NCJ Number
117159
Journal
Kentucky Law Journal Volume: 76 Issue: 1 Dated: (1987-88) Pages: 15-80
Date Published
1988
Length
66 pages
Annotation
This article examines whether the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Stanley v. Georgia (1969) can be read to permit making at-home possession of child pornography a crime and whether, even if a constitutional crime under 'Stanley,' a legislature should choose to make it a crime.
Abstract
In 'Stanley,' the Court decided that the private possession of obscene material was constitutionally protected. In Ferber v. New York (1982), the U.S. Supreme Court held that even though not obscene, child pornography is still outside the protection of the first amendment because a State's interest in preventing harm to a child resulting from sexual exploitation 'overwhelmingly outweighs' any presumptive first amendment interest. At least eight States currently have laws that make the knowing possession of child pornography a crime, and the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that its statute is constitutional under 'Stanley' when applied to at-home possession. This article concludes that when resolution of the issue comes down to balancing a child-pornography possessor's minimal loss of privacy against a minimal increase in law enforcement's ability to protect children from predatory adults, at-home possession of child pornography should be a crime. 250 footnotes.