ship between exposure to pornography and the commission of sex offenses (Hoover, 1965), few psychiatrists and psychologists report having encountered such cases in their professional experience (Lipkin and Carns, 1970).

AVAILABILITY OF EROTICA AND SEX OFFENSES

Reports of increased availability of erotic materials coupled with reported statistical increases in sex crimes over the past decade may, in part, account for the public's apprehensions in this area. The Commission variously sponsored and performed several studies of the relationship between availabilit of erotic materials and the incidence of sex offenses in both t. United State d Denmark.

Note - Compiled from Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Depart-
ment of Justice, Uniform crime reports - 1969, Washingtion D. C.:
U. S. Government Printing Office, 1970, 110.

A recent analysis of national police statistics in the Uniform Crime Reports for the period 1960 to 1969 (Kupperstein and Wilson, 1970) showed that both the availability of erotic materials and the incidence of sex offenses increased over the past decade. Increases in the availability of erotica,83 however, generally outweighed the overall increase in adult arrests for sex offenses. With respect to sex offenses, there was an absolute increase of 50% in adult arrests for forcible rape and a 60% increase in adult arrests for prostitution and commercialized vice. At the same time, however, there was a decrease in arrests for all other sex offenses which may, at least in part, be attributable to a reduction in arrests of homosexuals (See Table 30).

Two other points regarding the offenses of forcible rape, prostitution and commercialized vice deserve mention here. First, these offenses, combined, ac

83

See Report of the Traffic and Distribution Panel of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (1970).

FIGURE 9

Percentage Change in Number of Adult Arrests for, and Known Cases of

Note - Adapted from Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice. Uniform crime reports 1969. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1970, pp. 57, 110.

1 The seven offenses included in the FBI's crime index are: criminal homicide, forcible rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, grand larceny, and auto theft.

counted for only 1.1% of all adult arrests in 1960 and 1.6% in 1969. Further, the number of known cases of and arrests for forcible rape increased less than did four out of the other six serious crimes which comprise the F.B.I. Crime Index34 (See Figure 9) and less than such other serious offenses as narcotic drug law violations (adult arrests up 380.4% from 1960 to 1969) and weapons law violations (adult arrests up 129%).

1Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice. Uniform

crime reports -1969. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1970,
57, 110.

Based on figures supplied by the United States Department of Commerce,
Bureau of the Census.

Adapted from Uniform crime reports - 1969.

Once again, however, the relatively crude comparisons of the absolute number.of arrests or offenses over time may be misleading. The figures in Table 31 show that the differences in known cases and arrests for forcible rape between 1960 and 1969 become smaller as the index is refined. This would, of course, also be true for other crimes.

In sum, available evidence shows that although adult arrests for sex offenses have increased on the whole, the increase has not been as great for these offenses as for such other serious offenses as robbery and narcotic law violations. Further; arrests for sex offenses constituted no more than 2% of all adult arrests during the period studied. If the heightened availability of erotica were directly related to the incidence of sex offenses, one would have expected an increase of much greater magnitude than the available figures indicate. Thus, the data do not appear to support the thesis of a causal connection between increased availability of erotica and the commission of sex offenses; the data do not, however, conclusively disprove such a connection.

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The F.B.I. Crime Index is comprised of the following offenses: criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny of $50 or over, and auto theft.

Denmark: 1958-1969

In June, 1967, the Danish Parliament voted to remove erotic literature from its obscenity statute 85 and then, on June 1,1969, repealed the statute, thus abolishing legal prohibitions against the dissemination of sexually explicit materials to persons sixteen years of age and older. Despite the general prohibition which existed prior to 1967, however, literary erotica has been available since 1965, and graphic material since 1967 (Ben-Veniste, 1970). Estimates furnished by producers of sexual materials indicated that dissemination of erotic literature, particularly paperback novels, began to increase during 1960, and reached a peak around 1967. By that time, an increase in production of explicit graphic materials apparently reduced consumer demand for literary erotica and the market for explicit graphic materials increased. 86

1Total reported sex crimes, 1958-1969 9284. These include: rape and
attempted rape, coitus with minors, "indecent interference short of rape" with
both minor girls and adult women, exhibitionism, peeping (voyeurism),
homosexual offenses and verbal indecency. The original investigator omitted from
his analysis, and without explanation, the "quasi-sex offenses" of bigamy, incest,
livings off the earnings of a prostitute, inducing to prostitiution, propositioning,
and obscenity offenses (the latter eliminated by repeal of prohibitions against the
dissemination of sexual materials).

Note - Adapted from Ben-Veniste, R. Pornography and sex crime the Danish
experience. Technical reports of the Commission on Obscenity and Por-
nography. Vol. 7.

85

86

Sec. 234 of the Danish Penal Code.

As one researcher has noted, "spirited public discussion in the newspapers, radio and television alerted the populace to its accessibility. The existence of magazine vending machines outside some 'porno shops' and mail order solicitation in the daily newspapers has ensured that even the most inhibited consumer may purchase pornography with a minimum of anxiety" (Ben-Veniste, 1970).

Ben-Veniste (1970) compiled statistics on sex offenses reported to the police in Copenhagen, Denmark, over a twelve year period, 1958 to 1969. These figures show that the number of reported sex crimes declined during the period, even though pornography became increasingly available to the general public. As shown in Table 32, the sharpest continuous reduction in sex offenses began in 1967, and has continued through 1969. The onset of this decline occurred when prohibitions regarding dissemination of literary sexual materials were relaxed.

Further analysis found that all classes of sex crimes decreased, but that some decreased more than others. Rape and attempted rape decreased less than did exhibitionism or "unlawful interference short of rape" with children, and these latter offenses decreased less than voyeurism and homosexual offenses which showed the most dramatic decreases (see Table 33).

Note Adapted from Ben-Veniste, R. Pornography and sex crime the Danish
experience. Technical reports of the Commission on Obscenity and
Pornography. Vol. 7.

Additional studies (Ben-Veniste, 1970; Kutschinsky, 1970c) attempted to determine whether the reported decrease in sex offenses was attributable to changes in legislation, law enforcement procedures or practices, police reporting and data collection procedures or people's definition of sex crimes, their readiness to report offenses to the police, and their experience with such offenses. It was found that changes in the incidence of sex offenses could not be attributed to legislative change, alteration of law enforcement practices or modified police reporting and data collection procedures 87 (Ben-Veniste, 1970). A survey

87

With the exception of arrests for homosexual activity, which for several years reflected a change in the legal age of consent for homosexual relations and a short-lived police "crackdown" on homosexuals.