Miller v. California
Justin Pires
GVT 244 Civil Liberties
Professor Ballone
14 February 2014
Obscenity in Miller v. California
Today in our criminal justice system there exists a policy known as “The Miller Test”. The purpose of this test is to determine whether or not a given substance is obscene or not. It is a test that is frequently used today by police, and its significance is clearly obvious. The “Miller Test” is a direct result from the outcome of the U.S Supreme Court decision, Miller v. California. In this case, a local business owner who specialized in adult content and pornography, decided to market his business by mailing pornographic sampling material around the neighborhood. An unwilling recipient was mailed the graphic material and immediately contacted the authorities, whom later took Miller into custody. Miller was brought to court and charged under the California penal code which stated that:
Every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, or prints, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to others, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to others, any obscene matter is for a first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor… (California Penal Code 311 2a.)
After receiving a guilty verdict in the Superior Court of Orange County, Miller appealed to the Supreme Court. Miller’s main argument and defense for his Supreme Court case was that the jury of the Superior Court, did not follow the proceedings of Memoirs v. Massachusetts which stated that in order for content to be ruled “obscene”, materials must be “utterly without redeeming social value” (Memoirs v. Massachusetts). The court ruled in favor of California. In a 5 to 4 decision, the main question the court faced was whether the sale of “obscene” material via mail protected by the First Amendment? The court decided that in this particular case, it was not
GVT 244 Civil Liberties
Professor Ballone
14 February 2014
Obscenity in Miller v. California
Today in our criminal justice system there exists a policy known as “The Miller Test”. The purpose of this test is to determine whether or not a given substance is obscene or not. It is a test that is frequently used today by police, and its significance is clearly obvious. The “Miller Test” is a direct result from the outcome of the U.S Supreme Court decision, Miller v. California. In this case, a local business owner who specialized in adult content and pornography, decided to market his business by mailing pornographic sampling material around the neighborhood. An unwilling recipient was mailed the graphic material and immediately contacted the authorities, whom later took Miller into custody. Miller was brought to court and charged under the California penal code which stated that:
Every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, or prints, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to others, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to others, any obscene matter is for a first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor… (California Penal Code 311 2a.)
After receiving a guilty verdict in the Superior Court of Orange County, Miller appealed to the Supreme Court. Miller’s main argument and defense for his Supreme Court case was that the jury of the Superior Court, did not follow the proceedings of Memoirs v. Massachusetts which stated that in order for content to be ruled “obscene”, materials must be “utterly without redeeming social value” (Memoirs v. Massachusetts). The court ruled in favor of California. In a 5 to 4 decision, the main question the court faced was whether the sale of “obscene” material via mail protected by the First Amendment? The court decided that in this particular case, it was not