Adultery ban may be scrapped in New York – “a joke”

For over a century, infidelity has been a crime in the US state of New York and is punishable by up to three months behind bars. But a new bill could repeal the law, which is rarely used in practice.

State parliamentarian Charles Lavine, who was involved in developing the bill, believes that it is not the state’s business what adults do with consent behind closed doors.

– It’s a joke. This law was simply an expression of someone’s moral outrage, says Lavine.

The Adultery Act, which was introduced in 1907, has in the last 50 years alone led to around ten prosecutions and five convictions. The last time someone was accused of infidelity in New York was in 2010 when a woman was arrested during a sex act in a park, but the case was later dropped.