720 ILCS 5/11-20
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 720 - CRIMINAL OFFENSES|720 ILCS 5/ - Criminal Code of 2012.|Title III - Specific Offenses

 (from Ch. 38, par. 11-20)Sec. 11-20. Obscenity.(a) Elements of the Offense.  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 or she:(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.Any material or performance is obscene if:  (1) the average person,  applying contemporary adult community standards, would find that, taken as  a whole, it appeals to the prurient interest; and (2) the average person,  applying contemporary adult community standards, would find that it depicts  or describes, in a patently offensive way, 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) taken as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic,  political or scientific value.(c) Interpretation of Evidence.Obscenity shall be judged with reference to ordinary adults, except that  it shall be judged with reference to children or other specially  susceptible audiences if it appears from the character of the material or  the circumstances of its dissemination to be specially designed for or  directed to such an audience.Where circumstances of production, presentation, sale, dissemination,  distribution, or publicity indicate that material is being commercially  exploited for the sake of its prurient appeal, such evidence is probative  with respect to the nature of the matter and can justify the conclusion  that the matter is lacking in serious literary, artistic, political or  scientific value.In any prosecution for an offense under this Section evidence shall be  admissible to show:(1) The character of the audience for which the     material was designed or to which it was directed;(2) 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;(3) The artistic, literary, scientific, educational     or other merits of the material, or absence thereof;(4) The degree, if any, of public acceptance of the     material in this State;(5) Appeal to prurient interest, or absence thereof,     in advertising or other promotion of the material;(6) Purpose of the author, creator, publisher or     disseminator.(d) Sentence.Obscenity is a Class A misdemeanor. A second or subsequent offense is a  Class 4 felony.(e) Permissive Inference.The trier of fact may infer an intent to disseminate from 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 3 copies of obscene  material.(f) Affirmative Defenses.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 18 years of age;(2) Was to institutions or individuals having     scientific or other special justification for possession of such material.(g) Forfeiture of property. A person who has been convicted  previously of the offense of obscenity and who is convicted of a  second or subsequent offense of obscenity is subject to the property forfeiture provisions set forth in Article 124B of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963.(Source: P.A. 96-712, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11.)