US bans animal torture videos

The Cambodia News.Net
Thursday 22nd July, 2010

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to halt the distribution of so-called "crush videos" in which small animals are killed by crushing or other cruel methods.

Lawmakers voted 416-3 to punish people who create, sell, or own the recordings.

Anyone convicted over such material could be hit with fines or a prison sentence.

A broader version of the law was passed in 1999 but was struck down by the Supreme Court which decided it had infringed on the US Constitution's First Amendment right to free speech due to certain ambiguities in the wording.

The new law exempts the videoing of certain practices, such as hunting and fishing, from the law.

Crush videos are now defined as "video portrayals in which one or more living animals is intentionally crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, or impaled."