New York has overturned a rarely enforced, century-old statute that classified infidelity as a misdemeanor, which could have previously imprisoned offenders for three months.
Governor Kathy Hochul enacted a bill abolishing the law, which was established in 1907 and has long been regarded as outdated and challenging to uphold.
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Gov. Hochul stated, “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,”
She added, “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 Let’s take this silly, outdated statute off the books, once and for all.”
Prohibitions against adultery remain legal in multiple states and were implemented to complicate divorce proceedings at a time when demonstrating a spouse’s infidelity was essential for obtaining a legal separation. Prosecutions have been infrequent, with convictions even rarer. In recent years, several states have also sought to repeal their own adultery statutes.
New York characterizes adultery as occurring 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.” The state’s law was first utilized a few weeks post-enactment, according to a published report, to arrest a married man and a 25-year-old woman.
State Assemblymember Charles Lavine, the bill’s sponsor, stated that around a dozen individuals have been charged under this law since the 1970s, with only five of those cases resulting in convictions.
“Laws are meant to protect our community and to serve as a deterrent to anti-social behavior. New York’s adultery law advanced neither purpose,” Lavine stated in a declaration.
The state’s law was last invoked in 2010, against a woman who was discovered engaging in a sexual act in a park, but the adultery charge was later dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
New York nearly abolished this statute in the 1960s when a state commission assigned to review the penal code noted its enforcement difficulty.
Initially, lawmakers supported the removal of the prohibition but ultimately chose to retain it after a legislator contended that doing so would convey that the state was formally endorsing infidelity, according to a release from 1965.
