As parents and educators fight over book bans, five states have enacted criminal punishments for librarians who allow children to access ‘obscene’ materials – with a dozen states considering similar actions.
According to the Daily Mail, The laws could subject librarians to significant penalties, including imprisonment and hefty fines, for providing sexually explicit, obscene, or books deemed ‘harmful’ to children.
At least seven state legislatures have passed these laws over the past two years, with six of them doing so in the last two months, although the governors of Idaho and North Dakota vetoed similar legislation.
The laws are pending in nine other states but so far there have been no instances in which a school staffer has been charged under the new laws.
Around a dozen states have also considered more than 20 similar bills this year alone with approximately half of them expecting to be reintroduced in 2024.
One example is an Arkansas measure that says school and public librarians, as well as teachers, can be imprisoned for up to six years or fined $10,000 if they distribute obscene or harmful texts. It takes effect Aug. 1.
Library and free speech advocates were unaware of any instances so far in which a school staffer had been charged under the new laws. Most of the laws do not spell out precisely who will decide what counts as obscene but suggest the judgment should come from the courts.
According to Spokesman, Some educators and activists say the laws will forge a climate of fear among school librarians, spurring the censorship of books by and about LGBTQ individuals – even as the nation already faces a historic onslaught of challenges to books in those categories.
“It will make sure the only literature students are exposed to fits into a narrow scope of what some people want the world to look like,” said Keith Gambill, president of the teachers union in Indiana, one of the states that adopted obscenity laws. “This is my 37th year in education. I’ve never seen anything like this. … We are entering a very frightening period.”
Those on the political right, however, contend that the legislation is necessary to prevent children from exposure to pornographic and sexual content that will harm their mental health and warp their development. In every case but one, a bipartisan bill in Missouri, Republican lawmakers or Republican-dominated committees introduced the laws.
School employees should be held accountable, said Idaho state Rep. Jaron Crane (R), who co-sponsored a bill this year that would have allowed parents to sue districts for $2,500 over sexually explicit material. His bill passed the legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Brad Little (R), who warned that the law would burden libraries financially and have “unintended consequences.” Little did not respond to a request for comment.
Crane wrote in a statement to the Post that the legislature failed to override the governor’s veto by one vote. “If teachers and librarians are scared to do their jobs,” Crane added, “that confirms the fact that there is indeed material in their libraries that is harmful to minors.”
In addition to Idaho and Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, and Oklahoma enacted laws mandating fines or imprisonment, or both, for school employees and librarians. Tennessee has passed two measures, one that targets schools and another that targets book publishers or vendors selling to schools.
