Desecration of graves is either of the following:
(1) Unauthorized opening of any place of interment, or building wherein the dead body of a human being is located, with the intent to remove or to mutilate the body or any part thereof, or any article interred or intended to be interred with the body.
(2) Intentional or criminally negligent damaging in any manner of any grave, tomb, or mausoleum erected for the dead. See R.S. 14:101.
Opening graves or storage sites, removing dead bodies, and selling/receiving a dead body or any part thereof are all illegal acts. See R.S. 8:653.
This act includes R.S. 8:672 through 8:681.
The legislature finds that existing state laws do not provide for the adequate protection of unmarked burial sites and of human skeletal remains and burial artifacts in such sites. As a result, there is a real and growing threat to the safety and sanctity of unmarked burial sites, both from economic development of the land and from persons engaged for personal or financial gain in the mining of prehistoric and historic Indian, pioneer, and Civil War and other soldiers' burial sites. Therefore, there is an immediate need for legislation to protect the burial sites of these earlier residents of Louisiana from desecration and to enable the proper archaeological investigation and study when disturbance of a burial site is necessary or desirable. The legislature intends that this Chapter shall assure that all human burial sites shall be accorded equal treatment, protection, and respect for human dignity without reference to ethnic origins, cultural backgrounds, or religious affiliations. See R.S. 8: 672.
Francis Norton 2018
Vandalism of any cemetery, mortuary, or other facility used for the purpose of burial or memorializing the dead is a state offense. See R.S. 14:225. In addition, many parishes have this listed as a municipal offense.