New York, NY asked in Appeals / Appellate Law, Communications Law and Constitutional Law for New York

Q: In the most plain language, what's the difference in Roth v. United States and Miller v. California obscenity decisions?

I'm trying to get a better understanding of these cases a someone whose not a law student. From what I understand, obscene material is determined to be so (Roth decision) when it meets only one of the three prongs ( a. whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest b. whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law c. whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.) and that changed with Miller decision where it had to meet all three prongs.

1 Lawyer Answer
Ali Shahrestani,
Ali Shahrestani,
Answered
  • New York, NY
  • Licensed in New York

A: See: http://courses.cs.vt.edu/professionalism/Censorship/3-prong-test.html

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