Laws banning sexual assault of animals
2025 U.S. Animal Protection Laws State Rankings
Prohibitions on Sexual Assault
Currently, every state except West Virginia has some law banning sexual assault of animals. This trend has been continuing strongly for the past two decades. In 2005, only 32 states and 2 territories had laws prohibiting the sexual assault of animals.
Even with the vast improvements that have been made over the past 20 years, there is still more work to be done. West Virginia, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands have yet to enact laws prohibiting sexual assault of animals. Additionally, 10 states, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have antiquated or otherwise insufficient laws addressing this issue, prohibiting things like “crimes against nature.” Such laws are vague and therefore difficult to enforce, and are often tied to unconstitutional sodomy laws. Contrastingly, more modern laws prohibiting sexual assault of animals typically have thorough definitions of what forms of contact constitute sexual assault of animals. Updated laws also often criminalize related conduct such as sexually assaulting animals in the presence of a minor, coercing another person to sexually assault an animal, or the production and distribution of video recordings depicting animal sexual assault. Finally, comprehensive modern laws often include sentencing requirements such as mandatory psychological evaluation and necessary treatment, or laws prohibiting a convicted person from owning or possessing an animal for a period of time.
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