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The Law and American Indian Grave Protection
CHAPTER 23-06-27
PROTECTION OF HUMAN BURIAL SITES, HUMAN REMAINS AND BURIAL GOODS - UNLAWFUL ACTS - PENALTIES - EXCEPTIONS
1. As used in this section:
a. "Burial goods" means any objects or items interred with human remains at the time of burial.
b. "Disturb" means move, open, expose, dig up, disinter, excavate, remove, carry away, damage, injure, deface, desecrate, loot, vandalize, mutilate or destroy.
c. "Human burial site" means any place of interment, by any means, of human remains or burial goods, which is designated by a grave marker or other burial structure or which is not so designated, but is, in fact, discovered or believed to exist on the basis of archaeological or historical evidence.
d. "Human remains" means any part of a deceased human being in any stage of decomposition.
e. "Land" means all lands, including submerged lands, located within the state of North Dakota which are owned by the state or its political subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities, or by any private person.
f. "Person" means a natural person, corporation, unincorporated association, partnership, proprietorship, or governmental entity.
2. A person is guilty of a class C felony who, without authority of law, breaks open any building wherein any body of a deceased human being is deposited while awating burial, with the intent of either removing such human body, or any part thereof, or stealing the coffin, or any part thereof, or anything attached hereto or connected therewith, or the vestments or other articles intended to be buried with the human body.
3. A person is guilty of a felony who, without authority of law, willfully, as defined in section 12.1-02-02, disturbs a human burial site, human remains or burial goods found in or on any land, or attempts to do the same, or incites or procures the same to be done.
BLOCKQUOTE>a. A person is guilty of a class B felony if the offense in this subsection was committed for monetary gain, whether or not such monetary gain was related to the use of the land in or on which the burial, remains, or goods were disturbed.
b. A person is guilty of a class C felony if the offense in this subsection was not committed for monetary gain.
4. Any person who knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that a human burial site, human remains, or burial goods, found in or on any land, are being disturbed or may be disturbed, by human activity without authority of law or by natural forces, shall immediately notify the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction in the area in which the burial, remains, or goods are located. A person is guilty of a class B misdemeanor who is required to provide such notification and willfully, as defined in section 12.1-02-02, fails to provide the same.
5. Any person who knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that that person has encountered or discovered a human burial site, human remains, or burial goods associated with a human burial, in or on any land, shall refrain from any activity which might disturb or immediately cease any continued activity which might cause further disturbance of such burial, remains, or goods, and shall, as soon as practicable, report the presence or discovery of the burial, remains, or goods to the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction in the area in which the burial, remains, or goods are located. A person is guilty of a class B misdemenaor who is required to make such report and willfully, as defined in section 12.1-02-02, fails to make the same. The requirements imposed in this subsection do not apply to any person engaged in the salvaging excavation or other disinterment of a human burial under authority of law.
6. Any person having been found guilty or having pleaded guilty, as a result of having been charged with an offense under subsection 2 or 3, must be ordered to forfeit to the state any and all human remains and burial goods acquired in connection with the commission of the offense and may be ordered to forfeit to the state any and all equipment used in connection with the commission of the offense. In addition, any such person having been charged with an offense under subsection 3 must be ordered to pay all reasonable costs actually incurred in the reinterment of the human remains and burial goods so forfeited. In conjunction with the prosectuion of any offense under this subsection, the remains in question in the prosecution may, as deemed necessary, be subjected to nonintrusive, nondestructive professional study for the exclusive purpose of determining whether the remains are human.
7. Subsection 3 does not apply to the inadvertent disturbance of a human burial site, human remains or burial goods when the state department of health and consolidated laboratories and the state historical board have been notified of such disturbance and such human remains and burial goods shall be studied and reinterred pursuant to rules adopted by the state deparment of health and consolidated laboratories and the state historical board. Subsection 3 also does not apply to situations in which the state deparment of health and consolidated laboratories and the state historical board are notified of the need to disinter and move the contents of human burial sites which are recorded with the state historical board in order to prevent the destruction of such human burial sites by actions including the construction of highways, dams, reservoirs, coal mines, power generation and transmission facilities, pipelines, farming practices and other developments. Where feasible, such developments should avoid disturbance of the human burial sites. In these situations such disinterred human remains and burial goods must be studied and reinterred pursuant to rules adopted by the state department of health and consolidated laboratories and the state historical board.
Effective Date. The 1989 amendment of this section became effective April 6, 1989.
Cross-References. Permits to excavate cultural resources on private land, see 55-03-02.
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