New York on Friday repealed a seldom-used, more than century-old law that decriminalized it. cheating on your spouse — At one time, adultery could lead to three months in prison.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill to repeal the statute, which dates back to 1907 and is long outdated and difficult to enforce.
“While I have been fortunate to share a loving married life with my husband for 40 years, making it somewhat ironic to sign a bill decriminalizing adultery, I know that people often have complex relationships,” she said. “These matters should clearly be handled by these people and not by our criminal justice system. Let’s get this stupid, outdated statute off the books once and for all.”
Adultery bans are laws in many states and were set up to make it harder to get a divorce if the only way to get a legal separation was to prove cheating spouses. Charges have been rare and convictions even rarer. Some states have even moved to repeal adultery laws in recent years.
New York defined adultery as: “When a person has sexual relations with another person in the presence of a living spouse, or if the other person has a living spouse.” It was first used a few weeks after the state law went into effect, a New York Times articleto arrest a married man and a 25-year-old woman.
State Assembly bill sponsor Charles Lavine said about a dozen people have been charged under the law since the 1970s, and only five of those cases resulted in convictions.
“Laws are meant to protect our community and serve as a deterrent to antisocial behavior. New York’s adultery law served no purpose,” Lavin said Friday.
The state law appears to have last been used in 2010 against a woman who was caught having sex in a park, but the adultery charge was dropped as part of a plea deal.
New York came close to repealing the law in the 1960s after a state commission tasked with evaluating the penal code said it was nearly impossible to enforce.
At the time, lawmakers initially supported lifting the ban, but ultimately decided to keep it after one politician argued that repealing it would make the state look like it was officially condoning infidelity, according to one. New York Times article from 1965 onwards.
