Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Podium Presentation
Federal Adultery Laws; A Socio-Legal Analysis
Jenna N. Verity
Davison Bideshi
Sociology
Over the last three decades or so, the nature of marriage has undergone important
meanings and modifications, challenging the “normative” structure of a key institution in
the socialization process. While a good amount of attention has been paid to this
transformation, adultery has received less attention than it deserves since the impact
can be deleterious to the family unit as a whole, not just the married component.
Consequences of adultery may include a loss of trust in future relationships, divorce,
familial violence, and monetary loss. This project focuses on adultery with an eye
toward a possible legislative addition of a federal adultery law to the United States
Penal Code. This endeavor reviews extant adultery laws in various countries and how
those laws are implemented in meeting specific societal goals regarding the meaning of
marriage and the family. We critically examine the measureable effects of these laws in
relation to marital dissolution and the subsequent consequences, whether positive or
negative, for those involved in the family. The point of departure in the analysis relies
on conflict theory to identify the power, economic, and cultural issues surrounding
adultery and divorce. We propose that the United States has a social and legal interest
in criminalizing a breach of a marital contract and providing a legal remedy for it. Using
both conflict and rational choice theories, we attempt to discursively demonstrate the
effects an enforced federal adultery law will have on the rate of divorce and extramarital
sex of married, adult couples in the United States.