Authors such as Alyssa Rower and Samantha Slark argue that there is a reason to legalize polygamy on the basis of regulation and oversight of the practice, legally protect polygamous partners and allow them to join the dominant society rather than forcing them to hide from it when a public situation arises. [16] [17] Polygamy is illegal in Mexico, although there are a few cases there. In the Federal Penal Code, there is a section titled „Against Personal Status and Bigamy.“ The Mormon practice of plural marriage was officially introduced by Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter-day Saint movement, on July 12, 1843. Since polygamy was illegal in the state of Illinois,[24] it was practiced in secret during Smith`s lifetime. During the Nauvoo era, from 1839 to 1844, several Mormon leaders (including Smith, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball) several women, but all Mormon leaders who publicly taught polygamous doctrine were disciplined. For example, Hyram Brown was excommunicated on February 1, 1844. [25] In May 1844, Smith declared, „What a thing it is for a man to be accused of adultery and to have seven wives, if I can find only one.“ [26] Beginning in 2008, some conservative Muslims in the United States began polygamous relationships, in which each had one wife with a legal marriage and others with only religious marriages. [22] At that time, a phenomenon of polygamy was occurring among black Muslims in Philadelphia. [23] In some African countries, polygamy is illegal under civil law, but still permitted under customary law, where actions traditionally accepted by a particular culture are considered legal. This arguably confusing loophole leads to two types of marriages: „civil“ marriages and „habitual“ or „religious“ marriages, and allows countries like Liberia, Malawi, and Sierra Leone to allow and even support polygamous marriages without formally recognizing them. Polygamy is the term used to describe a marriage between three or more people.

Polygamy contrasts with monogamy, which is a marriage between only two people. While monogamy is the standard approach to marriage in Europe and America, polygamy is common in much of Africa and the Middle East, and is also observed in parts of Southeast Asia. Ultimately, however, according to Pew Research in 2020, „only about 2% of the world`s population lives in polygamous households.“ Polygamy is illegal and criminalized in all countries in North and South America, including all 50 U.S. states. However, in February 2020, the Utah House of Representatives and Senate reduced the sentence for consensual polygamy, which was previously classified as a felony, to about one misdemeanor. The practice of informal polygamy among fundamentalist groups raises several legal issues. It has been considered difficult to prosecute polygamists for bigamy, largely because they are rarely officially married under state law. In the absence of evidence that the alleged perpetrators have multiple formal or customary marriages, these groups are simply subject to laws against adultery or illegal cohabitation – laws that are not universally enforced because they also criminalize other behaviors that are otherwise socially sanctioned. However, some „fundamentalist“ polygamists marry off girls before the age of consent or commit fraud in obtaining social and other forms of public assistance.

In 1953, the state of Arizona investigated and searched a group of 385 people in the polygamous settlement of Hildale and Colorado City, which stretched across the Utah-Arizona border. All the men were arrested and the children were placed with foster families. A judge eventually declared the action illegal, and all returned to the community, which now numbers about 10,000 people. [40] As a crime, polygamy is often synonymous with bigamy (marrying one spouse when he or she is already married to another). Waddoup`s decision amounted to a „victory not for polygamy, but for privacy in America,“ said family attorney Jonathan Turley. Polygamy is the general and neutral term for any marriage between three or more people. Polygyny is a specific term used to describe a marriage involving a husband and at least two wives. It is by far the most common (and commonly legal) form of polygamy. Polyandry is a specific term used to describe marriages between a woman and at least two husbands. The Muslim acceptance of polygamy is illustrated by the fact that polygamy is more common in the Middle East and North and Central Africa, the regions of the world with the highest concentrations of Muslims, and illegal in most other regions.

In addition, several countries recognize polygamous marriages between Muslims, but not between practitioners of other religions. Utah criminalized the practice of polygamy in 1935 after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly rejected it in 1890, 1904, and 1910. Many convictions followed. Since the 1960s, prosecutions for polygamy have been rare. Prosecutors included Robert D. Foster, Steve Bronson, Mark Easterday, Thomas Green and Rodney Holm. The latter two have been challenged in the state Supreme Court. Both failed. Yet Utah was reluctant to prosecute, citing a lack of resources, the difficulty of obtaining convincing evidence, and the understanding that any prosecution would trigger an inevitable appeal to higher courts.

The 2003 Supreme Court Lawrence v. The Texas decision concluded that all adult, consensual and non-commercial sexual activity is protected, weakening any attempt to persecute families for private residential or sexual agreements that did not seek the state`s imprimatur. Some sects that practice or at least sanction polygamy include the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), The Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Apostolic United Brethren.