This question is not intended to make some moral judgement on the polygamists lifestyle, but rather it’s a practical question about how they can do this in essentially full public view and not be arrested. I mention the businesses because it indicates these folks are in the economic mainstream, making money, and transacting with the public. They’re not hiding economically.
How is it possible to have a 1200 member group openly practicing an overtly illegal lifestyle, and not be arrested and put in jail if you know where they live and work? Do the authorities not really care so long as they behave themselves? Polygamist Couple Give Up Parental Rights
A great book on this topic is Under the Banner of Heaven. One thing I picked up is that people in high places have ties to the polygamist community, this tending to look the other way.
WAG but if the marriages are not legally registered with the State then no polygamy occurs. I can have 5 women living under my roof, have children by all of them, and break no laws. I may call them my wives, insist the marriages have been sanctified by my church, but in the eyes of the law they are nothing but my baby mamas.
I never even thought about that, but you’re right, if the state isn’t on notice that a legal claim of marriage is being made then they have no business in it. I wonder how this bodes legally for the “baby mamas” when the estate of a “baby daddy” is disposed of? If there’s a disagreement over cuts of the pie they’re pretty much SOL.
The (more than one) polygamist societies that exist in Utah are usually more like communes that exist in closed/secret societies outside of city limits and, as long as they don’t blatantly violate State laws(criminal acts,etc.), then they get left alone.
As to the estate question, my understanding in these communities is that the church owns pretty much everything, so it’s not an issue about who gets what. I agree that the unmarried women are in a difficult spot, but typically (from what I’ve read) the church elders marry them off to other men pretty quickly, so their support is not an issue. As to children of the union, in the real world, they could put in a claim against the estate, but given that the estate is likely small or non-existent, there’s not much point in that.
The legal status of all the women and children notwithstanding, the difficulty that some government officials have with polygamy is when the women in the household who are not legally married put claims in for government assistance.
I echo the recommendation of Under the Banner of Heaven, because it explains the difficult political problems involved with going after polygamy. (Google “colorado city polygamy” and read about the Colorado City raids that backfired on the government. Interestingly, I googled “colorado city,” and google asked me, “Did you mean ‘colorado city polygamy’?” and put up those results as well. Quite smart, google is.)
So the government is put in a difficult position. On the one hand, many officials in government in the relevant areas (Utah, for example) are themselves the product of polygamous unions, if you go back a couple generations. Second, although we hear reports that the polygamous compounds are hotbeds of child abuse, incest, underage marriage, etc., it’s hard to get good evidence. So prosecution of these types of crimes falls into a kind of netherworld: on the one hand, we all want to protect children from sexual abuse; on the other hand, go back a couple generations, and our fore-mothers married quite young and (in pre-Union LDS areas) sometimes were part of plural marriages. So the constituency is torn. Also, rumor has it that if you question or challenge the authority in one of these groups, you are excommunicated. Which means, for the 16 and 14 year old girls in the article, they will never see their parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends again. That’s a hefty burden to carry; maybe they don’t want to testify against family.
So you find that the prosecutions tend to focus on things like welfare fraud. A man with seven women he claims as wives will be legally married only to the first one. The other six apply for welfare benefits, and fraudulently claim they do not know who the father is (so the government will not go after the father for support). The government can prosecute for that. Think about the mafia/mobster prosecutions for tax evasion – you can’t get 'em for their crimes, so find something you can get them for.
Search previous threads about this; it’s been discussed before, and some better points have been made. I can’t remember now what they are.
But if there is no legal “marriage” then having sex with a 14-17yo is illegal. Having sex with your daughter is also illegal in many places. Having sex with your 14 yo daughter should be very very illegal. And- that’s what is happening.
Also, we have to consider why is polygamy illegal? Why was/is homosexuality illegal? Why was/is it illegal to marry same sex partners?
There is no technical reason why any of these should be illegal*. It is simply the majority doesn’t want it. If a local prosecutor actually brings to trial a case against polygamist it could work its way up in the court and be ruled unconstitutional. By not prosecuting the crime of polygamy directly and other crimes such as welfare fraud prosecutors ensure that blatant offenders are still punished but the practice of polygamy is not ruled legal. Prosecutors commonly will charge for another crime if they feel like they don’t have enough evidence to prosecute the main crime (or the offendor got away with a crime). I can provide cites if I need to.
*Even though there is a relation between polygamy and sex with minors doesn’t mean that one is dependent on the other. Consuming alcohol is legal and there is a strong relation between alchohol and auto accidents but we don’t ban alcohol, just the two together.
Also, I am not advocating or supporting anything. Just trying to provide a factual post.
I was planning on posting a polygamy question sooner or latter. How can you -prove- polygamy, beyond applying for 2 marriage licenses at once, given that having a few girlfriends on the side or even siring a few bastards isn’t illegal?
They generally don’t prove Polygamy. In the very rare instances of an arrest, they are usually charged with welfare fraud, incest, child molestation, or sexual assault.