- Crush film
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Crush films are videos of animals being crushed by being stepped on.[1][2][3] The term hard crush refers to videos portraying the compaction death of larger animals (e.g. reptiles, birds, mammals), while the term soft crush refers to such videos involving smaller animals (usually invertebrates).
Contents
Legal status
The legality of crush films and the actual practice of crushing varies by region, however, many have been posted on web sites and are available for download via the Internet, making the control of their distribution difficult.
There are currently no known laws forbidding the crushing of live invertebrates, although the production or trade of crush erotica involving vertebrates is condemned by opponents of animal cruelty and is illegal in many countries including the United Kingdom and the United States.[4]
United States
In 1999, the United States Congress enacted a statute affecting the legality of crush films which criminalized the creation, sale, and possession of depictions of animal cruelty, though with an exception for "any depiction that has serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical, or artistic value."[5] In 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit invalidated the ban on the sale and possession of such films (if not otherwise obscene) as a violation of the Constitution's guarantee for freedom of speech.[6] The United States Supreme Court affirmed the Third Circuit's decision in United States v. Stevens, finding the law unconstitutional because the law was so broad and vague that it included any portrayal of an animal in or being harmed such as by hunting or disease.[7] As of November 28, 2010, bill H.R. 5566, which prohibits interstate commerce in animal crush films, has been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, and as of December 9th, the bill has been signed by President Obama.[8]
References
- ^ Third Circuit Rejects Proposed New "Depiction of Animal Cruelty" First Amendment Exception The Volokh Conspiracy, July 18 2008
- ^ A. S. Hamrah. (2000) A Better Mousetrap. Hermenaut.com (accessed 2006-05-04)
- ^ G.A. Pearson. (1997). Digest Cultural Entomology. Fourth issue. Insects as Sexual Fetish Objects . North Carolina State University.
- ^ Hearing before the subcommittee on crime, of the committee on the judiciary (United States) House of Representatives. Punishing Depictions of Animal Cruelty and the Federal Prisoner Health Care Co-Payment Act of 1999. (accessed 2006-05-04)
- ^ § 48. Depiction of animal cruelty. United States Code: Title 18, Part I, Chapter 3, § 48. Cornell University Law School
- ^ United States v. Stevens - Protecting Animals no Justification for First Amendment Amputation, The Legal Satyricon, 20-07-2008
- ^ Adam Liptak (April 20, 2010), Justices Reject Ban on Videos of Animal Cruelty, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/us/21scotus.html
- ^ H.R. 5566: Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010. www.govtrack.us
External links
Categories:- Animal cruelty
- Film genres
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