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Student name:__________
TRUE/FALSE – Write ‘T’ if the statement is true and ‘F’ if the statement is false.
1) Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, was pardoned in 2010 for a conviction
decades earlier in Florida for engaging in lewd and lascivious behavior in public by exposing his
private parts and by simulating masturbation and oral copulation while on stage.
⊚ true
⊚ false
2) The U.S. Supreme Court has held that nude dancing constitutes speech entitled to some
degree of First Amendment protection.
⊚ true
⊚ false
3) Regulations on sexually oriented businesses are nearly always reviewed under strict
scrutiny as content-based regulations and struck down as unconstitutional.
⊚ true
⊚ false
4) Under the Miller obscenity test, an adult video might be protected by the First
Amendment in one state but not in another.
⊚ true
⊚ false
5) In a 2017 case, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina law that made it a
crime for a registered sex offender simply to access a commercial social networking site, such as
Facebook or Twitter.
⊚ true
⊚ false
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MULTIPLE CHOICE – Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or
answers the question.
6) The first recorded obscenity prosecution in the United States occurred in
A) 1725.
B) 1793.
C) 1815.
D) 1870.
7) The First Amendment does not protect the
A) production of child pornography.
B) distribution of child pornography.
C) possession of child pornography.
D) all of the answers are correct.
8) The current test for determining whether material is obscene was created in which of the
following U.S. Supreme Court cases?
A) Regina v. Hicklin
B) Miller v. California
C) Roth v. United States
D) Hustler v. Falwell
9) In which of the following U.S. Supreme Court cases did the high court make it clear more
than 60 years ago that a category of speech called obscenity is NOT protected by the First
Amendment?
A) Regina v. Hicklin
B) Miller v. California
C) Roth v. United States
D) Hustler v. Falwell
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10) The name of the feminist legal scholar who claims pornography objectifies women and
represents “the power of men over women, expressed through unequal sex, sanctioned both
through and prior to state power” is
A) Nina Hartley.
B) Catharine MacKinnon.
C) Nadine Strossen.
D) Stormy Daniels.
11) Under the third prong (i.e., part) of the current test used by the U.S. Supreme Court for
determining whether material is obscene, the fact finder must determine if the speech in question
A) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
B) lacks serious literary, artistic, public, or social value.
C) is utterly without redeeming social value.
D) is utterly without redeeming social and educational value.
12) Under the first prong (i.e., part) of the current test used by the U.S. Supreme Court for
determining whether material is obscene, the fact finder must determine if the speech in question
appeals to
A) a deviant interest.
B) a repulsive interest.
C) a prurient interest.
D) a pedophilic interest.
13) Variable obscenity laws
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A) allow various states to have varying definitions of obscenity.
B) permit states to force adult theaters and bookstores to locate in specific areas.
C) permit states to ban the sale of certain kinds of erotic material to minors.
D) allow for the zoning of sexually oriented businesses.
14) Lenny Bruce was
A) convicted of showing an obscene movie in California.
B) convicted of performing an obscene comedy routine in Chicago.
C) convicted of exhibiting obscene paintings at a Cincinnati museum.
D) acquitted on charges of exhibiting obscene paintings at a Cincinnati museum.
15) When zoning sexually oriented businesses, municipalities and cities would be wise to cite
which of the following as a reason for their zoning decision?
A) secondary effects
B) variable obscenity
C) the content of the books and movies sold at the businesses
D) the Comstock Act
16) Under the first prong (i.e., part) of the current test used by the U.S. Supreme Court for
determining whether material is obscene, the fact finder must consider how the material in
question would be viewed by
A) the person who created or produced it.
B) the person who purchased it.
C) an average person.
D) the judge hearing the case.
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FILL IN THE BLANK. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or
answers the question.
17) Under the second prong (i.e., part) of the current test for obscenity created by the U.S.
Supreme Court, it must be determined whether the work in question depicts in a _____ way
sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law.
18) In 2012, a jury in Los Angeles convicted an adult filmmaker named _____ on multiple
counts of obscenity for distributing on his Web site fetish films that featured scatology and
bestiality.
SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or
answers the question.
19) According to the U.S. Supreme Court, what is NOT to be considered “community” under
the current test for determining whether speech is obscene?
20) Explain how some states are addressing the problem of sexting by minors through new
legislation and why states need to adopt new laws to address sexting by minors.
21) Provide one example of the use of expert testimony by defendants in obscenity trials that
was discussed in Chapter 13.
22) Explain the legal relevance of the term “pornography” in the United States.
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23) What does it mean for a prosecutor to “venue shop” in an obscenity case?
24) A two-part question: (1) Explain what motivated Congress to pass the Allow States and
Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (known as FOSTA for short) in 2018. (2) What
concerns exist about the law’s perhaps unintended consequences?
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Answer Key
Test name: chapter 13
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