Enforcing Laws on Obscenity

In its editorial “Adult Choices” (May 8), The Times correctly observed that “Los Angeles is a megalopolis of incredible diversity.” It also correctly observed that “millions of Americans have joined the audience for explicit materials.” The Times is most assuredly not correct, however, in concluding that all sexually explicit material featuring and/or sold to consenting adults ought to be decriminalized or that “the marketplace . . . will best determine the limits (of pornography).”

It is not “best” for devotees of bestiality and torture films to determine the “limits” of the marketplace. Nor is it “best” to ignore the distinction the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly drawn between legal erotica and illegal hard-core pornography. The decision of the court make it abundantly clear that there is such a thing as obscenity, and it is not within the protection of the Constitution.

The films that are currently being prosecuted by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office feature sexual conduct I hope Times’ readers cannot even imagine. Please believe me when I inform you that the difference between these films and the “mainstream” erotica mentioned in your editorial is a difference in kind, not degree.

Please also be assured that I will continue to do the best I can to respect this distinction by enforcing California’s obscenity laws as guided by the United States Supreme Court.

JAMES K. HAHN

City Attorney

Los Angeles