Cheating on your spouse is a crime in New York. The 1907 law may finally be repealed

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Cheating on your spouse is illegal in New York, but the state might soon change that. A bill working its way through the New York Legislature could repeal a more than a century-old law that makes adultery a crime. The obscure law is actually on the books in many other states, though it is almost never enforced. Bill sponsor Assemblyman Charles Lavine says only about a dozen people have been charged under the state’s adultery law since 1972, and of those, just five cases have netted convictions. Adultery currently is a misdemeanor in New York punishable by up to 90 days in jail.