Which U.S. states enacted explicit bestiality bans after 2014, and what were the statute texts and dates?
Executive summary
A wave of state actions since 2014 closed many of the previously identified gaps in U.S. law against sexual acts with animals: notable post-2014 enactments and fixes include New Jersey in 2015, Texas in 2017, and more recently New Mexico and the District of Columbia in 2023, while Connecticut passed a statutory “loophole-closing” amendment; reporting and advocacy summaries show that by 2023 only West Virginia lacked an explicit ban [1] [2] [3]. The public record compiled by advocacy groups and legal trackers confirms broad national coverage but the provided sources do not contain the full statute texts or official enactment dates for every singled-out state, so exact statutory language must be obtained from state codes for verbatim quotation [3] [2].
1. Which states enacted explicit bans after 2014 — a concise inventory
State-level reporting and legal trackers identify several specific post-2014 actions: New Jersey’s explicit criminalization was reported in 2015 (making headlines as a recent change then) [1]; Texas enacted a comprehensive bestiality statute in 2017, described as a modernized law by a legal compendium [2]; and advocacy reporting lists New Mexico and the District of Columbia as enacting prohibitions for the first time in 2023, while Connecticut enacted a legislative fix in 2023 to close a prosecution loophole [1] [2] [3]. These items are representative examples drawn from the sources provided rather than an exhaustive catalogue of every incremental revision since 2014 [3] [2].
2. What those reports say about statute content and reforms
Contemporary enactments and revisions tended to modernize scope and evidentiary approach: reporting on local and state reforms shows a trend away from needing proof of physical harm and toward permitting reliance on witness testimony and forensic evidence, a change highlighted in coverage of Ohio and other local actions [4]. The Animal Legal & Historical Center notes that many recent laws also add prohibitions on photographing or filming sexual acts with animals and that severity classifications shifted in some states—some crimes elevated to felonies in newer statutes [2]. Advocacy summaries likewise stress that the 2023 changes brought New Mexico and D.C. into the column of jurisdictions with an explicit criminal prohibition [3].
3. Notable individual enactments referenced in reporting
New Jersey’s 2015 action was widely reported as closing a gap where the conduct had previously been prosecuted unevenly under other statutes, and contemporaneous coverage listed several jurisdictions still without explicit bans in 2015 [1]. Texas’s 2017 statute is singled out by the Animal Legal & Historical Center as a comprehensive modern bestiality law enacted in 2017 [2]. The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s 2023 reporting specifically names New Mexico and the District of Columbia as jurisdictions enacting explicit prohibitions for the first time in 2023, and notes Connecticut’s 2023 statutory change closing a loophole that had impeded prosecutions [3].
4. What the sources do not provide — limits on statute texts and dates
The materials supplied are secondary reports, summaries and advocacy updates and do not publish verbatim statute texts or a complete, state-by-state table including statutory language and official enactment dates in full; consequently, the precise statutory wording and the definitive enactment dates for each post-2014 law are not present in these sources and cannot be quoted here [3] [2] [5]. For authoritative, word-for-word statutory text and exact effective dates, the primary sources are each state’s compiled statutes or session laws and the D.C. Code; the cited summaries are reliable signposts but not substitutes for statutory text [2] [3].
5. Bottom line and next steps for researchers
Advocacy and legal-tracking outlets concur that numerous states updated or enacted explicit bestiality prohibitions after 2014—including high-profile examples such as New Jersey , Texas , and New Mexico and D.C. , with Connecticut noted for a 2023 closing of a prosecutorial loophole—but the exact statutory language and formal enactment dates must be retrieved from each jurisdiction’s code or session law for definitive citation [1] [2] [3]. The Animal Legal & Historical Center and the Animal Legal Defense Fund provide up-to-date overviews and state-by-state tables that point researchers to the statutes; for verbatim text, consult state legislative websites or official code publishers.