Cannibalism

Is Cannibalism Illegal In The United States?

In a way, Cannibalism isn’t directly or explicitly illegal in the United States, but there are other laws connected in some way that make the act absolutely illegal. It may sound a bit confusing at first, but when you get to know the laws regarding this, you’ll get the idea of what we’re talking about here. So, here we go.

What Exactly Is Cannibalism?

Cannibalism

Simply put, cannibalism refers to the act of consuming the flesh or body parts of another human being. The act is still identified as cannibalism if the person has given permission or not, there is no change of it.

Sometimes certain tribes had to do it to get meat for their families and the ritual was a way of expressing their beliefs. This is not a hoax, some people actually did this once in a while.

Now let’s talk about the legal side of it.

Is Cannibalism Illegal in the U.S.?

It may be shocking, but there are no federal laws in the U.S. explicitly prohibiting cannibalism. Moreover, in almost all states, eating human flesh is not a specific crime per se.

Yet, Idaho is the only state where cannibalism is clearly illicit. If caught doing it there, you may be sentenced up to 14 years in prison. In the case with other places, though cannibalism does not have a direct prohibition, there are other laws which virtually make it impossible to carry it out legally. Let’s see how.

Why It’s Still Practically Illegal Everywhere

Even if there isn’t an “anti-cannibalism” law, most states have other strict laws to prevent it from occurring.

Killing a person, only to consume that person, is murder. Certainly, the act of killing is always against the law, when even if the person consents it.

Further, even using the corpse for such a purpose is a crime. It is forbidden to abuse the body in all states according to the laws. Such laws are described as “desecration of a corpse” laws. In this way, whether it’s the cutting, eating, or altering of a human body in a way that is not proper, the law takes over.

So if consuming human flesh without committing any other offense is not mentioned in the law, most of the actions leading to it are practically always against the law.

Real Criminal Cases That Made Headlines

Needless to say, these cases became familiar to a large audience.

Well, maybe Jeffrey Dahmer is the most famous one. He not only killed but also ate parts of those he killed. Perhaps it is not even a wonder that no law of cannibalism was in existence and for this reason, he did not get charged with the crime of cannibalism; the charges that were against him, such as murder and abuse of corpses, got him convicted and later on, he was sentenced to a few life imprisonment penalties.

Armin Meiwes from Germany is another case where a man killed and ate a man who had given his consent. Regardless of the consent, he was still found guilty, first of manslaughter, and then of murder after the retrial. He got a life sentence.

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