The Regulation of Obscene and Other Erotic Material
Tuesday, December 1, 2014
$1.25
Vol XCIII, No. 311
...it has the tendency to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences and into whose hands it might fall.
Obscenity: Establishing Precedent
Early Obscenity Law
Obscenity? What's that?
- First obscenity prosecution in 1815.
- In 19th century, obscenity law and prosecution became more common.
- in 1842, the first federal obscenity statute regulated the importation of obscene material.
- Most comprehensive federal statute regulating obscene material was called the Comstock Act.
- Confiscation and regulation of obscene materials grew with technology, specifically the motion picture industry.
Obscenity? What's that?
Sooooooo many tests....
Roth-Memoirs Test
- The dominant theme of the material taken as a whole must appeal to prurient interest in sex.
- A court must find that the material is patently offensive beacuse it affronts contemporary community standards relating to the description or representation of sexual matters.
- Before something can be found to be obscene, it must be utterly without redeeming social value.
The Miller Test
- An average person, applying contemporary local community standards, finds that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interest.
- The work depicts in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law.
- The work in question laks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
fin.
Other Standards for Obscenity
I hope the NSA isn't checking my search history for this.
- Variable Obscenity
- Child pornography
- Children AS pornographers.
- Sexting
- Communications Decency Act of 1996
- Child Online Protection Act of 1998
- Children's Internet Protection Act of 2001