Effective: August 17, 2006
Latest Legislation: House Bill 23 - 126th General Assembly
(A) As used in this section:
(1) "Commercial establishment" means an entity that is open to the public and to which either of the following applies:
(a) It has a substantial or significant portion of its stock in trade of the sale, rental, or viewing of visual materials or performances depicting sexual conduct.
(b) It has as a principal business purpose the sale, rental, or viewing of visual materials or performances depicting sexual conduct.
(2) "Visual materials or performances" means films, videos, CD-ROM discs, streaming video, or other motion pictures.
(B) No person who has custody, control, or supervision of a commercial establishment, with knowledge of the character of the visual material or performance involved, shall knowingly permit the use of, or offer the use of, viewing booths, stalls, or partitioned portions of a room located in the commercial establishment for the purpose of viewing visual materials or performances depicting sexual conduct unless both of the following apply:
(1) The inside of each booth, stall, or partitioned room is visible from, and at least one side of each booth, stall, or partitioned room is open to, a continuous and contiguous main aisle or hallway that is open to the public areas of the commercial establishment and is not obscured by any curtain, door, or other covering or enclosure.
(2) No booth, stall, or partitioned room is designed, constructed, pandered, or allowed to be used for the purpose of encouraging or facilitating nudity or sexual activity on the part of or between patrons or members of the public, and no booth, stall, or partitioned room has any aperture, hole, or opening for the purpose of encouraging or facilitating nudity or sexual activity.
(C) It is an affirmative defense to a charge under this section that either of the following applies to the involved visual materials or performances:
(1) The visual materials or performances depicting sexual conduct are disseminated or presented for a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, religious, governmental, judicial, or other proper purpose and by or to a physician, psychologist, sociologist, scientist, teacher, person pursuing bona fide studies or research, librarian, member of the clergy, prosecutor, judge, or other person having a proper interest in the visual materials or performances.
(2) The visual materials or performances depicting sexual conduct, taken as a whole, would be found by a reasonable person to have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value or are presented or disseminated in good faith for a serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific purpose and are not pandered for their prurient appeal.
(D) Whoever violates this section is guilty of permitting unlawful operation of viewing booths depicting sexual conduct, a misdemeanor of the first degree.
Structure Ohio Revised Code
Section 2907.01 | Sex Offenses General Definitions.
Section 2907.03 | Sexual Battery.
Section 2907.04 | Unlawful Sexual Conduct With Minor.
Section 2907.05 | Gross Sexual Imposition.
Section 2907.06 | Sexual Imposition.
Section 2907.07 | Importuning.
Section 2907.09 | Public Indecency.
Section 2907.10 | Preliminary Polygraph Test of Sex Offense Victim.
Section 2907.11 | Suppression of Names of Victim and Offender and Details of the Alleged Offense.
Section 2907.171 | Prosecutor's Failure to Give Notice.
Section 2907.19 | Commercial Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.
Section 2907.21 | Compelling Prostitution.
Section 2907.22 | Promoting Prostitution.
Section 2907.231 | Engaging in Prostitution.
Section 2907.24 | Soliciting; Solicitation After a Positive HIV Test.
Section 2907.241 | Loitering to Engage in Solicitation - Solicitation After Positive HIV Test.
Section 2907.25 | Prostitution - After Positive HIV Test.
Section 2907.26 | Rules of Evidence in Brothel and Prostitution Cases.
Section 2907.27 | Testing and Treatment for Venereal Diseases and Hiv.
Section 2907.28 | Payment for Medical Examination and Test of Any Victim or Accused.
Section 2907.29 | Hospital Emergency Services for Victims of Sexual Offenses.
Section 2907.30 | Interview of Victim by Crisis Intervention Trained Officer.
Section 2907.31 | Disseminating Matter Harmful to Juveniles.
Section 2907.311 | Displaying Matter Harmful to Juveniles.
Section 2907.32 | Pandering Obscenity.
Section 2907.321 | Pandering Obscenity Involving a Minor or Impaired Person.
Section 2907.322 | Pandering Sexually Oriented Matter Involving a Minor or Impaired Person.
Section 2907.33 | Deception to Obtain Matter Harmful to Juveniles.
Section 2907.34 | Compelling Acceptance of Objectionable Materials.
Section 2907.35 | Presumptions in Obscenity Cases.
Section 2907.36 | Declaratory Judgment Action.
Section 2907.37 | Injunction - Nuisance.
Section 2907.38 | Permitting Unlawful Operation of Viewing Booths Depicting Sexual Conduct.
Section 2907.40 | Illegally Operating Sexually Oriented Business.
Section 2907.41 | Person Charged With Subsequent Sexual Offense - Setting of Bail.