Laws banning sexual assault of animals
2024 U.S. Animal Protection Laws State Rankings
Prohibitions on Sexual Assault
A continuing trend in 2024 was the enactment of laws prohibiting the sexual assault of animals. Currently, every state except West Virginia has some law banning sexual assault of animals. This trend has been continuing strongly for the past seven years, with 18 states plus D.C. and Guam revising their laws or enacting brand new laws prohibiting the sexual assault of animals during that time.
In 2024, both Arizona and Iowa expanded their laws prohibiting sexual assault of an animal. Arizona did so by criminalizing the possession, distribution, and sale of recordings depicting sexual assault of an animal. Iowa thoroughly expanded its previously sparse laws prohibiting sexual assault of animals, adding extensive definitions of prohibited conduct. For example, Iowa now criminalizes advertising, offering, or selling an animal for the purpose of sexual assault, and permitting sexual assault of an animal on a person’s property. Like Arizona, Iowa’s new law also criminalizes the production and distribution of recordings of animal sexual assault.
Even with the vast improvements that have been made over the past seven 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.
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