Michigan Courts: Life in Prison for Adultery

Some of the time... And with others at other occasions.

No monotony here.

I applaud the monogamous and the commitment that they have made to each other; I also find the notion that any relationship regardless of involved gender(s) be enforced by legal means reprehensible.

Gigolo Monkeys, not just for "call me" anymore...

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
should it be punishable by life in prison

Well maybe not life? How about as many days as you've been together.
If you met on January 1, 2001 and on January 1 2006 you found out that you were hooked up with a callous, lying, pathetic, sniveling, spineless cheat, then I say gve 'em 5 years in prison. That'll teach them to think twice about screwing their spouse over.
It's simple, if you're not happy and you want to sleep with other people, then separate and get a divorce. Don't drag someone that loves you through a mess of lies
prison time will keep most people (not all) from cheating and keep others from having their lives shattered into a million pieces. And like I stated way above....they can have all the sex they want in prison when they drop the soap.....LOL!

That law will put half the court staff in jail. Even the prosecuting attorney admitted his own affair -

The ruling is especially awkward for Attorney General Mike Cox, whose office triggered it by successfully appealing a lower court's decision to drop CSC charges against a Charlevoix defendant. In November 2005, Cox confessed to an adulterous relationship.

lol - They were after the guy for handing out oxycontin and looks like the slimy bugger was using it to leverage sex out of addicted cocktail waitresses. Lol - cocktail waitress -

Cox's office, which handled the appeal on the prosecutor's behalf, insisted that the waitress' consent was irrelevant. All that mattered, the attorney general argued in a brief demanding that the charge be reinstated, was that the pair had sex "under circumstances involving the commission of another felony" -- the delivery of the Oxycontin pills

The real crime here is the lack of treatment centers for the number of addicts being produced by the pharmaceutical industry and thrown to the adulterous wolves of the justice system who will use any obscure law to advance their own careers.

Adultery is a cruel act, and so is deception - you can bet a cocktail waitresses booty no prosecuting attorney is going to go to jail for it.

The human bias in the law is a sword that cuts both ways. Maybe some of those obscure laws ought to be more closely examined. The law isn't about punishment as in punishing a lover for one's disappointment - it's about justice and how to make a foul act right.

Monetary recompense for abandoned children and pain and suffering isn't outlandish in cases of adultery. Using the law to give drug addicts a life sentence is a ridiculous abuse of power. Was the oxycontin supplier an addict himself and just more successful at getting pills - probably.

When will they really deal with the social scourge of addiction and address the treatment aspect of the problem. The pharmaceutical industry will be filling up the jail cells with the less artful deceivers, leaving the refined ones to run the show.


[edit on 15-1-2007 by clearwater]

Na prison isnt the right answer. Especialy when there are kids involved. I think these dirtbags need to have a lifetime of suffering handed to them for what they did.

I say let the punnishment fit the crime. They used sex to commit the crime then it should be a sex crime and these people should be labled as sex offeders.

Single people I understand why you feel that this shouldent be a crime. This is because in your world it isn't. But a person's world chainges when they make that commitment. Thats why they call it a commitment.

The plain and simple is that when you enter into a contract with someone it is a binding agreement. A marriage is the same thing. The unfortunate part is that people arn't clear headed when they enter into this contract. and like a contract when a person whom entered into that contract breaks that contract they should be held accountable for that breach.

I don't agree that they should lock anyone away for adultery. all that would do is place more pressure on an already overcrowded prison system. I say make these cheaters accountable by labiling them for what they are and that is a sex offender. Now that would be a punnishment worse thain prison. few employers would hire a sex offender, few people would date a sex offender, they couldent live in many places because of background checks. Now that would keep people on the straight and narrow.

Originally posted by clearwater
The real crime here is the lack of treatment centers for the number of addicts being produced by the pharmaceutical industry....

If you've ever suffered from chronic excruciating pain, I don't think you could make such a baseless statement. Drugs like oxycodone make life bearable for millions during very difficult times and without the pharmaceutical companies those drugs would not exist.

Those who acquire these drugs illegally and become addicted bear the responsibility for their own actions. Treatment is available to those who seek such. Treatment requires volition, which is not a common attribute among addicts.

Originally posted by whatukno
I say make these cheaters accountable by labiling them for what they are and that is a sex offender.

