More Harm Than Good?

Adulterers in Connecticut run a risk of five-year jail terms, but in Kentucky can incur no heavier legal penalty than a $50 fine. Nevada does not even consider adultery a crime. Because of such disparities and contradictions. Manhattan Lawyer Morris Ploscowe, expert on U.S. criminal codes and a former New York City magistrate, argues for a major overhaul of U.S. sex laws in the current Duke University law review. Says he: "American men and women are continually upon the move. They should not be exposed to the risk of being branded felons in one state for sexual behavior that may be legally innocuous in another." Examples of state-to-state variations:

P:The age of consent, generally set at 16 to 18 years, ranges from 12 in Alabama to 21 in Tennessee.

P:Homosexual acts between consenting adults are misdemeanors in New York, but in Nevada and Michigan they are felonies punishable by life imprisonment.

P:In North Carolina, promiscuity of an underage female can be a defense against a rape charge, but in Missouri a rape conviction is possible even when the woman involved is a professional prostitute.

P:Fornication is not a crime in South Dakota, Vermont or Washington, but in Arizona carries a three-year prison sentence.

Besides these disparities among state laws, Ploscowe is bothered "by the gulf between the laws and what he thinks are the prevailing U.S. patterns of sexual behavior as shown by Kinsey-type reports. "Sex offense legislation presently on the books," says Ploscowe, "is largely unenforceable, and much of this legislation does a great deal more harm than good. Few branches of the law have shown such a wide divergence between actual human behavior and stated legal norms."

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