A. Elements Of The Offense: No person shall commit obscenity in the Village. A person commits obscenity when, with knowledge of the nature or content thereof, or recklessly failing to exercise reasonable inspection which would have disclosed the nature or content thereof, he:
1. 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; or
2. Presents or directs an obscene play, dance or other performance or participates directly in that portion thereof which makes it obscene; or
3. Publishes, exhibits or otherwise makes available anything obscene; or
4. Performs an obscene act or otherwise presents an obscene exhibition of his or her body for gain; or
5. Creates, buys, procures or possesses obscene matter or material with intent to disseminate it in violation of this section, or of the penal laws or regulations of any other jurisdiction; or
6. Advertises or otherwise promotes the sale of material represented or held out by him or her to be obscene, whether or not it is obscene.
B. Obscene Defined: A thing is obscene if, when considered as a whole by the average person applying contemporary community standards:
1. Its predominant appeal is to prurient interest, that is, a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex or excretion, and it goes substantially beyond customary limits of candor in description or representation of such matters; and
2. It depicts in a patently offensive way beyond the customary limits of candor, ultimate sexual acts or sadomasochistic sexual acts, whether normal or perverted, actual or simulated, or masturbation, excretory functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals; and
3. The work or exhibition as a whole is utterly without redeeming social importance.
C. Interpretation Of Evidence: In determining whether an object, act or exhibition is obscene, a court or other authority should consider, in addition to other logically relevant factors:
1. Circumstances of production, presentation, sale, dissemination, distribution or publicity which indicate that material is being commercially exploited for the sake of its prurient appeal.
2. The character of the audience for which the material was designed or to which it was directed.
3. What the predominant appeal of the material would be for ordinary adults or a special audience, and what effect, if any, it would probably have on the behavior of such people.
4. The artistic, literary, scientific, educational or other merits of the material, or absence thereof.
5. The degree, if any, of public acceptance of the material in the State.
6. Appeal to prurient interest, or absence thereof, in advertising or other promotion of the material.
7. Purpose of the author, creator, publisher or disseminator.
D. Forfeiture Of Property:
1. Obscenity is a far-reaching and extremely profitable crime, which persists despite the threat of prosecution and successful prosecution because existing sanctions do not effectively reach the money and other assets generated by it. The State has, therefore, determined it to be necessary to supplement existing sanctions by mandating forfeiture of money and other assets generated by such crime, to diminish the financial incentives which encourage and sustain obscenity and secure for the State, local government and prosecutors a resource for prosecuting obscenity crimes.
2. The Village shall assist the County State's Attorney and the Attorney General of the State in investigating and prosecuting crimes of obscenity and in obtaining forfeiture of property pursuant to State law, and specifically pursuant to the procedures set forth in 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/11-20.
E. Prima Facie Evidence Of Intent To Disseminate: The creation, purchase, procurement or possession of a mold, engraved plate or other embodiment of obscenity specially adapted for reproducing multiple copies, or the possession of more than three (3) copies of obscene material, shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to disseminate.
F. Affirmative Defense: It shall be an affirmative defense to obscenity that the dissemination:
1. Was not for gain and was made to personal associates other than children under eighteen (18) years of age; or
2. Was to institutions or individuals having scientific or other special justification for possession of such material. (Ord. G-577, 10-22-1996)