Why adultery law is not enforced?

Question

After all Ted Haggart admited to a gay prostitute affair and it is a criminal offence in Colorado state.

GuitarMan if this is your criteria for not being "Iran" ... we are in "Iran".

You just do not know laws! Do not cheat in Idaho - 3years in prison!

RJ I have not seen any more lengthy and ignorant post at the same time!

- Idaho example was to show that you can get in prison for this. It does not have anything to do with Ted Haggard (He is from colorado)
- Colorado statue states : 18-6-501. Adultery.
Statute text
Any sexual intercourse by a married person other than with that person's spouse is adultery, which is prohibited.
- They both admitted to adultery!


If conservatives want to put ten commndements in court, then enforce them now - where it is the criminal law against all political "prostitutes" !

and here is some details on Idaho fornication law

18-6603. FORNICATION. Any unmarried person who shall have sexual
intercourse with an unmarried person of the opposite sex shall be deemed
guilty of fornication, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a
fine of not more than $300 or by imprisonment for not more than six months or
by both such fine and imprisonment; provided, that the sentence imposed or any
part thereof may be suspended with or without probation in the discretion of
the court.

Answer 1

"IDAHO TITLE 18
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
CHAPTER 66
SEX CRIMES
18-6601. ADULTERY. A married man who has sexual intercourse with a woman not his wife, an unmarried man who has sexual intercourse with a married woman, a married woman who has sexual intercourse with a man not her husband, and an unmarried woman who has sexual intercourse with a married man, shall be guilty of adultery, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100, or
by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than three months, or by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a period not exceeding three years, or in the county jail for a period not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding $1000."

Well, there's the Idaho statute you're referring to. Sounds to me like there are two main reasons why he was not prosecuted for adultery in the case you are referring to.

First off, according to the wording, he's didn't commit adultery. Read it carefully. The statute says very specifically about a man being with a woman or a woman being with a man. It does not have any section in there about a man being with a man or a woman being with a woman. Apparently, homesexual activity is not considered (or more likely was never even contemplated) by the Idaho legislature to be adultery.

Secondly, adultery, just about everywhere, is considered a misdemeanor. That means that the police can only initiate charges if they observed the offense, with a couple exceptions. Other than that, it would generally be up to the spouse who was cheated on to file charges against both parties in the adultery. Most of them either don't consider filing criminal charges, don't care about filing criminal charges, or would just be too embarassed to file criminal charges.

Aside from that, proving the charge of adultery is near impossible unless one of the two parties involved is willing to testify to the sexual activity. Because sex is a necessary part of the crime, if you can't prove they had sex, you can't win.

In my state, the legislature put together a committee back in the 1970's to look into whether or not to take our state's adultery statute off the books. They eventually decided that, while the law was not really one that was necessary or even very enforceable, there would not be enough public support to have it repealed.

And yes, I've done a bit of research on the subject. I'm probably the only police officer in my state to charge anyone with Adultery since the 1940's. I used one of those "couple exceptions" I mentioned earlier and charged a man and woman with it. It was really just one piece of a larger felony investigation, which is how I was able to do it. Boy, did I catch hell with my supervisors. They were not happy with me for a while. I won't do it again without permission, but it served it's purpose. Of course, since they both lied in court (denying what they initially told me in their interviews), they were found not guilty. Like I said before, without proving the sexual relationship, you are gonna lose, and the only people who can testify to that are the two who committed it. As an additional note, my state's Adultery law requires the two parties to be living together while one of them is married, in addition to the sexual relationship.

Answer 2

It can be enforced if the right cops and judge handle the case. There was a man in Arizona who was cheating on his wife and his wife turned him in. He got 5yrs in prison for it. Most cops don't deal with it because it is a civil issue, but it is illegal. It says so right in the ten commandments. Some places will uphold them others do not.

Answer 3

so the people who are breaking the law would then have to inforce the law and sit on juries to decide the sentence and be the judge who instructs the jury and... well, you know where I'm going.

But one good thing, there would be no way to avoid having a 'jury of your peers' on this one.

Answer 4

We don't have enough prisons. We'd need as many as them as there are of 7/11's or Starbucks.

Answer 5

Monogamy, is not part of human nature,you make a conscious decision to be faithful to a person.

Answer 6

With everybody getting arrested,no one would be left to run the prisons.

Answer 7

What adultery law? Remember - this is NOT Iran.

Answer 8

Why grammar is not adhered to?
Probably for the same reason.