Alabama § 13A-7-23.1 Desecration, Defacement, Etc., of Memorial of Dead; Invasion or Mutilation of Corpse

Alabama Statutes

§ 13A-7-23.1 — Desecration, Defacement, Etc., of Memorial of Dead; Invasion or Mutilation of Corpse

Alabama § 13A-7-23.1

Title 13ACriminal Code

Ch. 7Offenses Involving Damage to and Intrusion Upon Property

Art. 2Criminal Damage to Property

This text of Alabama § 13A-7-23.1 (Desecration, Defacement, Etc., of Memorial of Dead; Invasion or Mutilation of Corpse) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Ala. Code § 13A-7-23.1 (2026).

Text

(a)Any person who willfully or maliciously injures, defaces, removes, or destroys any tomb, monument, gravestone, burial mound, earthen or shell monument containing human skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, or other structure or thing placed or designed for a memorial of the dead, or any fence, railing, curb, or any enclosure for the protection or ornamentation of any tomb, monument, gravestone, burial mound, earthen or shell monument containing human skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, or other structure before mentioned, or for any enclosure for the burial of the dead, or any person who willfully and wrongfully or maliciously destroys, removes, cuts, breaks, or injures any tree, shrub, plant, flower, decoration, or other real or personal property within any cem

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(a) Any person who willfully or maliciously injures, defaces, removes, or destroys any tomb, monument, gravestone, burial mound, earthen or shell monument containing human skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, or other structure or thing placed or designed for a memorial of the dead, or any fence, railing, curb, or any enclosure for the protection or ornamentation of any tomb, monument, gravestone, burial mound, earthen or shell monument containing human skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, or other structure before mentioned, or for any enclosure for the burial of the dead, or any person who willfully and wrongfully or maliciously destroys, removes, cuts, breaks, or injures any tree, shrub, plant, flower, decoration, or other real or personal property within any cemetery or graveyard shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
(b) Any person who willfully or maliciously desecrates, injures, defaces, removes, or destroys any tomb, monument, structure, or container of human remains, burial mound, earthen or shell monument containing human skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, and invades or mutilates the human corpse or remains shall be guilty of a Class C felony and upon conviction the person shall be punished as provided by law.
(c) The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to any person holding a permit issued by the Alabama Historical Commission pursuant to subsection (d), to anyone operating a cemetery under standard rules and regulations and maintenance procedures, or to any person otherwise authorized by law to remove or disturb a tomb, monument, grave marker, burial mound, earthen or shell monument, or similar structure, or its contents, as described in subsections (a) and (b), nor shall subsections (a) and (b) apply to any person authorized to take any action on municipal property.
(d) The Alabama Historical Commission, to provide for the lawful preservation, investigation, restoration, or relocation of human burial remains, human skeletal remains, or funerary objects, shall promulgate rules and regulations for the issuance of a permit and may issue a permit to persons or companies who seek to restore, preserve, or relocate human burial remains, human skeletal remains, funerary objects, or otherwise disturb, a place of burial.