Nah, that isn't gonna work. You can always hide your sex crimes or get away with them. My ex was arrested in a public mall bathroom once for lewd solicitation to an undercover officer. He was a music teacher in a mall store (taught little kids). He met the undercover cop in the mall and followed him to the bathroom where he approached him (evidently this bathroom had alot of traffic because a sting was setup). He asked the cop if he could "blow him" at a urinal (sick, I know). Then the cop arrested him and took him off to jail. He was released early in the morning. They told him to get a good lawyer. He did. The lawyer got him out of it. No fine. No community service. No police record. Nothing that could be dug up and used against him.

Years after we split, he got arrested for the same thing again. Only this time I have no idea how the trial panned out. But just to let you know, he still plays in prominent national symphony orchestras, still teaches private lessons to little kids, stiil plays with quartets at the National Embassies in Washington D.C., still is a violist on demand, probably still screws over those who think he's loyal.....and nobody but me and his family know his dirty little secret. Seems like the court brushed his offences under the rug.

I say don't do the crime, if you can't do the time.
Throw them in jail for awhile, and let them know what it feels like to be in Hell (which is exactly what they put you through).

[edit on 15-1-2007 by rocknroll]

Originally posted by whatukno
I say let the punishment fit the crime. They used sex to commit the crime then it should be a sex crime and these people should be labled as sex offenders.

That's actually quite a very interesting proposition, lol, no pun intended. In fact, the more I think about it, the more that absolutely makes tenable sense.

Originally posted by rocknroll
It's been awhile since I heard two people got married to screw eachother over, backstab, and commit adultery.

Me too. I didn't even imply such a thing.

Originally posted by rocknroll
Gone is respect, loyalty, trust, honor, faithfulness, committment...and people wonder why most marriages don't last. HELLO!

These are several other reasons people get married. How about finances? Companionship? Friendship? Respect and so on are not gone just because a few people don't marry for love.

Why do people always take an argument to it's furthest extreme? Just because I suggest that people may not marry for love doesn't mean that they marry to stab each other in the back... :shk:

Btw, I have been cheated on in my first marriage so I know the pain and I also have a monogamous marriage now. And I married for love. I just don't insist that everyone else do things just the way I do or else there's something wrong with them...

[edit on 15-1-2007 by Benevolent Heretic]

Originally posted by whatukno
I say let the punnishment fit the crime. They used sex to commit the crime then it should be a sex crime and these people should be labled as sex offeders.

Oh no! Have you heard the news yet honey?

No what's that?

We have a sex offender moving in next door!

Wait... Is it a "real" sex offender?

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Btw, I have been cheated on in my first marriage so I know the pain and I also have a monogamous marriage now. And I married for love. I just don't insist that everyone else do things just the way I do or else there's something wrong with them...

[edit on 15-1-2007 by Benevolent Heretic]

Sorry, I like to dig deep.

Okay, BH I get your point.
Sorry you got hurt the first time around and I hope that you never get hurt the second time around. As I said I'm gay, and legally, no, we were not married, but we committed for life, lived, slept, ate and breathed together (8 years). We called eachother soulmates.
If you get screwed the 2nd time, 3rd time, etc.......you might very well change your tune at some point, who knows? But honestly, I do think there is something wrong with with adultery. And I do think it's a crime. Why? Because adultery is extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations, causing only destruction and hurt. And that is wrong IMHO.

[edit on 15-1-2007 by rocknroll]

Originally posted by LostSailor
Wait... Is it a "real" sex offender?

"No honey, not really. He's actually a nice guy. He says he cheated on his wife. They just didn't get along. Wonder if we should introduce him to Daisy at the Quik-Mart?"

Originally posted by rocknroll
"No honey, not really. He's actually a nice guy. He says he cheated on his wife. They just didn't get along. Wonder if we should introduce him to Daisy at the Quik-Mart?"

I'm glad you caught my dry sense of humor man!

When I slept on it last night I came to a realisation...

1 I have realy messed up dreams. (but thats another issue)

2 I know why they made the Michigan law so extreeme. This gives judges a lot of leeway into handing out an apropreate punnishment befiting the situation at hand. I seriously doubt that anyone would get life in prison for cheating on their spouse. Unless by that act caused the spouse such a hardship that thier life was iretrevatably ruined by the expirence.

Often in a criminal case the DA will bargan with the accused to get a plea. A plea deal is made and the offender pleades guilty to a lesser offense in exchainge for their cooperation. Imagine if you will a spouse that is caught red handed cheating on their wedded partner. Now this person is facing life in prison for this act.

