obscenity
type: Concept
definition: Obscenity and pornography have long been notoriously difficult to define, but legal scholars such as the British authority William Blackstone (1723–80) have tried to do so. In his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–70), Blackstone denounces “the sale of immoral pictures and prints” as a “grossly scandalous and public indecency,” noting that “the punishment ‘at common law’ is by fine and imprisonment.” Or, as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (1915–85) famously retorted in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964), “I know it when I see it,” adding that the motion picture involved in this case “is not that.” A billboard in Sioux Falls, S.D., paid for and sponsored by Citizens for Community Values, a Cinncinnati-based group, illustrates the group's attempt to pressure LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation to stop offering pornographic titles through its in-room pay-perview service. [Source: The U.S. Constitution A to Z; Obscenity]
broader: crimes in America
broader: legal topics
broader: psychology of criminal behavior
broader: constitutional issues
broader: cross-cultural perspectives
broader: nonviolent crimes
broader: social issues
broader: community, culture, and change
broader: crime and deviance
broader: media effects

psychology of criminal behavior
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

nonviolent crimes
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

cross-cultural perspectives
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

community, culture, and change
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

legal topics
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

constitutional issues
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

social issues
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

crimes in America
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

concepts
type: Collection
type: ConceptGroup
member: obscenity

crime and deviance
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity

media effects
type: Concept
narrower: obscenity