The commercial distribution or commercial display of obscene materials
or acts to anyone, including consenting adults, is hereby prohibited.
Obscene materials and acts are hereby defined as follows:
A. Films and moving pictures. A film or moving picture is
obscene if, when considered as a whole, its calculated purpose or dominant
effect is:
(1) Substantially to arouse sexual desires, whether natural
or unnatural, and if the probability of this effect is so great as to outweigh
whatever other merits the film may possess.
(2) To portray acts of sexual immorality or lewdness as profitable,
desirable, acceptable or proper behavior.
(3) To advocate the illegal use of narcotics or habit-forming
drugs.
B. Photographs, paintings, illustrations. A photograph,
painting or illustration is obscene if it portrays human sexual intercourse,
homosexual acts, sadistic sexual acts, sexual acts between man and beast or
human sexual organs. (Breasts shall not be considered sexual organs for the
purpose of this subsection). Notwithstanding the foregoing, a photograph,
painting or illustration which portrays human sexual organs is not obscene
if it is a part of a medical textbook; or it is a work of art, the original
or a copy of which has been displayed by a museum receiving public funds,
or (if by a less-renowned artist) the subject of which is the human body as
a whole without particular emphasis on its sexual parts, and if considered
as a whole, its calculated purpose or dominant effect is not to substantially
arouse sexual desires, whether natural or unnatural, so as to outweigh whatever
other merits it may possess.
C. Books and magazines. A book or magazine containing photographs, paintings or illustrations of the type defined as obscene in Subsection
B is obscene if, considered as a whole, its calculated purpose or dominant effect is substantially to arouse sexual desires, whether natural or unnatural, and if the probability of this effect is so great as to outweigh whatever other merits it may possess. A book or magazine containing no photographs, paintings or illustrations shall not be considered obscene for purposes of this chapter.
D. Objects. An object is obscene if it is by itself a recognizable
reproduction of a sexual organ (including breasts) or if some part of it consists
of a recognizable reproduction of sexual organs substantially exaggerated
in size or appearance.
E. Acts. An act is obscene if it involves the naked display
of sexual organs (including breasts), or if it is explicitly suggestive of
sexual acts or if it involves sexual acts.
Anyone having violated §
187-1 of this chapter shall be subject to imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding 90 days or to a fine not exceeding $500, or both. Anyone having violated §
187-4 of this chapter, and the film or moving picture having been adjudged obscene in a court of law in the same or a separate proceedings, shall be subject to a separate penalty of imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding 90 days or a fine not exceeding $500, or both. Each separate film, moving picture, photograph, painting, illustration, book, magazine, object or act (and each issue of them) which is commercially distributed or commercially displayed shall constitute a separate offense under this chapter. Each separate commercial distribution or commercial display, whether to different persons or to the same person, shall constitute a separate offense under this chapter.
Notwithstanding any other section, clause or provision of this chapter
to the contrary, the definitions of "obscene" and "obscenity," for all purposes
of interpretation and enforcement of this chapter, shall be construed in accordance
with and in no event more strictly than the criteria set forth in C. 449 L.
1971 of the Laws of New Jersey (effective February 16, 1972, as N.J.S.A. 2A:115-1.1), as same shall be from time to time amended or supplemented, as
well as in accordance with and not more strictly than judicial interpretations
thereof pursuant to the Constitutions of the United States and of the State
of New Jersey finally concluded in courts of jurisdiction sufficient to render
decisions on constitutional questions having general application.