The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 13 : Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Chapter 081 : Trespass and Malicious Injuries to Property

Subchapter 003 : DEAD BODIES, CEMETERIES, AND MONUMENTS

• § 3761a. Abuse of the dead body of a person

  (a) No person shall, knowingly without legal authorization, intentionally burn, mutilate, disfigure, dismember, or destroy the dead body of a person.

  (b) No person shall violate subsection (a) of this section for the purpose of concealing a crime or avoiding apprehension, prosecution, or conviction of a crime.

  (c) No person shall commit sexual conduct upon the dead body of a person.

  (d)(1) A person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be imprisoned not more than five years or fined not more than $5,000.00, or both.

  (2) A person who violates subsection (b) or (c) of this section shall be imprisoned not more than 15 years or fined not more than $10,000.00, or both.

  (e) As used in this section:

  (1) “Dead body of a person” does not include the cremated remains of a person.

  (2) “Sexual conduct” means any of the following committed against the dead body of a person:

  (A) any conduct involving contact between the penis and the vulva, the penis and the penis, the penis and the anus, the mouth and the penis, the mouth and the anus, the vulva and the vulva, or the mouth and the vulva;

  (B) any intrusion, however slight, by any part of an individual’s body or any object into any part of a dead human body with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desire of any individual;

  (C) any touching of the dead human body with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desire of any individual;

  (D) masturbation; or

  (E) bestiality. (Added 2025, No. 30, § 1, eff. July 1, 2025.)