# Title 12.1 — Criminal Code

## Chapter 12.1-07 — Treason - Flag Desecration

### § 12.1-07-01. Treason.

Treason as defined in section 17 of article I of the Constitution of North Dakota is a class A
felony.
### § 12.1-07-02. Desecration of the flag of the United States.

1. A person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor if he knowingly casts contempt upon any
flag of the United States by publicly mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling
upon it.
2. The term "flag of the United States" as used in this section shall include any flag,
standard, colors, or ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or
parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size
evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United
States of America, or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be
shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any
part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without
deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, standard, colors, or ensign of
the United States of America.
### § 12.1-07-03. Carrying in parade or the display of certain flags, ensigns, banners, and

standards prohibited.
No flag of any nation, state, country, or territory other than the flag of the United States or a
state flag, or the flag of a friendly foreign nation, or the dependencies of such nations, shall be:
1. Carried in parade on any public street or highway within this state.
2. Exhibited in any hall or public place.
3. Displayed or exhibited:
a. On any vehicle.
b. On any building or premises.
c. In any other manner in public within the state.
### § 12.1-07-04. Red or black flags prohibited.

Repealed by S.L. 1981, ch. 155, § 2.
### § 12.1-07-05. Penalty.

Any person who violates any of the provisions of section 12.1-07-03 is guilty of a class B
misdemeanor.
