§ 720 ILCS 5/ Sec. 11-20. Obscenity
(a) Elements of the Offense. A person commits obscenity
when, with knowledge of the nature or content thereof, or recklessly
failing to exercise reasonable inspection which would have disclosed the
nature or content thereof, he:
(1) Sells, delivers or provides, or offers or agrees to sell, deliver
or provide any obscene writing, picture, record or other representation
or embodiment of the obscene; or
(2) Presents or directs an obscene play, dance or other performance or
participates directly in that portion thereof which makes it obscene; or
(3) Publishes, exhibits or otherwise makes available anything obscene;
or
(4) Performs an obscene act or otherwise presents an obscene exhibition
of his body for gain; or
(5) Creates, buys, procures or possesses obscene matter or material with
intent to disseminate it in violation of this Section, or of the penal
laws or regulations of any other jurisdiction; or
(6) Advertises or otherwise promotes the sale of material represented or
held out by him to be obscene, whether or not it is obscene.
(b) Obscene Defined. Any material or performance is obscene if:
(1) the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards,
would find that, taken as a whole, it appeals to the prurient interest;
and (2) the average person, applying contemporary adult community
standards, would find that it depicts or describes, in a patently
offensive way, ultimate sexual acts or sadomasochistic sexual acts,
whether normal or perverted, actual or simulated, or masturbation,
excretory functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals; and (3) taken as a
whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
(c) Interpretation of Evidence. Obscenity shall be
judged with reference to ordinary adults, except that it shall be judged
with reference to children or other specially susceptible audiences if it
appears from the character of the material or the circumstances of its
dissemination to be specially designed for or directed to such an
audience.
Where circumstances of production, presentation, sale, dissemination,
distribution, or publicity indicate that material is being commercially
exploited for the sake of its prurient appeal, such evidence is probative
with respect to the nature of the matter and can justify the conclusion
that the matter is lacking in serious literary, artistic, political or
scientific value.
In any prosecution for an offense under this Section evidence shall be
admissible to show:
(1) The character of the audience for which the material was designed
or to which it was directed;
(2) What the predominant appeal of the material would be for ordinary
adults or a special audience, and what effect, if any, it would probably
have on the behavior of such people;
(3) The artistic, literary, scientific, educational or other merits of
the material, or absence thereof;
(4) The degree, if any, of public acceptance of the material in this
State;
(5) Appeal to prurient interest, or absence thereof, in advertising or
other promotion of the material;
(6) Purpose of the author, creator, publisher or disseminator.
(d) Sentence. Obscenity is a Class A
misdemeanor. A second or subsequent offense is a Class 4 felony.
(e) Prima Facie Evidence. The creation, purchase, procurement or
possession of a mold, engraved plate or other embodiment of
obscenity specially adapted for reproducing multiple copies, or
the possession of more than 3 copies of obscene material shall be prima
facie evidence of an intent to disseminate.
(f) Affirmative Defenses. It shall be an affirmative defense to
obscenity that the dissemination:
(1) Was not for gain and was made to personal associates other than
children under 18 years of age;
(2) Was to institutions or individuals having scientific or other
special justification for possession of such material.
[Additional portions of the law
follow dealing with property forfeiture in obscenity cases.]
|