JoAn Karkos should go to jail if she fails to produce the library book, “It’s Perfectly Normal,” in a Lewiston courtroom today.

It’s the only fair outcome for her refusal to return the sex-ed tome to the Lewiston Public Library, where she removed it last year. Since then, she has repeatedly declined to bring it back, citing conflict with her moral conscience.

Now, a judge has ordered Karkos to return the book by today, following her trial and conviction Wednesday on a minor civil infraction. Yet Karkos has promised not to. The judge has also promised not to have Karkos arrested and make her a “martyr.”

Somebody has to break their promise. We bet it won’t be Karkos.

Which is OK, because the court must yield. To uphold the rule of law, Karkos must be jailed if she’s held in contempt. She was convicted, not because of her strong convictions, but her unlawful actions.

Karkos has viewed this as civil disobedience and the protection of innocent minds (and eyes) from the graphic depictions of sexuality portrayed in “It’s Perfectly Normal.”

She is wrong. What Karkos has done is censorship, pure and simple, because deciding what is appropriate for the community is not the prerogative of one person. Her opinion is valid and valued, but her means and her ends are not.

Karkos had myriad options to publicize her concerns about “It’s Perfectly Normal” without stealing the book. The library’s process for reviewing objectionable books was clear, but ignored. Her rights to free speech and free assembly were unabridged.

And she knows how to exercise them. In several letters, columns, mailings and flyers, Karkos has gone to extended lengths to educate, inform and engage the Twin Cities about “It’s Perfectly Normal” and why she believes it’s inappropriate in the library.

In return, the community, including those tasked with deciding what should, and should not, appear on library shelves, have digested her arguments and allowed it to remain available to the public (in more copies than ever, it should be noted).

The right thing for Karkos to do is bring “It’s Perfectly Normal” back. Doing so would respect the community sentiment and the law by which all of us, as citizens, must abide.

Yet we expect her, today, to reiterate her refusal to return the book. If so, we expect the court to take the appropriate action, as it would toward anybody who flouts its authority, regardless of cause.

Karkos should be jailed, until the book is returned.