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	Historic Case: Law Should Protect Women and Children from Abuse Editorial Salt Lake Tribune September 27, 2007 http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_7018237 The successful prosecution of Warren Jeffs as an accomplice to rape marks the first time in recent Utah history that the prophet of a major polygamous sect has been convicted of a crime associated with the group's practices. In that sense it is historic. But it is important to remember that Jeffs was not brought to court because of his religion or even because of plural marriage. He was prosecuted because he abetted the rape of a 14-year-old girl by performing an illegal marriage between her and her 19-year-old cousin, then counseling her, when she protested her husband's sexual advances, to remain in this union, subservient to her husband, lest she lose eternal salvation. In short, she was coerced. In the wake of the Jeffs trial, her former husband also has been charged with rape. That is an appropriate answer to the question of how Jeffs could be prosecuted as an accomplice when the direct perpetrator was not charged. Under Utah law, a 14-year-old cannot give sexual consent if she is coerced. That is as it should be. The law should protect children from sexual abuse. The Jeffs case is similar to other recent high-profile prosecutions of polygamists. Most of these cases have not been about polygamy per se. They have been about abuse. Tom Green was convicted of rape for marrying a 13-year-old when he was 37. David Ortell Kingston was sent to prison for incest after he "married" his 16-year-old niece. John Daniel Kingston, her father, pleaded no contest to felony child abuse after he belt-whipped her when she tried to escape the incestuous union. These prosecutions were not religious persecution. They were about child abuse. Polygamy was a subtext, but these cases would have been justified whether they arose from conventional marriages or no marriages at all. However, polygamy is more than a subtext if you believe that child abuse is endemic to the cults that grow up around plural marriage. We suspect that polygamy is inherently coercive, especially to women, but women inside polygamy and some who have fled it have testified on both sides of the question. What we do know is that when child abuse or incest or welfare fraud occurs, regardless of the family or religious context, the state is justified in prosecuting these crimes and should do so. Protecting women and children from exploitation is a universal value.
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