Chapter 13: Obscenity

Question 1

Define Obscenity.

Answer 1

A narrow class of material as defined by the Supreme Court via the Miller test. This material is not protected by the First Amendment.

Question 2

Define Indecent Material.

Answer 2

Material that may be sexually graphic but is protectedly the First Amendment. It can be barred in children’s books or in broadcast.

Question 3

Define pornography.

Answer 3

A term with no legal significance that can often be used to cover the gambit of obscene material to the merely offensive.

Question 4

What are the three parts of the Roth-Memoirs Test?

Answer 4

1) The dominant theme of the material as a whole must appeal to a prurient interest in sex.
2) A court must find the material is patently offensive because it affronts contemporary community standards relating to the description of sexual matters.
3) It must be utterly without redeeming social value.

Question 5

What are the thee parts of the Miller Test?

Answer 5

1) An Average Person, Applying Contemporary Local community standards, finds the work, taken as a whole, appeals to a prurient interest in sex.
2) The work depicts in a patently offensive way sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law.
3) The work in question lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.