Miller test - three-prong obscenity testI Riya I Legal Vidhiya

The Miller test, also known as the three-prong obscenity test, is a legal test used in the United States to determine whether speech or expression can be labeled as obscene and therefore excluded from First Amendment protection. The test was established by the Supreme Court in the case of Miller v. California (1973).

The Miller test consists of three prongs:

**Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest (an excessive focus on sexual matters or lust)."
Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law.
Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
To determine whether speech or expression is obscene, all three prongs of the Miller test must be met. If a work fails any one of the prongs, it is not considered obscene and is protected by the First Amendment. The test aims to strike a balance between protecting freedom of speech and allowing for the regulation of obscene material that is deemed to lack social value. The application of the Miller test can be complex, and courts often grapple with questions of community standards and the definition of "patently offensive" material.