Obscenity Law

Description

Obscenity laws are regulations that can be used to determine whether subject matter is inappropriate and whether it should be removed or subject to strict circulation rules. Obscenity Laws have led to many pieces of literature being confiscated, burned, or banned altogether in regions of the world. These laws were established through three different Supreme Court cases that determined certain topics, like pornography, are not protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The term "obscene" is nuanced. Each person has a different opinion on what is considered obscene. For the most part, obscene is defined as something disturbing, extremely graphic, or violent. Courts choose whether a book can be banned under the Obscenity Laws, so the decision can be changed depending on the personal opinions of the jury or how invested the community is in the literature. While the Miller Test acts as a basic guideline, it is used in the context of the current contemporary community standards, so the status of the literature can change with the community.

Standards

One community will have different values compared to a neighboring area. This is why literature can be banned in one nation and welcomed openly in another.

Cases

The 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case Miller v. California was a turning point for deciding whether or not a piece of literature should be banned. The Courts created the Miller Test to act as a framework for detecting obscenity in literature. This test looks at the literature as a whole and decides if the book has prurient interest, has offensive sexual conduct, and if it lacks scientific, artistic, literary, or political value. This framework creates guidelines for courts and communities to follow when deeming literature too obscene to be publicly distributed.