Did you know that until now cheating on your spouse was a crime in New York? The state recently officially abolished a rarely enforced, over-a-century-old law that classified marital cheating as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to three months in jail.
The law dates back to 1907 and its repeal marks a significant move toward modernizing our perceptions of marriage and personal relationships, yet it also prompts us to reconsider societal beliefs about infidelity.
Governor Kathy Hochul has signed the bill that eliminates this outdated statute, long seen as challenging to enforce.
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Hochul said, “While I’ve been fortunate to share a loving married life with my husband for 40 years—making it somewhat ironic for me to sign a bill decriminalizing adultery—I know that people often have complex relationships. These matters should clearly be handled by these individuals and not our criminal justice system.”
“Let’s take this silly, outdated statute off the books, once and for all,” she said, according to the Associated Press.
Previously, adultery bans were implemented in many states to complicate divorce proceedings, as proving infidelity was sometimes the only path to legal separation.
New York is not alone in this shift; other states have also moved to decriminalize adultery. For instance, Idaho repealed its adultery law in 2022, and just last year, Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz followed suit, signing legislation to remove adultery from the criminal code.
However, several states, including South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi, among others, have yet to reconsider their adultery laws.
This bill challenges antiquated legal frameworks that were established when marriage was seen through a rigid lens, where infidelity not only disrupted family dynamics but also posed a threat to social order. However, it appears to allow for adultery, which could weaken familial stability and social stability in the long run.
Historically, according to research, adultery in America has been regarded as a breach of moral and ethical standards, warranting both civil and criminal repercussions. Puritan settlers, alarmed by moral decay in England, deemed adultery with a married woman a serious offense, with many states following suit. However, enforcement saw a significant decline in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with the American Law Institute recommending a blanket decriminalization of adultery in 1962 due to its occasional use as a tool for blackmail.
New York defined adultery as when a person “engages in sexual intercourse with another person at a time when he has a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse.”
State Assemblymember Charles Lavine, who sponsored the repeal, noted that since the 1970s, only about a dozen people have faced charges under this law, with just five resulting in convictions.
While some contend that the anxiety associated with divorce and alimony deters individuals from cheating, the Sacks and Sacks report illuminates a more complicated reality, revealing that nearly 60% of divorces in the U.S. cite infidelity as a primary factor. This indicates that irrespective of any legal repercussions, many people continue to grapple with this.
Does the repeal of this law signal that cheating will become more acceptable? That’s for readers to ponder. Because in reality, to cheat on one’s partner is a personal decision, whether or not the circumstances around the actions justify cheating or not.
In the end, this law—whether on the books or removed—should have no influence whatsoever on a stable, flourishing marriage, which is the ideal that society must strive for moving forward.