The DA is going to tell them that they should plead guilty to a lesser crime and therefore be let off the hook for the bigger offense. Now if the person refuses and is found guilty the judge has a wide margin to play with in terms of fitting an apropreate punnishment for the act.

If the accused has a lawyer with at least one brain cell in his head then the accused will more thain likely be let off of the charge anyway. Although it will almoast permenantly brand the offender in the public eye.

Now when I say that they should be labled a sex offender what I meant by that is, that this would be a clear deterant for anyone thinking about cheating on their spouse. The Michigan law does this too. My idea would also give much needed vindication to the people that have been cheated on whos trust in others are damaged by having this done to them. People are willing to give a convicted felon a second chance in this country. They are less likely to give a convicted sex offender that same second chance.

The Florida law that I posted is weak and rarely enforced. The only time it comes into play is durring a divorce to show moral charactor. While the offending spouse will more thain likely never be charged with the actual crime itself it does lend a hand to the judge another piece of information to think about when deciding on the divorce.

If you are in an open mariage that both partners agree to be able to see other people then obviously no one would be charged with the crime because it would be next to impossible to convict someone without a victim to testify against them.

Whatukno, I'm sorry but I think you're a little too far out in right field on this one.

You're talking about jail time for hurting someone's feelings. The very idea of that hurts my feelings, because if you can incarcerate someone for hurting other people's feelings, I'm going away for all day, several times over. I've never been a cheater and I like to think I never would be, but where does it stop?

Any actual damages (as opposed to emotional distress) that you might claim the law to be based on be just as severe if your wife had done the appropriate paperwork before betraying you. So what's next, criminalizing divorce?

Speaking of actual damages... what are they exactly? Obviously I understand property issues, which are already addressed by law. What I'm asking is where the injury is. What was legally yours that you were deprived of without due process (and my friendly advice is that you shouldn't say your wife, because I'm only one man and I won't be able to protect you from the women if you suggest that your wife was property of which you were deprived)? What part of your body was damaged when you found out that she was leaving? The injury is strictly emotional. The problem with emotions is that they are a personal responsibility. They WILL get hurt- they're like windows facing a golf course- getting them broken is a risk you accept when you move into the country club. People can't just choose to not hurt your feelings, a court can't even check to be sure they're really damaged, and you can't go out and buy replacements for them. It is a matter beyond the reach of reason and justice.


Beyond that, I don't see how adultry has a place in the ranks of felonies. How am I supposed to respond when I'm reading someone's rap sheet and it says
grand theft auto,
attempted murder,
aggravated assault,
and 3 disappointing minutes in the copy room with the office tramp?

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong...


I don't mean to be insensitive. I have a little experience on both sides of the whole broken heart thing (including the death threats that fathers tend to issue after their daughter attempts suicide because of you). I think I have a vague notion of how you feel, and I'm sure that several decades of prison sex are probably in order for your ex. I'm just saying that the principles of this country are incompatible with this idea. With our liberty we assume certain risks. With our freedom of speech comes the fact that people are going to call us all kinds of creative things in crowded parking lots, and with our freedom to love and marry as we see fit comes the fact that people are going to do all kinds of creative things with whatever is between their legs, even though it may be something that we find morally repugnant or emotionally disturbing.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by clearwater
The real crime here is the lack of treatment centers for the number of addicts being produced by the pharmaceutical industry....

If you've ever suffered from chronic excruciating pain, I don't think you could make such a baseless statement. Drugs like oxycodone make life bearable for millions during very difficult times and without the pharmaceutical companies those drugs would not exist.

Those who acquire these drugs illegally and become addicted bear the responsibility for their own actions. Treatment is available to those who seek such. Treatment requires volition, which is not a common attribute among addicts.

I'm not referring to the people who need oxycontin for chronic pain. In a way we both agree on the same thing from different angles. If the disease of addiction was not criminalized it would not be an ongoing struggle for sufferers of chronic pain to get enough drugs to treat their problem.

Drug addicts are no more responsible for developing a dependence on addictive substances than sufferers of chronic pain are responsible their situation. In countries where addicts are provided with free drugs for their addictions, the recovery rate is much higher and they are often able to hold down jobs - lessening the toxic social effects of addiction by lessening the punitive and destructive aspect of the cycle.

