ‘‘(f) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall 

19 be construed to preempt the law of any State or local sub20 division thereof to protect animals.’’. 

21 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating to sec22 tion 48 in the table of sections for chapter 3 of title 18, 

23 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘48. Animal crush videos.’’. 

24 (c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of section 48 of 

25 title 18, United States Code (as amended by this section), 
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1 or the application of the provision to any person or cir2 cumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the provision and 

3 the application of the provision to other persons or cir4 cumstances shall not be affected thereby. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H.R. 5566 

AMENDMENT