TLRC position
Support
2023 · Education
Criminal penalty for book distributors and obscene materials.
HB 0841 / SB 1059
Bill description
Obscenity and Pornography - As enacted, makes it a Class E felony for a book publisher, distributor, or seller to knowingly sell or distribute obscene matter to a public school serving any of the grades K-12; adds additional fines for a violation.
Obscenity and Pornography - As enacted, makes it a Class E felony for a book publisher, distributor, or seller to knowingly sell or distribute obscene matter to a public school serving any of the grades K-12; adds additional fines for a violation.
Bill sponsors
TLRC statement
The battle rages on for our children in the public school system. This bill takes on the fight of working to get obscene materials out of the school system.
But unlike other bills that seek to punish librarians and school administrators (which we still support), it takes a creative approach to create a criminal penalty for book distributors who sell and promote obscene material in K-12 schools in Tennessee. Violations of this law would result in a Class E felony and fines of $10,000 to $100,000.
This is good law. But, of course, nothing is a silver bullet. Keep in mind that as this bill creates a criminal penalty, enforcement requires local district attorneys to prosecute offenders.