Cultic Studies Review
News Summaries: Polygamy

Vol. 1, No. 3, 2002

News Summaries: September 28, 2002

Polygamy

Activists Say Polygamy Abuses Unchecked

Anti-polygamy activists from Utah, Arizona, and Canada, at an unprecedented meeting in Zion National Park in August, criticized the state of Utah for not doing enough to deal with “Utah’s dirty little secret,” and for allowing child abuse, welfare fraud, and sexual abuse to continue unchecked in polygamous communities. The activists say that Utah’s official polygamy investigator, Ron Barton, appointed two years ago, is simply political cover for a state that really does not want to delve into the issue.

The activists, who are planning a report to the UN Commission on Human Rights, have also recruited former “sister wives” to help prosecute a class action suit against a polygamous group that arranges marriages of girls as young as 13. The activists call polygamous leaders “the American Taliban,” who subjugate women through plural marriage.

There are about 40,000 polygamists living in polygamist communities in the western U.S. and Canada, but law enforcement, especially in rural areas, is reluctant to get involved in what they see as a matter of religious choice or lifestyle, according to state officials. And women and girls are reluctant to come forward to report abuse. Investigator Barton acknowledges the difficulties of prosecuting in such an environment, but Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says that the state is working hard to clean up what he calls “a much more wide-ranging problem than we had thought.” The recent conviction of polygamist Tom Green shows this, said Shurtleff. On the other hand, the legislature in 2001 killed a bill that would have punished parents who allow unlawful marriages such as underage or plural unions. An activist said that he didn’t think Utah could effectively tackle the problem without outside help because “everyone is too connected to polygamy.” About 70% of Utah is Mormon, as are more than 90% of the state’s elected officials. (Julie Cart, Los Angeles Times, Internet, 8/18/02)

Polygamy

News Summaries - Polygamy

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