As a legal term in the United States, community standards arose from a test to determine whether material is or is not
obscene
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...
as explicated in the 1957
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
decision in the matter of
Roth v. United States.
In its 6–3 decision written by
William J. Brennan, Jr., the court held that material being obscene depended upon "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest." With its emphasis on the reaction of an average person rather than that of an especially susceptible person, the court rejected applying the
Hicklin test as a means of determining whether material is obscene, and the ruling represented a liberalization of the nation's obscenity laws.
The concept was further refined in the matter of
Miller v. California in which the Court's adoption of the
Miller test
The ''Miller'' test, also called the three-prong obscenity test, is the United States Supreme Court's test for determining whether speech or expression can be labeled obscene, in which case it is not protected by the First Amendment to the Unite ...
, also based upon community standards, had the opposite effect. Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986.
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the William Mitchell College o ...
, the author of the Court's 5–4 opinion, wrote that it is not "constitutionally sound to read the First Amendment as requiring that the people of Maine or Mississippi accept public depiction of conduct found tolerable in Las Vegas, or New York City," thus opening the way for the
Justice Department to prosecute
adult entertainment
The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related se ...
businesses that distribute their products nationally in especially conservative jurisdictions.
Some
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
companies operate community standards providing rules or guidance on what it is and what it is not acceptable to post online. On 25 April 2017, the UK House of Commons
Home Affairs Committee
The Home Affairs Select Committee is a departmental select committee of the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of ...
stated:
Colleges and universities enforce their standards through conduct offices in their
Student Affairs
Student affairs, student support, or student services is the department or division of services and support for student success at institutions of higher education to enhance student growth and development. People who work in this field are known ...
divisions.
[E.g]
University of Oregon Affirmation of Community Standards
, published 13 April 2000, accessed 1 May 2017
References
External links
Examples of community standards by various entities:
(2005)
American legal terminology
Self-censorship
Terms of service
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