Arizona man seeks to enforce adultery laws

Most people who suspect their spouses are cheating make a phone call to a divorce attorney, but not Arizona resident Dave Banks, who has instead called local police and filed a complaint.  Arizona, like a fair amount of other states, still has a law on the books making adultery a crime, and Mr. Banks thinks it's high time they enforced it.  State adultery laws carry different punishments, ranging from a $10 fine in Maryland to heftier fines and jail time.  A violation of the Arizona adultery law can carry a fine of up to $500 and a 30-day stint in jail.

While many people think this is just another example of archaic laws, Banks did make the point that people might think twice about cheating on their spouses if doing so carried the threat of jail time.  But let's be honest, although police are investigating, it's pretty unlikely that Banks' wife will actually be prosecuted for adultery.  Cheating on one's spouse isn't really as shameful or as unusual as it once was, and our society as a whole has become pretty tolerant of adultery and divorce.  That tolerance is more a function of a change of attitude about the seriousness of wedding vows than it is a lack of enforcement of adultery laws, although the two are perhaps not entirely unrelated.

But as unlikely as it is that Banks' complaint will get prosecuted, I say good for him for taking a stand, in spite of the ridicule he is facing, and publicly declaring that adultery is not acceptable.  

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