I think the punitive tendency to criminalize addiction is what leads to sufferers of chronic pain having trouble getting access to the drugs they need more than the number of people who will develop addiction.

Treatment centers are not widely available. You're quite right though, that addicts generally will not benefit from treatment until willing to pursue it with the same passion they do their drugs.

Paradoxically in countries, where they are provided with opiates and not criminalized they seek treatment much sooner and recover at higher rates.

In a way addicts are sufferers of chronic pain. Punitive social judgments increase the need for theft and other nefarious activity which reinforces the low self esteem that perpetuates the whole syndrome. Also those attitudes spill over to the sufferers of real physical chronic pain and hinders their proper treatment.

Adultery is the ultimate act of betrayal. I have been seduced by a few married women, but never succumbed. I would not ever be part of the heartbreak that would be visited on some poor schmuck. I'd never be able to look him in the eye, or sleep well, knowing I was part of a dirty little affair that injured him.

But, to each his own. I'd never judge someone else. But I do know that some states need reform in their divorce laws, to hold adulterers more accountable for their actions. Some states say, "Well, that's tragic, but she still gets the house, the kids, and half your entire being. For a long time." No accounting for the fact that the adultery was was led to the divorce in the first place.

Now, I'm not advocating that the kids suffer financially. But the cheater should.

Originally posted by clearwater
If the disease of addiction was not criminalized it would not be an ongoing struggle for sufferers of chronic pain to get enough drugs to treat their problem.

Addiction is not criminalized. It is the possession and distribution of illegal substances or the illegal possession or distribution of controlled substances that is illegal.

Contrary to the "conventional wisdom" of a few decades ago, for those who take narcotic pain killers appropriately, addiction to those substances is rare, but regardless of how one becomes addicted, treatment options are available.

Patients may find that they develop tolerance to opioid pain medications and may need to have their doses increased in order to be effective. Tolerance has not been shown to lead to drug addiction in patients who take opioid drugs for medical reasons. Physical dependence on opioid pain medications does not seem to occur in cancer patients. Once the pain disappears (usually through the effective treatment of cancer), these patients can discontinue the pain medicine without difficulty.

psychologytoday.com...

Ultimately, the responsibility does not lie with the pharmaceutical companies, but rather with the addicted. Help is available.

[edit on 2007/1/16 by GradyPhilpott]

Let's compare Saudi Arabia and Michigan, US.

The punishement for adultery in SA - Death by beheading, shooting or stoning.

The punishement for adultery in Michigan, US - Life in prison and being analy violated by rapist, murderers, psychos, pedophiles, drugdealers ... for the rest of my natural life.

Hmm. I think I'll take beheading for 500 Alec.

Originally posted by The Vagabond
Whatukno, I'm sorry but I think you're a little too far out in right field on this one.

You're talking about jail time for hurting someone's feelings. The very idea of that hurts my feelings, because if you can incarcerate someone for hurting other people's feelings, I'm going away for all day, several times over. I've never been a cheater and I like to think I never would be, but where does it stop?

I am not exactly advicating jail time for cheaters. What I am for is some sort of accountability for ones actions and a proper way to set things right.

right now as it stands in most states you cheat on your spouse and its all ok the spouse just has to take it and nobody cares. But is that right? Why should it be that smokers receive compesation for killing themselves but if someone cheats on you and breaks the marital contract why no repremand, no accountability, no justice for the people that were wronged?

The alternitives are to ignore it and just get over it. I can see that. If you didnt care about the person this is the absolute best idea.

or go do something stupid and break a law yourself. Not reccomended.

so there are your extremes. You can eather do nothing or do something stupid. IMO nither are good choices.

I don't think this law stops anyone from the freedom of sleeping arround on thier spouses it just provides a penalty for when someone gets caught. Like the old saying everythings legal as long as you don't get caught.

Honestly I want justice. Just some way of setting things right and a way to do it the right way.

I don't think that anyone should nessesaraly go to jail for this but perhaps a whoping fine would be a deterant.

Originally posted by whatukno
I am not exactly advicating jail time for cheaters. What I am for is some sort of accountability for ones actions and a proper way to set things right.

May I suggest that before your next marriage, you have a lawyer write up a legal contract stipulating your wishes and the fines for breaking the contract and have your bride sign it? Take responsibility for getting what you want in your marriage instead of depending on the institution of marriage to do it.

How 'bout that?