§ 45-8-201 — Obscenity

Montana § 45-8-201

• Jurisdiction: Montana
• Title 45: CRIMES
• Ch. 8: OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER
• Part 2: Offensive, Indecent, and Inhumane Conduct

Text

45-8-201 . Obscenity. (1) A person commits the offense of obscenity when, with knowledge of the obscene nature of the material, the person purposely or knowingly:
(a) sells, delivers, or provides or offers or agrees to sell, deliver, or provide any obscene writing, picture, record, or other representation or embodiment of the obscene to anyone under 18 years of age or a person, including a law enforcement officer using an undercover or fictitious identity, whom the offender believes to be under 18 years of age;
(b) presents or directs an obscene play, dance, or other performance, or participates in that portion of the performance that makes it obscene, to anyone under 18 years of age;
(c) publishes, exhibits, or otherwise makes available anything obscene to anyone under 18 years of age;
(d) performs an obscene act or otherwise presents an obscene exhibition of the person's body to anyone under 18 years of age;
(e) creates, buys, procures, or possesses obscene matter or material with the purpose to disseminate it to anyone under 18 years of age or a person, including a law enforcement officer using an undercover or fictitious identity, whom the offender believes to be under 18 years of age; or
(f) advertises or otherwise promotes the sale of obscene material or materials represented or held out by the person to be obscene.
(2) A thing is obscene if:
(a) (i) it is a representation or description of perverted ultimate sexual acts, actual or simulated;
(ii) it is a patently offensive representation or description of normal ultimate sexual acts, actual or simulated; or
(iii) it is a patently offensive representation or description of masturbation, excretory functions, or lewd exhibition of the genitals; and
(b) taken as a whole the material:
(i) applying contemporary community standards, appeals to the prurient interest in sex;
(ii) portrays conduct described in subsection (2)(a)(i), (2)(a)(ii), or (2)(a)(iii) in a patently offensive way; and
(iii) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
(3) In any prosecution for an offense under this section, evidence is admissible to show:
(a) the predominant appeal of the material and what effect, if any, it would probably have on the behavior of people;
(b) the artistic, literary, scientific, educational, or other merits of the material;
(c) the degree of public acceptance of the material in the community;
(d) the appeal to prurient interest or absence of that appeal in advertising or other promotion of the material; or
(e) the purpose of the author, creator, publisher, or disseminator.
(4) A person convicted of obscenity shall be fined at least $500 but not more than $1,000 or be imprisoned in the county jail for a term not to exceed 6 months, or both.
(5) Cities, towns, counties, or school districts may adopt ordinances, resolutions, or policies that are more restrictive as to obscenity than the provisions of this section.

Legislative History

En. 94-8-110 by Sec. 1, Ch. 513, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 407, L. 1975; R.C.M. 1947, 94-8-110 ; amd. Sec. 1, I.M. 79, app. Nov. 7, 1978; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 571, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 1702, Ch. 56, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 449, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 102, L. 2025.