The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography: The Gaps Between “Findings” and Facts

Abstract

The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography was asked by the president of the United States to “review the available empirical evidence on the relationship between exposure to pornographic materials and antisocial behavior [and to explore] possible roles and initiatives that the Department of Justice and agencies of local, State, and federal government could pursue in controlling, consistent with constitutional guarantees, the production and distribution of pornography” (at 216). The Commission undertook this review during several public meetings held across the country in 1986 and, as a result of the review, concluded that there is a causal relationship between exposure to many forms of pornography and several harmful effects including increased levels of violence against women. The Commission called for stricter enforcement of existing obscenity laws and serious consideration of additional legal measures. These measures include amending the federal obscenity laws to prohibit the transmission of obscene material through the telephone and eliminating the “utterly without redeeming value” clause found in some state obscenity statutes. In all, the Commission made 92 recommendations involving changes in existing federal, state, and local obscenity laws. Without exception, the recommendations for legal changes call for greater restrictions on sexually explicit material and more stringent enforcement of current obscenity law.