Effective 01 Jan 2017, see footnote

573.090. Video cassettes, morbid violence, to be kept in separate area — sale or rental to persons under seventeen prohibited, penalties. — 1. Video cassettes or other video reproduction devices, or the jackets, cases or coverings of such video reproduction devices shall be displayed or maintained in a separate area if the same are pornographic for minors as defined in section 573.010, or if:

(1) Taken as a whole and applying contemporary community standards, the average person would find that it has a tendency to cater or appeal to morbid interest in violence for persons less than seventeen years of age; and

(2) It depicts violence in a way which is patently offensive to the average person applying contemporary adult community standards with respect to what is suitable for persons less than seventeen years of age; and

(3) Taken as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for persons less than seventeen years of age.

2. Any video cassettes or other video reproduction devices meeting the description in subsection 1 of this section shall not be rented or sold to a person less than seventeen years of age.

3. Violation of the provisions of subsection 1 or 2 of this section shall be punishable as an infraction, unless such violation constitutes furnishing pornographic materials to minors as defined in section 573.040, in which case it shall be punishable as a class A misdemeanor or class E felony as prescribed in section 573.040, or unless such violation constitutes promoting obscenity in the second degree as defined in section 573.030, in which case it shall be punishable as a class A misdemeanor or class E felony as prescribed in section 573.030.

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(L. 1989 H.B. 225 § 1, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491)

Effective 1-01-17

(1992) Where statute attempted to regulate expression was not drafted with precision and clarity and did not contain definitions of prohibited conduct so that people of common intelligence might guess at the meaning of the statute, statute is unconstitutionally vague. Video Software Dealers Assn. v. Webster, 773 F.Supp. 1275 (W.D. Mo.).