Complaints about pornographic materials found in area businesses prompted an investigation by the State’s Attorney’s office that will focus on sexually explicit materials depicting children.

“Any borderline materials, I will not challenge,” said Philip DiMarzio, DeKalb County State’s Attorney. “I have a great respect for the First Amendment. If material depicts a sexual act with children, I might challenge that as being outside the contemporary adult community standard.”

Communities determine the standard of obscenity by a jury trial, DiMarzio said. The penalty for a first-time offender of a Class A misdemeanor such as obscenity is a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, he said.

“The fact that a prosecutor brings a case (to court) does not mean a violation has occurred,” DiMarzio said. “A jury decision must be unanimous, and the case must be decided according to a ‘contemporary adult community standard.'”

DiMarzio received complaints from Citizens Against Pornography, a 20-member group representing area churches. The group objected to sexually explicit videos, books and magazines sold by seven area businesses.

“Our goal is to keep DeKalb in compliance with the law—to enforce the laws already on the books,” Adolph Miller, a real-estate agent and co-chairman of the group. “We’re not talking about the First Amendment or asking for censorship.”

During a two-month period, group members compared pornographic materials at stores with titles listed in a 1986 report issued by the U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese’s Commission on Pornography. The report does not carry the force of law.

“We found videos, books and magazines that were illegal on the basis of the U.S. Attorney General’s report on pornography,” Miller said. “There was some pretty bad stuff out there. We felt it was illegal to sell or rent it, so we sent a complaint to the state’s attorney.”

After receiving the complaints, DiMarzio said he sent informational letters and copies of the Illinois obscenity statute on June 17 to the businesses involved.

Letters were sent to American Video, 124 S. Fourth St.; the Paperback Grotto, 157 E. Lincoln Hwy.; Ralph’s News Stand and Trophy House, 664 E. Lincoln Hwy.; Stars and Stripes Video, 2733 Sycamore Road; Stop-n-Go Foods, 710 E. Lincoln Hwy.; Video Plus, 854 W. Lincoln Hwy.; and Video Venture, 2500 Sycamore Road. Miller said CAP objected to materials in an additional business, but he declined to give the name.

DiMarzio said, “I did not ask anyone to remove materials, and I did not threaten criminal prosecution. At this point, no charges have been filed.”

Businesses were asked to respond by July 1, but DiMarzio would not divulge the names of those who replied or the nature of their comments.

Ralph Seats, owner of Ralph’s News Stand and Trophy House, said he received one of the letters from DiMarzio. The letter did not indicate which materials CAP found objectionable, Seats said.

“I haven’t taken anything off the shelves,” Seats said. “I have never sold anything I thought was wrong. I’ve been in the business for 35 years and have never run into this.”

Virginia Shaw, secretary for CAP, said, “We’re not out to change people’s morals. But there are a number of books and movies that are illegal.”

Shaw said the group is concerned about the effect of pornography on children and on the offenders.

DiMarzio said his office has prosecuted a number of cases in which a link existed between child molestation and pornographic materials in the home.

“If we include the number of cases in which children say they viewed in their homes videos they can describe graphically, the number would be significant,” DiMarzio said. “This does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.”