[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the Township of Penn 5-16-1977 by Ord. No. 304. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
The Commissioners of the Township of Penn find
that the crass commercial exploitation of explicit sexual conduct
through the public exhibition of lewd films and the display and/or
sale of lewd publications constitutes a debasement and distortion
of a sensitive key relationship of human existence central to family
life, community welfare and the development of human personality;
is indecent and totally offensive to the senses and to the public
morals and interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of both life
and property in that such interferes with the interest of the public
in the quality of life and total community environment, the tone of
commerce in the Township of Penn and the public safety; and that the
operation of such activities is detrimental to the best health, safety,
convenience, good morals and general welfare of the Township of Penn
and of the residents, citizens, inhabitants and businesses thereof.
The Commissioners of the Township of Penn hereby declare such activities
to be illegal and herein provide for the procedures for prosecution
of said illegal activities. This chapter shall apply to any existing
establishments which are presently engaged in the type of activity
herein declared to be illegal.
For the purpose of this chapter, the words and
phrases set forth below shall have the meanings respectively ascribed
to them:
One or more persons who are permitted to view a performance
for valuable consideration or in or from a public place.
The exposing, placing, posting, exhibiting or in any other
fashion displaying in any location, whether public or private, material
or a performance in such a manner that it may be readily seen and
its content or character distinguished by normal unaided vision viewing
it from a public place or vehicle.
To manufacture, issue, publish, sell, lend, distribute, transmit,
broadcast, exhibit or present material or to offer or agree to do
the same, or to have in one's possession with intent to do the same.
Any printed matter, visual representation or sound recording,
and includes but is not limited to books, magazines, motion-picture
films, pamphlets, newspapers, pictures, photographs, drawings, three-dimensional
forms, sculptures and phonograph, tape or wire recordings.
Any person under 18 years of age.
Completely without clothing, or with the human male or female
genitals, pubic area or buttocks with less than a full opaque covering,
or the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque
covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple, or the
covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.
Advertising or propagandizing in connection with the sale
of material, the offering of a service or the presentation or exhibition
of a performance by appealing to the prurient interest of potential
customers.
Any live or reproduced exhibition, including but not limited
to any play, motion-picture film, dance or appearance presented to
or performed before an audience.
Relating to pornography.
Any material or performance is pornography if all of the
following elements are present:
Considered as a whole by the average person
applying the contemporary community standards of the Township of Penn,
it appeals to the prurient interest;
It depicts, describes or represents, in a patently
offensive way, sexual conduct, as hereinafter defined; and
It lacks serious literary, artistic, political
or scientific value.
Any material or performance is pornography for minors if
all of the following elements are present:
Considered as a whole by the average person
applying the contemporary community standards of the Township of Penn
with respect to what is suitable for minors, it is presented in such
a manner as to appeal to a minor's prurient interest;
It depicts, describes or represents, in a patently
offensive way, nudity or sexual conduct as hereinafter defined; and
It lacks serious literary, artistic, political
or scientific value for minors.
Desire or craving for sexual stimulation or gratification.
In determining prurient interest, the material or performance shall
be judged with reference to average persons, unless it appears from
the character of the material or performance that it is designed to
appeal to the prurient interest of a particular group of persons,
including but not limited to homosexuals or sadomasochists. In that
case, it shall be judged with reference to the particular group for
which it was designed.
Any of the streets, alleys, parks, boulevards, schools or
other public property in the township, or any dance hall, rental hall,
theater, amusement park, liquor establishment, store, depot, place
of public accommodation or other private property generally frequented
by the public for the purposes of education, recreation, amusement,
entertainment, sport, shopping or travel; or any vehicle for public
transportation, owned or operated by government, either directly or
through a public corporation or authority, or owned or operated by
any nongovernmental agency for the use, enjoyment or transportation
of the general public.
Flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or
clad in undergarments or in a sexually revealing or bizarre costume
or the condition of such person being fettered, bound or otherwise
physically restrained in an apparent act of sexual stimulation or
gratification.
Masturbation, either actual or simulated;
Sexual intercourse, whether genital-genital,
oral-genital, oral-anal or anal-genital, either actual or simulated;
Any erotic fondling or touching of the covered or uncovered genitals, buttocks, pubic area or any part thereof the breasts of the female, whether the conduct described in Subsections A through C is engaged in alone or between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals or humans and inanimate objects;
Actual or simulated display or exhibition of
the human pubic area or genitals or any part thereof;
Sexual excitement, as hereinafter defined; or
Sadomasochistic abuse, as hereinabove defined.
