Pennsylvania Act 1998-76 — CRIMES CODE (18 PA.C.S.) - AMEND THREATS/OBSCENCE/SEXUAL MATERIAL

Act text

CRIMES CODE (18 PA.C.S.) - AMEND THREATS/OBSCENCE/SEXUAL MATERIAL
                  Act of Jun. 18, 1998, P.L. 534, No. 76              Cl. 18
                             Session of 1998
                               No. 1998-76

     HB 1778

                                  AN ACT

     Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
        Consolidated Statutes, further providing for terroristic
        threats and for obscene and other sexual materials.

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

        Section 1.  Sections 2706 and 5903(a) of Title 18 of the
     Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
      § 2706.  Terroristic threats.
        (a)  Offense defined.--A person is guilty of a misdemeanor of
     the first degree if he threatens to commit any crime of violence
     with intent to terrorize another or to cause evacuation of a
     building, place of assembly, or facility of public
     transportation, or otherwise to cause serious public
     inconvenience, or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing
     such terror or inconvenience.
        (b)  Restitution.--If the building, place of assembly or
     facility of public transportation is owned or occupied by a
     school district, the person convicted of violating this section
     shall, in addition to any other sentence imposed, be sentenced
     to pay the school district restitution in an amount equal to the
     cost of the evacuation, including, but not limited to, the
     transportation of students and staff from the building, place of
     assembly or facility.
        (c)  Preservation of private remedies.--No judgment or order
     of restitution shall debar the school district, by appropriate
     action, to recover from the offender as otherwise provided by
     law, provided that any civil award shall be reduced by the
     amount paid under the criminal judgment.
      § 5903.  Obscene and other sexual materials and performances.
        (a)  Offenses defined.--No person, knowing the obscene
     character of the materials or performances involved, shall:
            (1)  display or cause or permit the display of any
        explicit sexual materials as defined in subsection (c) in or
        on any window, showcase, newsstand, display rack, billboard,
        display board, viewing screen, motion picture screen, marquee
        or similar place in such manner that the display is visible
        from any public street, highway, sidewalk, transportation
        facility or other public thoroughfare, or in any business or
        commercial establishment where minors, as a part of the
        general public or otherwise, are or will probably be exposed
        to view all or any part of such materials;
            (2)  sell, lend, distribute, exhibit, give away or show
        any obscene materials to any person 18 years of age or older
        or offer to sell, lend, distribute, exhibit or give away or
        show, or have in his possession with intent to sell, lend,
        distribute, exhibit or give away or show any obscene
        materials to any person 18 years of age or older, or
        knowingly advertise any obscene materials in any manner;
            (3)  design, copy, draw, photograph, print, utter,
        publish or in any manner manufacture or prepare any obscene
        materials;
            (4)  write, print, publish, utter or cause to be written,
        printed, published or uttered any advertisement or notice of
        any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, stating
        or purporting to state where, how, from whom, or by what
        means any obscene materials can be purchased, obtained or
        had;
            (5)  produce, present or direct any obscene performance
        or participate in a portion thereof that is obscene or that
        contributes to its obscenity; [or]
            (6)  hire, employ, use or permit any minor child to do or
        assist in doing any act or thing mentioned in this
        subsection[.];
            (7)  knowingly take or deliver in any manner any obscene
        material into a State correctional institution, county
        prison, regional prison facility or any other type of
        correctional facility;
            (8)  possess any obscene material while such person is an
        inmate of any State correctional institution, county prison,
        regional prison facility or any other type of correctional
        facility; or
            (9)  knowingly permit any obscene material to enter any
        State correctional institution, county prison, regional
        prison facility or any other type of correctional facility if
        such person is a prison guard or other employee of any
        correctional facility described in this paragraph.
        * * *
        Section 2.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.

     APPROVED--The 18th day of June, A. D. 1998.

     THOMAS J. RIDGE