Let me preface this post by saying that I find sex offenders and pedophiles to be some of the most vile scum on this planet. The kind of justice I'd sometimes like to see metered out against them is of the type expressly forbidden by the 8th Amendment.
That said, the libertarian in me feels the need to defend even the most vile forms of free speech from government intrusion. I fail to see what "crime" this scumbag was arrested and charged with. (yes, "obscenity" I know...) Being an exceedingly creepy scumbag isn't a crime in this country, nor is publishing a vile, disgusting book that most Americans would find highly offensive. There are other books (not to mention TV shows / political commentaries) that I find offensive and even obscene. Even so, I don't wish to see those Americans arrested because the nature of their speech "shocks the conscience" or is determinted to be obscene by "prevailing community standards" no matter how offensive it may be.
I personally believe "obscenity" statutes like the one Greaves was charged under should not exist. A cursory look at the FL statutes doesn't turn up a definition of "obscene" and even current SCOTUS case law in Miller shows that the test for defining it is vague and unworkable.
After all, it was Justice Stewart who said in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) that while obscenity may be undefinable "I know it when I see it."
It seems to me that a guy like Greaves would've ended up being put away eventually for commiting an actual crime* not for publishing a book that folks in Florida found obscene.
*One not of the malum prohibitum type.
1 comment:
So I assume that prosecutions for people who write murder mysteries, heist books, and guides to speed traps are all on deck?
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