Vermont: It is a crime to put "any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing or advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, color, ensign or shield of the United States or of this state," to use such flags for advertising, and to "publicly mutilate, deface, defile, defy, trample upon, or by word or act cast contempt upon any such flag, standard, color, ensign or shield."
This covers "any flag, standard, color, ensign or shield, or copy, picture or representation thereof, made of any substance or represented or produced thereon, and of any size, evidently purporting to be such flag, standard, color, ensign or shield of the United States or of this state, or a copy, picture or representation thereof."
Penalty: Imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of up to $1,000.
Source: 13:1902 - 1903
Analysis:
Vermont's law against flag desecration is one of the broader examples, though they don't use the actual word "desecration" anywhere. This is simply labeled "illegal acts" and the above are the only sorts of illegal acts which one can perform with a flag. Like a few states, Vermont makes it a crime to "cast contempt" upon the flag even by words, which means that expressing contempt for the flag is just as much of a crime as burning it.
More:
- Overview of State Laws on Flag Abuse, Burning, Desecration
- Index of State Laws on Flag Abuse, Burning, Desecration
