''Jenkins v. Georgia'', 418 U.S. 153 (1974), was a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case overturning a Georgia Supreme Court ruling regarding the depiction of sexual conduct in the film ''Carnal Knowledge''. The changes in the morals of American society of the 1960s and 1970s and the general receptiveness to the public to frank discussion of sexual issues was sometimes at odds with local community standards. A theatre in

Albany, Georgia Albany ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia. Located on the Flint River, it is the seat of Dougherty County, and is the sole incorporated city in that county. Located in southwest Georgia, it is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia m ...

showed the film. On January 13, 1972, the local police served a search warrant on the theatre, and seized the film. In March 1972, the theatre manager, Mr. Jenkins, was convicted of the crime of "distributing obscene material". His conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia. On June 24, 1974, the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled that the State of Georgia had gone too far in classifying material as obscene in view of the Court's prior landmark decision in ''

Miller v. California ''Miller v. California'', 413 U.S. 15 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court modifying its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that which lacks "serious literary, artistic, polit ...

'', (the ''Miller'' standard), and overturned the conviction. The court said,

External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Jenkins v. Georgia'', {{Ussc, 418, 153, 1974, el=no , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/418/153/ , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep418/usrep418153/usrep418153.pdf , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1973/73-557 United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court United States obscenity case law 1974 in United States case law Legal history of Georgia (U.S. state) Works subject to a lawsuit

See also

External links