R.I. Gen. Laws
Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-31-1 (2026)

Circulation of obscene publications and shows

✓ current as of July 2026
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(a) Every person who willfully or knowingly promotes for the purpose of commercial gain within the community any show, motion picture, performance, photograph, book, magazine, or other material which is obscene shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment for not more than two (2) years, or both.

(b) For the purpose of this section:

(1) In determining whether or not a show, motion picture, performance, photograph, book, magazine, or other material is obscene the trier of the fact must find:

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

(ii) That the work taken as a whole, clearly depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by this chapter; and

(iii) That the work, taken as a whole, clearly lacks serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value.

(2) “Community standards” means the geographical area of the state of Rhode Island.

(3) “Knowingly” means having knowledge of the character and content of the material or failure on notice to exercise reasonable inspection which would disclose the content and character of it.

(4) “Material” means anything tangible which is capable of being used or adapted to arouse prurient interest through the medium of reading, or observation.

(5) “Patently offensive” means so offensive on its face as to affront current standards of decency.

(6) “Performance” means any play, motion picture, dance, or other exhibition performed before an audience.

(7) “Promote” means to manufacture, issue, sell, give, provide, lend, mail, deliver, transfer, transmit, publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit, or advertise or to offer or agree to do it for resale.

(8) “Sexual conduct” means:

(i) 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.

(ii) Sado-masochistic abuse, meaning flagellation or torture by or upon a person in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification.

(iii) Masturbation, excretory functions, and lewd exhibitions of the genitals.

(9) “Standards of decency” means community standards of decency.

(c) If any of the depictions and descriptions of sexual conduct described in this section are declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unlawfully included because the depictions or descriptions are constitutionally protected or for any other reason, that declaration shall not invalidate this chapter as to other sexual conduct included in this chapter.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7 cases, 1958–1984 · leading case: State v. Lesieure, 404 A.2d 457 (R.I. 1979).
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State v. Lesieure, 404 A.2d 457 (R.I. 1979). · cites it 15× “The defendants were charged with violating provisions of this chapter in an indictment returned by the Kent County Grand Jury charging that the defendants “knowingly have in their possession, books, magazines, pictures and other material which are obscene, for the purpose of…”
State v. Dufour, 206 A.2d 82 (R.I. 1965). · cites it 6× “Thereupon the defendant moved for a new trial which was denied. The case is here on his bill of exceptions containing an exception to such denial, an exception to his motion for a directed verdict and numerous other exceptions duly taken to rulings on the admission of evidence.”
State v. Berberian, 427 A.2d 1298 (R.I. 1981). · cites it 9× “1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-31-1, as amended by P.L. 1979, ch. 406, § 1.”
D & J Enter., Inc. v. Michaelson, 401 A.2d 440 (R.I. 1979). · cites it 6× “1956 (1969 Reenactment) §§11-31-1 to 13, as amended by P.L. 1978, ch.”
State v. Tavone, 482 A.2d 693 (R.I. 1984). · cites it 6× “1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 11-31-1. The defendant was indicted by a Kent County Grand Jury and charged with three separate counts of violating § 11-31-1.”
Yekhtikian v. Blessing, 157 A.2d 669 (R.I. 1960). · cites it 4× “plaintiff on October 24, 1957 for the sale or possession of obscene literature in violation of general laws 1956, §11-31-1. The plaintiff was the operator of a side *289 walk newsstand and when arrested was held in custody for about five hours.”
Kingsley Int'l Pictures Corp. v. City of Providence, Rhode Island, 166 F. Supp. 456 (D.R.I. 1958). “Laws 1956, § 11-31-1. The relationship between a licensing statute and a criminal statute punishing obscenity suggests the impropriety of placing too much stress upon the phrase “prior restraint”, for surely the mere existence of the foregoing stiff penal statute is as much a…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.