Adultery is no longer a crime in New York: Governor signs bill

 

 

New York: New York has repealed a 117-year-old law that criminalized adultery. Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill on Friday that repeals the law that considered adultery a punishable offense punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

The governor also announced that the decision involves a more progressive change. The adultery law, which was enacted in 1907 to discourage divorce. However, as perspectives changed, the relevance of the law began to be questioned.

The amendment continued. Human relationships are complex. The governor said that issues between individuals should be resolved, not through the criminal justice system. A commission had recommended repealing it in the 1960s. But efforts to get it approved failed. The real push to change the law began in 2020 when Assemblyman Dan Quart introduced a bill to repeal the statute.