Harm Test

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Obscene and indecent both mean the immoral portraying, description, and behaviour of sexual matters which are found offensive and disgusting. Both the Community Standards of Tolerance Test and the Harm test are used to determine the “obscene” and “indecent”. I will argue that the Harm Test is better than the Community Standards of Tolerance Test for determining the “obscene” and “indecent”. Firstly, the Harm Test outlines types of harm that might be caused to people’s health who take part in “obscene” and “indecent” actions. Secondly, the Harm Test allows society a more determinate way to detail what counts as an “indecent” and “obscene” act.

The Community Standards of Tolerance Test was replaced by the Harm Test by the Court’s decisions in the R. v. Butler case.(Labaye , 2005, p. 337). I will explain this test and why it is not a good test to use for determining the “obscene” and “indecent”. The Community Standards of Tolerance Test is a test in which the community determines what they would tolerate and what they will not tolerate, in this case the “obscene” and the “indecent”. For example, there are different kinds of people in a community with different opinions and morals. What might be “obscene” and “indecent” for some people might not be for other people if we adhere to CTS. This creates a problem because there will be tensions between the opinions and morals of the community and it would be very hard to prove what is “obscene” and “indecent” since everyone holds different views and opinions of the matter.

In this section I will talk about the Harm Test and why it is better than the Community Standards of Tolerance Test for determining the “obscene” and “indecent”. The Harm Test is a test that determines typ...

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...evident. The third type of harm is physically or psychologically harming persons involved in the conduct and I clearly argued throughout my paper how the third type of harm harms persons involved in the conduct both physically and psychologically.(Labaye, 2005, p. 341). Moreover, she mentions that catching a sexually transmitted disease might be a danger but it must be discounted because it is unrelated to indecency.(Labaye, 2005, p. 341). I disagree because there is psychological and physical harm done to the members who take part in “obscene” and “indecent” actions.

It is evident throughout my essay that the Harm Test is easier than the Community Standards of Tolerance Test to prove the “obscene” and “indecent”. Therefore, I have argued that the Harm Test is better than the Community Standards of Tolerance Test for determining the “obscene” and” indecent”.

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