The legal definition for adultery is: Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and another person who is not their married spouse is the legal definition of adultery.

Adultery has probably been around for at least as long as prostitution has and maybe even longer. It is in the news; it destroys families, and even cripples governments. Remember former President Bill Clinton’s alleged indiscretions with a white house page named Monica Lewinsky? How much money and government time was used to impeach President Clinton only to allow him to remain in power? Then there is the case of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and his dalliance with a prostitute. Spitzer resigned from office rather than being impeached. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford admitted to an adulterous affair with a woman in Argentina. Adultery is against the law in South Carolina but the state refused to prosecute him because they didn’t want to waste limited money on such a case.

Adultery is a crime in twenty-six states and in many countries around the world. Civil penalties vary from state to state. In Michigan, the transgressor can receive life in prison while in Maryland, it is only a ten dollar fine. These are the laws that are on the books but it is unknown if they are enforced or not. New Hampshire has been recently in the news as they have legalized gay marriage and are looking to repeal the adultery laws that are on the books there. Punishment for adultery there is supposed to be that the transgressor had to stand on the gallows, receive up to 39 lashes and a year in jail. The punishment has been relaxed to a misdemeanor and a fine of up to $1,200 and no jail time.

A lot of states also feel this way. They feel that it is a waste of money to prosecute people for adultery and other sexual indiscretions whereas the money could be used for prosecuting more serious crimes such as rape and murder. What do you think? Do you feel that the act of adultery should be a punishable criminal offense? Or do you feel it is just a crime against morality and should be just left as grounds for divorce? There is an online petition to get adultery criminalized in every state and please feel free to come into the crime forum and voice your opinion in the thread I started there. The link to the petition is at the bottom of the page.