APPENDIX 1
Full Federal and Florida laws: Federal Law:
b) US Code Title 18 CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURES; Part 1-Crimes; Chapter
71 OBSCENITY; Section 1466A – Obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children
i) Obscenity is not protected under First Amendment rights to free speech, and violations of federal obscenity laws are criminal offenses.
The U.S. courts use a three- pronged test, commonly referred to as the Miller test, to determine if given material is obscene. Obscenity is defined as anything that fits the criteria of the Miller test, which may include, for example, visual depictions, spoken words, or written text such as:
(1) Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests (i.e., an erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion)
(2) Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way (i.e., ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual, or simulated, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or sado-masochistic sexual abuse); and
(3) Whether a reasonable person finds that the matter, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
ii) In addition, Section 1466A of Title 18, United State Code, makes it illegal for any person to knowingly produce, distribute, receive, or possess with intent to transfer or distribute visual representations, such as drawings, cartoons, or paintings that appear to depict minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and are deemed obscene. This statute offers an alternative 2-pronged test for obscenity with a lower threshold than the Miller test. The matter involving minors can be deemed obscene if it (I) depicts an image that is, or appears to be a minor engaged in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse and (ii) if the image lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. A first-time offender convicted under this statute faces fines and at least 5 years to a maximum of 20 years in prison.
APPENDIX 2
State of Florida Law
c) FL. Stat. 1006.34 Powers and duties of the Commissioner and the department in selecting and adopting instructional materials.
i) (1) PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules prescribing the procedures by which the department shall evaluate instructional materials submitted by publishers and manufacturers in each adoption. Included in these procedures shall be provisions affording each publisher or manufacturer or his or her representative an opportunity to provide a virtual presentation to state instructional materials reviewers on the merits of each instructional material submitted in each adoption.
ii) (2) SELECTION AND ADOPTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.
(a) (b) In the selection of instructional materials, library media, and other reading material used in the public-school system, the standards used to determine the propriety of the material shall include:
iii) 1. The age of the students who normally could be expected to have access to the material.
iv) 2. The educational purpose to be served by the material. Priority shall be given to the selection of materials that align with the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards as provided for in s. 1003.41 and include the instructional objectives contained within the curriculum frameworks for career and technical education and adult and adult general education adopted by rule of the State Board of Education under s. 1004.92.
v) 3. The degree to which the material would be supplemented and explained by mature classroom instruction as part of a normal classroom instructional program.
vi) 4. The consideration of the broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity of the students of this state.
vii) Any instructional material containing pornography or otherwise prohibited by
s. 847.012 MAY NOT be used or made available within any public school.
d) FL. Stat. 1006.28 Duties of district school board, district school superintendent; and school principal regarding K-12 instructional materials.
i) DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD. The district school board has the constitutional duty and responsibility to select and provide adequate instructional materials for all students in accordance with the requirements of this part. The district school board also has the following specific duties and responsibilities:
(1) Course of study; adoption. Adopt courses of study, including instructional materials, for use in the schools of the district.
(2) Each district school board is responsible for the content of all instructional materials and any other materials used in a classroom, made available in a school library, or included on a reading list, whether adopted and purchased from the state adopted
instructional materials list, adopted and purchased through a district instructional materials program under s. 1006.283, or otherwise purchased or made available. Each district school board shall maintain on its website a current list of instructional materials, by grade level, purchased by the district.
(3) … The process must provide the parent or resident the opportunity to proffer evidence to the district school board that:
(i) An instructional material does not meet the criteria of s.1006.31(2) or s. 1006.40(3)(d) if it was selected for use in a course or otherwise made available to students in the school district but was not subject to the public notice, review, comment, and hearing procedures under s.1006.283(2)(b)8., 9, and 11.
(ii) Any material used in a classroom, made available in a school library, or included on a reading list contains content that is pornographic or prohibited under s. 847.012 is not suited to student needs and their ability
to comprehend the material presented or is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used.
If the district school board finds that an instructional material does not meet the criteria under sub-subparagraph a. or that any other material contains prohibited content under sub-subparagraph b., the school district shall discontinue use of the material for the grade level or age group for which such use is inappropriate or unsuitable.
e) Fla. Stat. Ann. § 847.001
i) (5) “Deviate sexual intercourse” means sexual conduct between persons not married to each other consisting of contact between the penis and the anus, the mouth and the penis, the mouth and the vulva.
ii) (6) “Harmful to minors” means any reproduction, imitation, characterization, description, exhibition, presentation, or representation, of whatever kind or form, depicting nudity, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement when it:
(1) (a) Predominantly appeals to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest.
(b) Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material or conduct for minors; and Taken as a whole, is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
iii) (8) “Minor” means any person under the age of 18 years.
iv) (9) “Nudity” means the showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area, or buttocks with less than a fully 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 depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state. A mother's breastfeeding of her baby does not under any circumstance constitute “nudity,” irrespective of whether the nipple is covered during or incidental to feeding.
f) Fla. Stat. Ann. § 847.012 (West):
i) Harmful materials: sale or distribution to minors or using minors in production prohibited; penalty
(1) 1) As used in this section, “knowingly” means having the general knowledge of reason to know, or a belief or ground for belief which warrants further inspection or inquiry of both:
(2) (a) The character and content of any material described in this section which is reasonably susceptible of examination by the defendant; and
(3) (b) The age of the minor.
(4) (2) A person's ignorance of a minor's age, a minor's misrepresentation of his or her age, a bona fide belief of a minor's age, or a minor's consent may not be raised as a defense in a prosecution for a violation of this section.
(5) (3) A person may not knowingly sell, rent, or loan for monetary consideration to a minor:(a) Any picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion picture film, videocassette, or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body which depicts nudity or sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sexual battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to
minors; or(b) Any book, pamphlet, magazine, printed matter however reproduced, or sound recording that contains any matter defined in s. 847.001, explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, or sexual conduct and that is harmful to minors.
(6) (4) A person may not knowingly use a minor in the production of any material described in subsection (3), regardless of whether the material is intended for distribution to minors or is distributed to minors.
(7) (5) An adult may not knowingly distribute to a minor on school property, or post on school property, any material described in subsection (3). As used in this subsection, the term “school property” means the grounds or facility of any kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, junior high school, or secondary school, whether public or nonpublic.
(8) (6) Any person violating any provision of this section commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided n s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or 775.084.
(9) (7) Every act, thing, or transaction forbidden by this section constitutes a separate offense and is punishable as such.
g) FLA. STAT. ANN. § 1003.42 Part of the state’s required instruction includes a comprehensive health education program that addresses family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy.
h) FLA. STAT. ANN. § 1003.43 One of the requirements for high school graduation is that students earn one-half credit in life management skills, which includes marriage and relationship skill-based education, prevention of HIV/AIDS and other STDs, benefits of sexual abstinence and consequences of teenage pregnancy.
i) FLA. STAT. ANN. § 1003.46 Authorizes district boards to provide instruction in AIDS education as a specific area of health education. Instruction may include, but not be limited to, the known modes of transmission, signs and symptoms, risk factors associated with AIDS, and means used to control its spread. Throughout the instruction in AIDS, STDs, or health education, when such instruction and course material contain instruction in human sexuality, schools must:
(1) Teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school-age students while teaching the benefits of monogamous heterosexual marriage.
(2) Emphasize that abstinence from sexual activity is a certain way to avoid out-of- wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, and other associated health problems.
(3) Teach that each student has the power to control personal behavior and encourage students to base actions on reasoning, self-esteem and respect for others.
(4) Provide instruction and material that is appropriate for the grade and age of the student.
