Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-31-10 (2026)

Sale or exhibition to minors of indecent publications, pictures, or articles

✓ current as of July 2026

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(a) Every person who shall willfully or knowingly engage in the business of selling, lending, giving away, showing, advertising for sale, or distributing to any person under the age of eighteen (18) years, has in their possession with intent to engage in that business or to otherwise offer for sale or commercial distribution to any person under the age of eighteen (18) years, or who shall display at newsstands or any other business establishment frequented by persons under the age of eighteen (18) years or where persons under the age of eighteen (18) years are or may be invited as a part of the general public, any motion picture, any still picture, photograph, or any book, pocket book, pamphlet, or magazine of which the cover or content consists of explicit representations of “sexual conduct”, “sexual excitement”, “nudity” and which is indecent for minors or which is predominantly made up of descriptions of “sexual conduct”, “sexual excitement”, “nudity” and which is indecent, 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) As used in this section, the following words have the following meaning:

(1) “Indecent for minors” means:

(i) Appealing to the prurient interest in sex of minors;

(ii) Taken as a whole is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

(iii) Clearly lacking serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value for minors;

(2) “Knowingly” means having knowledge of the character and content of the publication or failure on notice to exercise reasonable inspection which would disclose its content and character;

(3) “Nudity” means less than completely and opaquely covered; human genitals, pubic regions, buttock, and female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola;

(4) “Sexual conduct” means act of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, sodomy, fondling, or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttock, or female breasts; and

(5) “Sexual excitement” means human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases, 1959–1998 · leading case: State v. DeMagistris, 714 A.2d 567 (R.I. 1998).

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State v. DeMagistris, 714 A.2d 567 (R.I. 1998). · cites it 2× “2d 711, 713-14 (1969) (element of commercial gain under G.L.1956 § 11-31-10, addressing distribution of pornography to minors, satisfied by direct or indirect expectation of pecuniary gain), we conclude, for the reasons that follow, that this evidence taken as a whole failed to…”

State v. Settle, 156 A.2d 921 (R.I. 1959). · cites it 5× “provisions of general laws 1956, §9-24-27, on a certification by the superior *197 court wherein the following questions involving the constitutionality of §11-31-10 have been raised. “Is Title 11, Chapter 31, Section 10, of the General Laws of Rhode Island, 1956,…”

State v. Koohy, 250 A.2d 711 (R.I. 1969). · cites it 4× “1956, §11-31-10, as amended. The trial was held before a justice of the superior court sitting without a jury.”

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.