What is obscenity?

In Louisiana, the crime of obscenity is the intentional:

Exposure of the genitals, pubic hair, anus, vulva, or female breast nipples in any public place or place open to the public view, or in any prison or jail, with the intent of arousing sexual desire or which appeals to prurient interest or is patently offensive.

Even a simple prank of flashing someone could be seen as obscenity to others.

Hard core sexual conduct when the judge or jury determines that the average person applying contemporary community standards would find that the conduct, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; and the hard core sexual conduct is presented in a patently offensive way; and the conduct taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Hard core sexual conduct is the public portrayal, for its own sake, and for ensuing commercial gain of:

Obscenity is also the sale, allocation, consignment, distribution, dissemination, advertisement, exhibition, electronic communication, or display of obscene material, or the preparation, manufacture, publication, electronic communication, or printing of obscene material for sale, allocation, consignment, distribution, advertisement, exhibition, electronic communication, or display.

Obscene material is any tangible work or thing that the average person applying contemporary community standards would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, and which depicts or describes in a patently offensive way, hard core sexual conduct the work or thing taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Obscenity with a Minor

Obscenity also includes the solicitation or enticement of an unmarried person under the age of 17 years (a minor) to commit any act prohibited above. A violation of this kind requires Sex Offender Registration.

Lack of knowledge of age or marital status shall not constitute a defense for OBSCENITY BY SOLICITATION OF A MINOR.

Obscene Advertisements

Advertisement, exhibition, electronic communication, or display of sexually violent material.

No person, knowing the content of an advertisement to be sexually explicit as defined in this Paragraph shall transmit or cause to be transmitted an unsolicited advertisement in an electronic communication to one or more persons within this state that contains sexually explicit materials without including in the advertisement the term “ADV-ADULT” at the beginning of the subject line of the advertisement.  A “subject line” is the area of an electronic communication that contains a summary description of the content of the message.

If any employee of a theatre or bookstore acting in the course or scope of his employment, is arrested for an offense designated in this Section, the employer shall reimburse the employee for all attorney’s fees and other costs of defense of such employee.  Such fees and expenses may be fixed by the court exercising criminal jurisdiction after contradictory hearing or by ordinary civil process.

Hearing Requirement Movies and Printed Material

Except for those motion pictures, printed materials, and photographic materials showing actual ultimate sexual acts or simulated or animated ultimate sexual acts when there is an explicit, close-up depiction of human genital organs no person, firm, or corporation shall be arrested, charged, or indicted for obscenity until the material involved has first been the subject of an adversarial hearing before a district court judge to determine if the material could be considered the obscene.

Penalties

On a first conviction, whoever commits the crime of obscenity shall be fined not less than $1,000 dollars nor more than $2,500 dollars, or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not less than 6 months nor more than 3 years, or both.

On a second conviction, the offender shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor for not less than 6 months nor more than 3 years, and in addition may be fined not less than $2,500 dollars nor more than $5,000 dollars.

On a third or subsequent conviction, the offender shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not less than 2 years nor more than 5 years, and in addition may be fined not less than $5,000 dollars nor more than $10,000 dollars.

When a violation is with or in the presence of an unmarried person under the age of 17 years, the offender shall be fined not more than $10,000 dollars and shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not less than 2 years nor more than 5 years, without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

When a corporation is charged with violating this Section, the corporation, the president, the vice president, the secretary, and the treasurer may all be named as defendants.  Upon conviction for a violation of this Section, a corporation shall be sentenced.  All corporate officers who are named as defendants shall be subject to the penalty provisions.

Legal Assistance 

If you have been the victim of obscenity in New Orleans, contact our sexual assault attorney today.

Disclaimer:

Laws and policies can change at any time rendering the above information outdated or non-applicable. We strongly encourage you to look at City, Parish, and State statutes for the most recent laws and to consult a Louisiana licensed attorney.