Colorado legal term
Obscene in Colorado Criminal Law
Current through 2026 Colorado legislative session
In Colorado criminal law, “Obscene” is a term defined by statute rather than by its everyday meaning. Its statutory definition — quoted verbatim below — controls how the term is applied throughout the Colorado criminal code.
What does “Obscene” mean in Colorado criminal law?
"Obscene" means material or a performance that: (a) The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest in sex; (b) Depicts or describes: (I) Patently offensive representations or descriptions of ultimate sex acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including sexual intercourse, sodomy, and sexual bestiality; or (II) Patently offensive representations or descriptions of masturbation, excretory functions, sadism, masochism, lewd exhibition of the genitals, the male or female genitals in a state of sexual stimula (C.R.S. § 18-7-101)
Statutes defining or using this term
Charges using this term
Related terms in the same statutes
This reference is informational and is not legal advice.