- Oct 19, 2004
- 12,811
- 6,013
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Widowed
- Politics
- US-Others
'They feel like Utah has legalized prejudice against them. They want to be honest people, but feel like they have to lie or teach their children to lie about their families in order to stay safe.' Now, do those talking points sound familiar, or what?
Anyways, that brings us to Utah, where the issue of polygamy is again front and center. According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, a state-level bill that would decriminalize the practice among consenting adults has now been sent to the chamber for a vote after receiving unanimous endorsement from the state Senate committee. The Utah Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee put the bill forward after testimony that rather ludicrously that laws prohibiting polygamy “labels law-abiding citizens as criminals.”
Current laws on the books state that polygamy is “a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, with an additional 15 years possible if the defendant is also convicted of fraud, child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic abuse or human smuggling or trafficking.” The proposed decriminalization would reduce the practice to a mere infraction, which not only carries no jailtime but actually makes polygamy between consenting adults a lesser infraction than many traffic offenses, with fines reaching only $750 with potential court-mandated community service for perpetrators with other charges.
Link: Utah may decriminalize polygamy. No one should be surprised.
Anyways, that brings us to Utah, where the issue of polygamy is again front and center. According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, a state-level bill that would decriminalize the practice among consenting adults has now been sent to the chamber for a vote after receiving unanimous endorsement from the state Senate committee. The Utah Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee put the bill forward after testimony that rather ludicrously that laws prohibiting polygamy “labels law-abiding citizens as criminals.”
Current laws on the books state that polygamy is “a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, with an additional 15 years possible if the defendant is also convicted of fraud, child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic abuse or human smuggling or trafficking.” The proposed decriminalization would reduce the practice to a mere infraction, which not only carries no jailtime but actually makes polygamy between consenting adults a lesser infraction than many traffic offenses, with fines reaching only $750 with potential court-mandated community service for perpetrators with other charges.
Link: Utah may decriminalize polygamy. No one should be surprised.