Something on the side?

New Hampshire to Legalise Adultery?

We’re used to seeing how some parts of the world still treat adultery as more than a mere moral failing and have actually gone so far as to criminalise it. Punishments vary from a mere two years porridge to a public stoning.

Despite the fact that most of us associate that kind of legal system with backwaters like Somalia, adultery is still on the statute book of several US states. New Hampshire’s own law is in the spotlight as the state plays host to a debate about whether the law should be repealed.

Over the years, the punishment against adultery has softened from ’standing on the gallows with a noose around your neck for an hour’ (WTF?) to 39 lashes to today’s more liberal $1200 fine.

Republican Timothy Horrigan is one of the most visible proponents of a change in law. His summary is crisp and eloquent:

“We shouldn’t be regulating people’s sex lives and their love lives. This is one area the state government should stay out of people’s bedrooms.”

According to experts from DePaul University of Law in Chicago, laws against adultery are very rarely actually used in the states following a Supreme Court decision in 2003 (Lawrence vs. Texas) which found that the state had no legitimate reason to intrude on personal lives.

Although that case centred on the case of two gay men who were arrested in their own bedroom for sodomy, the principle that the state cannot arbitrate sexual conduct has proved to influential. Much to the annoyance of conservatives such as Kevin Smith who makes the counter-argument.

“Even though this criminal law probably is not enforced right now and probably has not been enforced for some time, I think it’s important to have a public policy statement that says generally or in all situations adultery is not a good thing. And I think, by repealing that statute, you’re essentially diminishing the harmful effects of adultery.”

Personally, that reminds us of the use of laws here in the UK to “send out messages”. Like the continuing debate on the legalisation of drugs, there’s little evidence that merely having a law acts as any kind of deterrent. Hell, try screwing some guy’s wife in Somalia and you’ll find yourself getting the lash – or worse. Despite that, people still screw around. The law is a poor instrument to use to attempt to change personal morality.

Against the backdrop, campaigners in the state are stepping up their attempts to get the law repealed and make life a bit easier for people who want to have an affair.

No comments yet.

Leave a comment