Minnesota Statutes

Minn. Stat. § 617.241 (2026)

Obscene Materials And Performances; Distribution And Exhibition Prohibited; Penalty

✓ current as of May 2026

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Subdivision 1.Definitions.

For purposes of this section, the following terms have the meanings given them:

(a) "Obscene" means that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in sex and depicts or describes in a patently offensive manner sexual conduct and which, taken as a whole, does not have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. In order to determine that a work is obscene, the trier of fact must find:

(1) that the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in sex;

(2) that the work depicts sexual conduct specifically defined by paragraph (b) in a patently offensive manner; and

(3) that the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

(b) "Sexual conduct" means any of the following:

(1) An act of sexual intercourse, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including genital-genital, anal-genital, or oral-genital intercourse, whether between human beings or between a human being and an animal.

(2) Sadomasochistic abuse, meaning flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments or in a sexually revealing costume or the condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restricted on the part of one so clothed or who is nude.

(3) Masturbation, excretory functions, or lewd exhibitions of the genitals including any explicit, close-up representation of a human genital organ.

(4) Physical contact or simulated physical contact with the clothed or unclothed pubic areas or buttocks of a human male or female, or the breasts of the female, whether alone or between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification.

(c) "Community" means the political subdivision from which persons properly qualified to serve as jurors in a criminal proceeding are chosen.

(d) "Work" means "material" or "performance."

(e) "Material" means a book, magazine, pamphlet, paper, writing, card, advertisement, circular, print, picture, photograph, motion picture film, videotape, script, image, instrument, statue, drawing, or other article.

(f) "Performance" means a play, motion picture, dance, or other exhibition performed before an audience.

Subd. 2.Crime.

It is unlawful for a person, knowing or with reason to know its content and character, to:

(a) exhibit, sell, print, offer to sell, give away, circulate, publish, distribute or attempt to distribute any obscene material; or

(b) produce, present, participate in, or direct an obscene performance.

Subd. 3.Penalty.

A person violating subdivision 2 is guilty of a gross misdemeanor and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 364 days, or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both.

Subd. 4.Second or subsequent violations.

Whoever violates the provisions of subdivision 2 within five years of a previous conviction under that subdivision is guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than two years, or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 13 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1968–2025 · leading case: State v. Davidson, 481 N.W.2d 51 (Minn. 1992).

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State v. Davidson, 481 N.W.2d 51 (Minn. 1992). · cites it 22× “TOMUAN0YICH, Justice In this appeal, the State asks us to overturn a split decision of the court of appeals holding that the state’s obscenity statute, Minn.Stat. § 617.241, is void for vagueness under art.”

State v. Carlson, 192 N.W.2d 421 (Minn. 1971). · cites it 16× “Defendants were each charged with possession of obscene movies with intent to sell in violation of § 617.241, which reads as follows: "It is unlawful for any person knowingly to exhibit, sell, print, offer to sell, give away, circulate, publish, distribute, or attempt to…”

State v. Decker, 916 N.W.2d 385 (Minn. 2018). · cites it 6× “352 (2016) (criminalizing the electronic communication of sexually explicit materials to minors) and Minn. Stat. § 617.241 (2016) (criminalizing obscenity) could address cases such as this one.”

Knudtson v. City of Coates, 519 N.W.2d 166 (Minn. 1994). · cites it 4× “Minn. Stat. § 617.241 (1992); State v. Davidson, 481 N.”

State v. Davidson, 471 N.W.2d 691 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991). · cites it 68× “guilty of one count of sale or distribution of obscene material in violation of Minn.Stat. § 617.241, subd. 2(a) (1988). Appellant was sentenced to 91 days in jail and a fine of $3000, with a conditional stay of the jail time and $2500 of the fine.”

State v. Hoyt, 174 N.W.2d 700 (Minn. 1970). · cites it 4× “241 under which defendants were convicted was adopted in 1961 and provides as follows: "It is unlawful for any person knowingly to exhibit, sell, print, offer to sell, give away, circulate, publish, distribute, or attempt to distribute any obscene book, magazine, pamphlet,…”

State v. Botsford, 630 N.W.2d 11 (Minn. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 2× “Moreover, using the state definition of “sexual conduct” in Minn.Stat. § 617.241, subd: l(b)(iv) (2000), is not appropriate because unlike the ordinance at issue, the state statute does not prohibit all “sexual conduct” in public.”

State v. Haas, 159 N.W.2d 118 (Minn. 1968). · cites it 3× “26, which provides in pertinent part: “Every person who shall deposit * * * in any post-office in the state* * * any of the articles or things specified in section 617.241 * * * with the intent of having the same conveyed by mail * * * shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

State v. Bonynge, 450 N.W.2d 331 (Minn. Ct. App. 1990). · cites it 2× “Generally, the difference in the constitutional standards for regulating obscenity and child pornography dictates the scope of permissible seizures under the fourth amendment and the particularity with which a warrant must describe the materials to be seized.”

Fantasysrus 2, L.L.C. v. City of East Grand Forks, 881 F. Supp. 2d 1024 (D. Minnesota 2012). “§ 617.241 ... are not included. (Id., Ex.”

Johnson v. City of Rochester, 197 N.W.2d 244 (Minn. 1972). “On the date the first warrant was executed, a criminal complaint was filed against plaintiff alleging a violation of § 617.241, for unlawfully exhibiting obscene motion picture films.”

State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Eloisa Rubi Plancarte, Appellant (Minn. 2025). · cites it 6× “2d at 647 ; see also Minn. Stat. § 617.241 , subd. 1(a) (2024) (“ ‘Obscene’ means that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in sex and depicts or describes in a patently offensive manner sexual conduct and which, taken as a whole, does not have serious…”

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