A
Sampler of Federal Criminal Statutes
Regarding Pornography
and Sexual Activity*
(and
a peek into the US Attorneys' manual on prosecution policies)
Federal
Obscenity Criminal and Forfeiture Statutes
Child
Pornography Abatement - Record Keeping
The
Mann Act - Transporting Persons for Sexual Purposes
| 18
USC 2421 |
Transportation
of persons for prostitution or criminal sexual activity
|
| 18
USC 2422 |
Coercion
or enticement of transportation for these purposes |
| 18
USC 2423 |
Transportation
of minors for criminal sexual activity |
| 18
USC 2425 |
Transmission
of information about minors for criminal sexual activity |
| 18
USC 2427 |
Child
pornography included within ambit of these criminal statutes |
Racketeering
US
Postal Service
Public
Health and Welfare - Search for and Seizure of Materials to
be disseminated in interstate commerce
| 42
USC 2000aa |
Searches
and Seizures of documentary materials by government officers
in criminal investigations |
Communications
| 47
USC 153 |
Definitions |
| 47
USC 223 |
Obscene
or harassing phone calls |
| 47
USC 228 |
FTC
Regulation of Pay per Call |
| 47
USC 230 |
Blocking
and Screening of Offensive material |
| 47
USC 231 |
Restriction
on access of minors to harmful material on the world wide
web |
| 47
USC 561 |
Scrambling
of explicit materials on cable TV |
Civil
Rights Act
| 42
USC 1983 |
Civil
Action for deprivation of rights under color of state
law |
| 42
USC 1985 |
Civil
Action based on conspiracy to violate civil rights |
| 42
USC 1986 |
Civil
Action for failure to prevent violation of civil rights |
*Caveat:
The foregoing tables are only a sampler of significant federal
statutes which may have applicability to pornography. This
listing is by no means comprehensive and is not intended to
substitute for a careful and professional analysis of federal
law. In the American legal tradition, the interpretation of
statutes by courts controls their meaning and application
to an extent unknown outside the Anglo-american legal tradition,
and authoritative interpretation of these statutes by courts
must be consulted to understand their real meaning. In addition
to federal law, state and local law also need to be examined
and understood to assess any enterprise for legality.
Matters
concerning underage minors are included in this table so that
no reader will have any doubt
as to how seriously the United States government takes such
matters, how seriously they are punished, and how far the
United States extends its jurisdiction toward the abatement
of all production and use of such images. United States law
in this connection includes statutes which reach outside its
territorial limits, as far as spacecraft in flight. See, in
particular, 18
USC 2260 and 18
USC 7.
Title
9 (last updated November, 2000) of the US Attorney's
Manual provides the most recent, publicly disseminated,
guidance for prosecution policy in this area, and this is
found on DOJ's site at Section 9-75.020:
Prosecution
of large scale distributors of obscene material who realize
substantial income from their multi-state operations also
is encouraged. Prosecution priority should be given to cases
in which there is evidence of involvement by known organized
crime figures. However, prosecution of cases involving relatively
small distributors can have a deterrent effect and would dispel
any notion that obscenity distributors are insulated from
prosecution if their operations fail to exceed a predetermined
size or if they fragment their business into small-scale operations.
Therefore, prosecution of such distributors also may be appropriate
on a case-by-case basis. In evaluating obscenity cases, substantial
deference should be given to the United States Attorney's
determination of the viability of the case based upon the
factors set forth in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973).
Under the legal test of obscenity set forth in that case,
material is obscene if, taken as a whole, the average person
in the community would find that the material appeals to the
prurient interest of its intended audience, depicts sexual
conduct in a patently offensive way, and a reasonable person
would find the material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary,
artistic, political or scientific value.
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