Utah polygamy czar vows action
Utah has eliminated its "porn czar" position, but it still has a "polygamy czar" who promises more prosecutions soon.
Barton is after polygamists who take adolescent brides or cheat the welfare system, and he has spent the past 2 1/2 years painstakingly cultivating sources in their shadowy world. It hasn't been easy -- he is the state's only polygamy investigator, and there are about 30,000 Utahns living in polygamous families. [...]
Barton also credits the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping with opening some people's eyes to the issue. "Elizabeth Smart was taken as a wife against her will at age 15 and probably sexually assaulted. And the same thing happens every week to Utah girls in polygamist communities," he says. "They are just as much victims as Elizabeth Smart is."
The Attorney General's Office has neither the resources nor the desire to investigate bigamous relationships between consenting adults. Instead, its top polygamy priority has been prosecuting crimes against children. [...]
One former plural wife abhors the taking of underage brides but believes little can be done until key leaders of some polygamous communities agree to condemn the practice. Anne Wilde, who has co-authored a book advocating plural marriage between consenting adults, believes the state's resources would be better spent on trying to prevent polygamous marriages with young girls rather than punishing offenders.
"We're trying to educate our own community [about the issue]," says Wilde, who says only a small percentage of polygamists take underage brides. "To me, the choice of a marriage partner is one of the most important decisions a woman can make in her life. And to have that made for you by an older man just doesn't seem right."
This sounds to me like the right approach. Consenting adults should be allowed to freely pursue poly relationships if they wish. The problem with polygamy is the coercion. If every adult man needs two or more wives, marriageable women are obviously at a high premium; and too many girls born into polygamous communities end up being treated as sexual and reproductive chattel, with no real option to pursue other life paths.