The facial expressions, movements, utterances or other responses
of a human male or female, whether alone or with others, whether clothed
or not, who is in an apparent state of sexual stimulation or arousal
or is experiencing the physical or sensual reactions of humans engaging
in or witnessing sexual conduct.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person to promote pornography.
A person commits the offense of promoting pornography if, knowing
its content and character, he:
(1)
Disseminates or causes to be disseminated any pornographic
material in or from a public place or vehicle or for valuable consideration
or has in his possession any pornographic material with intent to
so disseminate or knowingly allows the use of any business, building,
vehicle or place owned, leased, conducted or managed by him for such
dissemination of pornographic material;
(2)
Sells an admission ticket or pass to premises where
there is being exhibited or is about to be exhibited material or a
performance which is pornographic;
(3)
Admits, by accepting a ticket or pass, a person to
premises where there is being exhibited or is about to be exhibited
material or a performance which is pornographic;
(4)
Produces, presents, directs or knowingly allows the
use of any business, building, vehicle or place owned, leased, conducted
or managed by him to be used for a pornographic performance before
an audience;
(5)
Participates in that portion of a live performance
before an audience which makes it pornographic; or
(6)
Panders, displays publicly or disseminates door-to-door
any pornographic material or performance or causes such pandering,
public display or door-to-door dissemination.
B.
For the purpose of this section, possession of two
or more identical copies of any pornographic material by any person
engaged in the business of disseminating material, as defined above,
shall be prima facie evidence of possession with intent to disseminate
for valuable consideration.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person to promote pornography
for minors. A person commits the offense of promoting pornography
for minors if, knowing its content and character, he:
(1)
Disseminates or causes to be disseminated to a minor
material which is pornography for minors or knowingly allows the use
of any business, building, vehicle or place owned, leased, conducted
or managed by him for the dissemination to a minor of material which
is pornography for minors;
(2)
Exhibits to a minor a motion-picture film or other
performance which is pornography for minors;
(3)
Sells to a minor an admission ticket or pass to any
building, vehicle or place where there is being exhibited or is about
to be exhibited a motion-picture film or other performance which is
pornography for minors;
(4)
Admits a minor to any building, vehicle or place where
there is being exhibited or is about to be exhibited a motion-picture
film or other performance which is pornography for minors;
(5)
Knowingly produces, presents, directs or allows the
use of any business, building, vehicle or place owned, leased, conducted
or managed by him for the presentation of performance which is pornography
for minors before an audience which includes a minor; or
(6)
Displays publicly or disseminates door-to-door any
material or performance which is pornography for minors, or causes
such public display or door-to-door dissemination.
It shall be an affirmative defense to a prosecution under § 50-3 or 50-4 of this chapter if the pornographic material was disseminated by a person who was acting in his capacity as:
A.
A teacher of an accredited course of study related
to pornography at a state-approved educational institution;
B.
A licensed medical practitioner or psychologist in
the treatment of a patient;
C.
A participant in the criminal justice system, such
as a legislator, judge, prosecutor, law enforcement official or other
similar or related position; or
A.
Fines. Any person convicted of violating this chapter
shall be guilty of a summary offense and, upon conviction before any
District Justice, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $1,000
and costs for each offense and, in default of payment thereof, shall
be subject to imprisonment in the appropriate jail for a period not
exceeding 30 days.[1]
B.
Injunction. The Board of Commissioners may institute
proceedings in equity in the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland
County for the purpose of enjoining the sale, resale, lending, distribution,
exhibit, gift or show of such pornographic literature, book, magazine,
pamphlet, newspaper, storypaper, paper, comic book, writing, drawing,
photograph, figure or image or any written or printed matter of an
obscene nature or any article or instrument of a pornographic nature,
contrary to the provisions of this section, and for such purposes
jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon said Court. A preliminary injunction
may issue and a hearing thereafter be held thereon in conformity with
the Rules of Civil Procedure upon the averment of the Board of Commissioners
that the sale, resale, lending, distribution, exhibit, gift or show
of such publication constitutes a danger to the welfare or peace of
the community.[2]
