Pornography

The definition of pornography varies from state to state. For example, Kentucky law on pornography describes it as obscene matter with regards to its creation, distribution, sale, or promotion. Kentucky further defines obscene matter:

"Obscene" means:

(a) To the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the predominant appeal of the matter, taken as a whole, is to prurient interest in sexual conduct; and

(b) The matter depicts or describes the sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and

(c) The matter, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

"Matter" means any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed or written material or any picture, drawing, photograph, motion picture, or other pictorial representation or any statue or other figure, or any recording transcription or mechanical, chemical or electrical reproduction or any other articles, equipment, machines, or materials.

"Sexual conduct" means acts of masturbation, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, sexual intercourse, or deviant sexual intercourse; or physical contact with the genitals, flagellation, or excretion for the purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification.

Ohio law refers to pornography as "obscene material" and defines any material or performance as obscene if any of the following apply:

(1) Its dominant appeal is to prurient interest;

(2) Its dominant tendency is to arouse lust by displaying or depicting sexual activity, masturbation, sexual excitement, or nudity in a way that tends to represent human beings as mere objects of sexual appetite;

(3) Its dominant tendency is to arouse lust by displaying or depicting bestiality or extreme or bizarre violence, cruelty, or brutality;

(4) Its dominant tendency is to appeal to scatological interest by displaying or depicting human bodily functions of elimination in a way that inspires disgust or revulsion in persons with ordinary sensibilities, without serving any genuine scientific, educational, sociological, moral, or artistic purpose;

(5) It contains a series of displays or descriptions of sexual activity, masturbation, sexual excitement, nudity, bestiality, extreme or bizarre violence, cruelty, or brutality, or human bodily functions of elimination, the cumulative effect of which is a dominant tendency to appeal to prurient or scatological interest, when the appeal to such an interest is primarily for its own sake or for commercial exploitation, rather than primarily for a genuine scientific, educational, sociological, moral, or artistic purpose.

Both Kentucky and Ohio make special provisions when the pornographic offense involves a minor. Possession or distribution of child pornography and Internet pornography are crimes in both state and federal courts.

The charges of possession and distribution of pornographic material can sometimes carry severe sentences. The defense of pornography charges may include factors such as your intentions to distribute the material and the method by which the material was obtained, and, of course, your knowledge of the material in the first place.

Besides the dismissal of the charges, an important goal of the defense is to prevent the prosecutor from making additional criminal charges against you of a more serious nature.

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