Delaware House Bill 346 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-1-1)
Status: Introduced on March 30 2010 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2010-03-30 - Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
Pending: House Judiciary Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This bill makes it illegal to knowingly possess visual depictions of the intentional torture or killing of an animal. For a person to be found guilty under this statute, such person must knowingly and voluntarily possess the depiction. The underlying act must also be illegal under existing Delaware or federal law. For example, under Delaware law, acts of animal cruelty, cockfighting and dogfighting are illegal, and this law would ban the intentional depiction of such acts. This law is also intended to apply to the fetish videos of women wearing heels and stepping on animals to torture or kill them, otherwise known as “crush videos.” Finally, to be found guilty under this statute, the depiction must, applying contemporary community standards, be lacking in serious artistic, scientific, journalistic or political value. This mirrors the language in the Delaware Code relating to obscenity. This law does not apply to lawful hunting activities.

An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Crimes And Criminal Procedure

Sen. Patricia Blevins [D]	Sen. Brian Bushweller [D]	Rep. George [?]	Rep. Robert Gilligan [D]
Sen. Michael Katz [D]	Rep. Helene Keeley [D]	Rep. Joseph Miro [R]	Rep. John Mitchell [D]
Sen. Karen Peterson [D]	Rep. Teresa Schooley [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2010-03-30		Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis145.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/156ce5c8503a56e0852576f10078fe13?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis145.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+346/$file/legis.html?open