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Bill would increase penalty for exposing minors to ‘obscene material’ • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]

['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- March']

Date: 2024-03

Legislation that heightens the penalties for giving children access to obscene material advanced in the Senate on Tuesday.

House File 2239 would upgrade the misdemeanor classification of the crime — dissemination and exhibition of obscene material to minors — from “serious” to “aggravated.”

That would increase the potential incarceration for those convicted of the crime from one year in jail to two years in prison, and the potential maximum fine would increase from $2,560 to $8,540.

The bill was unanimously recommended for further consideration by a three-person Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. It was approved by the House 95-0 last month.

“It’s a despicable thing,” said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, who agreed to recommend the bill but questioned its purpose, given the relative infrequency of arrests for the crime.

A report compiled by the Iowa Legislative Services Agency noted there were nine convictions for the crime in fiscal year 2023 and that none of them resulted in prison or probation. Those who are convicted are required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

The law defines “obscene material” as “any material depicting or describing the genitals, sex acts, masturbation, excretory functions or sadomasochistic abuse which the average person, taking the material as a whole and applying contemporary community standards with respect to what is suitable material for minors, would find appeals to the prurient interest and is patently offensive; and the material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, scientific, political or artistic value.”

The existing law exempts parents and guardians of those younger than 18 from prosecution if they distribute the material to their children.

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