I believe that it is entirely legitimate for our society to outlaw a practice in public life that we simply feel is wrong.
The trouble with this argument is that it can (and has) been used to justify outlawing practices such as homosexuality, sex before marriage, adultery, and a whole host of other things that are really none of anyone’s business except for the people involved.
Perhaps a better standard would be “Does this practice harm society as a whole?” I can’t see that polygamy among consenting adults is any of society’s business.
Having multiple sexual partners is not illegal, but we can choose not to give any sanction to this by permitting marriages.
Do we outlaw swing clubs too? In any event, I’ve always thought that marriage was a contract between the participants in the marriage. How is it that you think “society” has the right to “sanction” a marriage?
I think, personally, don’t need to criminalize polygamy, because it is not the sort of behavior properly addressed by the criminal law. And if I don’t need to criminalize a thing, I probably shouldn’t.
If the harm arising from polygamy were of a kind that required sending a man to prison,there is surely evidence that some of the wives were forced into marriage, or were underage—neither consenting, that is, nor adults—then prosecute these crimes under the relevant statutes.
“Polygamy encourages child abuse,” people say, citing instances involving the marriage of older men to underage girls. Assuming for the sake of argument that this is true, it still doesn’t justify categorical prohibitions on polygamy. Alcohol consumption may encourage sexual violence; it’s often blamed for date rape. Should we prohibit its use? Or should we prosecute alcohol-fueled violence whenever we find it?
We rightly prohibit violence, not drunkenness, even though some drunks are violent; we should prohibit child abuse, not polygamy, even though some polygamists are abusers.
And as I don’t like polygamous marriages, I don’t have to throw people in jail for performing them. I can just refuse to recognize them. Reserve the legal recognition of marriage to monogamous couples, as all we do now, and leave consenting adults to work out the rest in private.
Whether or not polygamy perhaps should be legalized so that people in polygamous marriages enjoy equal rights and entitlements, it should at least be decriminalized. Why should we care about other people’s belief? And then how dare we criminalize them?
