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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Polygamy won’t ever be legal . "Sister Wives"

Polygamist Cody Brown’s PR stunt this past week was brilliant for the ratings of “Sister Wives” because the federal courts will never legalize polygamy. Brown purports to take advantage of the changing legal landscape over gay marriage and also the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court gave a nod of approval to two adult men who enjoy sex in the privacy of their own home.
Despite the legal changes to contemporary sex relations among adult partners, the practice of polygamy does not fall within this scope of progressive social change.
I noted in my book Sexual Deviance and the Law: Legal Regulation of Human Sexuality that polygamy is not merely a liberty interest in living with multiple partners. If that were the case, the state should not, and likely would not, interfere.
Rather, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada states, polygamy is criminogenic and spawns numerous forms of secondary criminal activity. Reid, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wants polygamist communities to be federally indicted as racketeers like the mafia or Hells Angels, organizations and entities which engage in a chronic, systematic pattern of criminal offending.
Cody Brown, et al., will claim innocence, but history tells us that polygamist households inevitably run terribly afoul of the law, where the same cannot be said of gay marriage or homosexual sodomy. Marriage to one spouse, but having sex with someone else, is legally and morally referred to as adultery and a precursor to domestic strife.
Infamously, some polygamists take underage brides and engage in statutory rape or actual rape. When cousins are involved, incest statutes apply. These are only the obvious manifestations of harm. Other forms of criminality include conspiracy to engage in child abuse, rape as an accomplice, and attempted sexual abuse. Non-sex-related offenses include welfare fraud, income tax evasion, and child neglect and abandonment.
With this litany of trouble, it is little wonder why very few reasonable people empathize with Cody Brown’s argument that sex by consenting adults in the privacy of their own home should be legal. The courts aren’t quite so gullible as to frame the issue so compactly.
For example, the Texas court system is not representative, but the polygamists on trial for sex-related crimes at the YFZ Ranch have been convicted effortlessly and received stunningly long sentences. (In 2010, polygamist Merrill Jessop was sentenced to 75 years in prison for consensual sex in a spiritual marriage with a minor.)
In sum, the idea that adults should be able to do what they want in the bedroom without intrusive state interference is attractive and comports with recent legal changes in sex law and politics.
However, the dynamics of a polygamist household extend well beyond the surface appeal of liberty and privacy interests. Polygamist communities are notoriously criminogenic, and if the U.S. Supreme Court ever takes a case like Cody Brown’s, it will be to soundly uphold the current prohibitions rather than to make any change in support of plural marriage.



Scott R. Senjo is a professor of criminal justice at Weber State University in Ogden. Email: ssenjo@weber.edu 
(Courtesy of the Salt Lake Tribune)

15 comments:

  1. "Rather, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada states, polygamy is criminogenic and spawns numerous forms of secondary criminal activity. Reid, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wants polygamist communities to be federally indicted as racketeers like the mafia or Hells Angels, organizations and entities which engage in a chronic, systematic pattern of criminal offending.
    Cody Brown, et al., will claim innocence, but history tells us that polygamist households inevitably run terribly afoul of the law, where the same cannot be said of gay marriage or homosexual sodomy. Marriage to one spouse, but having sex with someone else, is legally and morally referred to as adultery and a precursor to domestic strife."

    Yes, but Harry Reid is LDS, so he does believe in Celestial marriage, to a point. He believes in Joseph Smith. So Harry, why not arrest them for polygamy in Nevada???? ARREST THEM IN NEVADA?

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  2. "Non-sex-related offenses include welfare fraud, income tax evasion, and child neglect and abandonment."
    HARRY, they have proven to do Welfare fraud and probably tax evasion. Janelle has the AUDACITY to WHINE that they had to count all the families income so she didn't get welfare. Christine was smarter and didn't. Christine broke the LAW. WHO IS PROTECTING HER?

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  3. Smoke and mirrors, Guys..AGAIN -YOU FATHER THE CHILDREN YOU SUPPORT THEM-NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES.Polygamists or otherwise.
    It matters NOT ONE Shred about how" One wife works..Sooo friggin what.Did he father those children?? YES-Then support them OR KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS.
    New baby on the way? Great...Another MOUTH FOR THE TAXPAYERS TO FEED.YIPPEEEE. robyn is a single mother with an Autistic child. that enables her and ALL her children to receive Medicaid. Uou have money to be filing lawsuits then you can support yourself and NOT BE SPONGING OFF OF THE GOVERNMENT..Friggin parasites parading under the mask of religeon..

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  4. All I can say is THANK GOD.
    Why don't they just not take the first wife? Make them all Celestial?

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  5. These folks are given carte blanche in Utah to collect WIC, food stamps, and welfare. Even the polygamists don't want legalization, so that they can continue to claim that they are single and collect from the government.

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  6. "Even the polygamists don't want legalization..." Huh? Who said that? Yes, they do want legalization. They have every one of their followers 100% convinced that the U.S. Constitution guarantees their right to religious ritual sex with multiple women.

    FLDS women were the very first people to challenge law enforcement in Texas with constitutional questions. They were quick to, because they believe they are right.

    The SCOTUS disagrees with that position in America, and finds no constitutional protection for the practice.

    You can believe anything you like, it doesn't, however, make it true.

    Neither the Fundy Mormons nor the Muslims in this country can win a constitutional challenge to the ban on the practice of polygamy. The abuse is of such plain record it could never withstand true scrutiny.

    The moment the bright light of truthful sunshine hits the floor, they'll scamper for the dark. They'll have to, and they know that, too.

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  7. I sincerely hope you are right Boots. Battles are often won and lost in the media, and getting public opinion behind you is often key in these cases. The biggest problem that I see, is that women who have left polygamy are individuals with no organized voice, while those who want to promote it are very active - such as Safety Net, Principle Voices, the Centennial Park women, and now the Browns.

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  8. Why don't they start their own non profit group and get louder? I wish we had more women that left the AUB in particualr, come here and speak out.

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  9. Please invite any you know to come here and speak out. We are listening.

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  10. Boots -
    The polygamists want decriminalization - but they do not want the government to grant polygamist marriage licenses, hence their statement that they want decriminalization, not legalization. Anne Wilde has said this many times.

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  11. But do they want to give up their "apts", all live as one, and not receive aid? I doubt that.

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  12. Never say Never.......

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  13. I really dont understand so much of this information. Your saying Polygamy will cause more Muslims to come in? Don't they treat their women terrible?

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  14. I would REALLY like someone to EXPLAIN to me Polygamy from other countries, and how it harms the children and women. I don't know much about it. I'm just a country christian agianst polygamy.

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  15. I wouldn't count on that. I bet it's coming. I just found a bad penny today.

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