Cheating on your spouse in New York state is technically illegal under a law enacted more than 100 years ago, but one lawmaker is looking to change that.
Under a law passed in 1907, adultery in the Empire State remains a misdemeanor and is punishable by up to three months in jail. But a bill making its way through the New York Legislature would finally repeal the rarely criminalized law to legalize infidelity.
“It just doesn't make any sense and we've come a long way since intimate relationships between consenting adults are considered immoral,” said Assemblyman Charles Lavine, who sponsored the adultery bill. “It's a joke. This law was someone's expression of moral outrage.”
Lavine, a Democrat, added: “The state has no business regulating consensual sexual behavior between adults.”
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Under a law passed in 1907, adultery in New York remains a misdemeanor and is punishable by up to three months in prison. (Getty Images)
Lavine's bill, A.4714, would decriminalize the act of adultery, which state code defines as when a person “engages in sexual relations with another person at a time when he or she has a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse.” alive”.
The new bill passed the Codes Committee unanimously in early March and passed the full House on Monday by a vote of 137 to 10. It now must be approved by the Senate before it can become law.
The last adultery charge in New York was filed in 2010 against a woman who was caught performing a sex act in a public park. It was later abandoned.
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Only about a dozen people have been charged under New York's adultery law, and only five cases resulted in convictions. They were later sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Cheating on your spouse is illegal in New York, but the state could soon change that. A bill making its way through the New York Legislature could repeal a century-old law that criminalizes adultery. (AP Photos/Bebeto Matthews)
According to Lavine, the government should not criminalize what adults do behind closed doors with their consent.
The law was nearly eliminated in the 1960s following a review of the entire criminal code by a state commission. The commission's leader called adultery “a matter of private morality, not law.”
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However, it remained in place after one politician argued that its removal could appear as if the state was endorsing infidelity.
More than a dozen states still have adultery laws, including Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Michigan, where adultery is a felony. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
More than a dozen states that still have adultery laws classify them as misdemeanors.
In Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Michigan, adultery is a felony.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
