National Obscenity Law Center’s
Safe States and Cities Project

In 2001, the National Obscenity Law Center (NOLC), a clearinghouse for obscenity and related laws, launched the Safe States and Cities Project to help communities to control the proliferation of “sexually oriented businesses” and to curb distribution of illegal obscene materials (“hard-core” pornography).

Letters were first sent to every sheriff in the U.S. (over 3000) asking their cooperation in determining the location of "sexually oriented businesses." Over 1800 sheriffs responded.

NOLC attorneys and law students then began the task of preparing case law studies (state-by-state) on specific types of sexually oriented business (SOB) problems. These case law studies - and examples of ordinances that regulate the type of SOB covered by the case law study -- are distributed to various municipalities and counties. The ordinances selected have all been upheld by the judiciary.

Completed case law studies, which address the following SOB problems:

• escort services
• lap dancing
• swingers clubs
• peep show booths
• massage parlors

Case law studies currently in progress are as follows:

• nude dancing (near completion)
• zoning of “adult” businesses (and their hours of operation)

Case law studies already completed are available free of charge online at www.moralityinmedia.org/nolc (click to “Studies on SOBs”) and in disk format at little cost. An order form is provided upon request.

In addition to the Safe States and Cities Project, the NOLC maintains a library that includes published obscenity cases going back to 1800, a Brief Bank Index, federal, state and local anti-pornography laws, and monographs on legal questions that are the subject of recurring inquiries.

NOLC materials are utilized by prosecutors, law enforcement agents, municipal attorneys and others. Three publications that have proved especially helpful are the Obscenity Law Reporter, Obscenity Law Bulletin, and Handbook on the Prosecution of Obscenity Cases, by George M. Weaver.

The NOLC also has its own Website pages at www.moralityinmedia.org/nolc , and in September 2004, the NOLC published online the first ten chapters of the Obscenity Law Reporter. The chapters will save busy prosecutors hours and days of research time when enforcing obscenity laws.

The National Obscenity Law Center is a project of Morality in Media.