§ 11-31-10 — § 11-31-10. Sale or exhibition to minors of indecent publications, pictures, or articles.

Rhode Island § 11-31-10

• Jurisdiction: Rhode Island
• Title 11: Criminal Offenses
• Ch. 11-31: Obscene and Objectionable Publications and Shows

Text

§ 11-31-10. Sale or exhibition to minors of indecent publications, pictures, or articles.

(a) Every person who shall willfully or knowingly engage in the business of selling, lending, giving away, showing, advertising for sale, or distributing to any person under the age of eighteen (18) years, has in their possession with intent to engage in that business or to otherwise offer for sale or commercial distribution to any person under the age of eighteen (18) years, or who shall display at newsstands or any other business establishment frequented by persons under the age of eighteen (18) years or where persons under the age of eighteen (18) years are or may be invited as a part of the general public, any motion picture, any still picture, photograph, or any book, pocket book, pamphlet, or magazine of which the cover or content consists of explicit representations of "sexual conduct�, "sexual excitement�, "nudity� and which is indecent for minors or which is predominantly made up of descriptions of "sexual conduct�, "sexual excitement�, "nudity� and which is indecent, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment for not more than two (2) years, or both.

(b) As used in this section, the following words have the following meaning:

(1) "Indecent for minors� means:

(i) Appealing to the prurient interest in sex of minors;

(ii) Taken as a whole is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

(iii) Clearly lacking serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value for minors;

(2) "Knowingly� means having knowledge of the character and content of the publication or failure on notice to exercise reasonable inspection which would disclose its content and character;

(3) "Nudity� means less than completely and opaquely covered; human genitals, pubic regions, buttock, and female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola;

(4) "Sexual conduct� means act of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, sodomy, fondling, or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttock, or female breasts; and

(5) "Sexual excitement� means human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

Legislative History

G.L. 1938, ch. 610, § 48; P.L. 1956, ch. 3686, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 11-31-10; P. L. 1960, ch. 134, § 3; P.L. 1966, ch. 259, § 2; P.L. 1971, ch. 30, § 1; P.L. 1979, ch. 406, § 1; P.L. 1981, ch. 221, § 1; P.L. 2025, ch. 415, § 2, effective July 2, 2025; P.L. 2025, ch. 416, § 2, effective July 2, 2025.