Should adultery be a crime, one that can be prosecuted just like robbery or murder or rape or tax evasion or fraud?

Well, it's on the books in Oklahoma as being illegal, punishable by up to five years in prison. However, it's not exactly prosecuted, as my colleague Kimberly Lohman (K-Lo, as we call her) reported tonight.

Oklahoma County District Attorney acknowledged the law's existence but added (loosely paraphrased), "Hey, do you want me to prosecute adulterers, or would you like me to focus on killers?" Therein lies the rub.

As of 11 p.m., a survey question on koco.com asking people whether they believe adultery should be illegal was split down the middle, which surprised me. Even in Bible Belt Oklahoma, I expected the vast majority of people to say it should not be illegal.

First and foremost, I'd contend that where a law doesn't need to exist, it shouldn't. If one were to devise a litmus test for legislation, one might ask, "Does this really need to be legislated?"

On one hand, matters of adultery are matters of the heart. Love. Sex. The complexities of relationships are beyond the black-and-white scope of law.

On the other hand, marriage is a legal and moral concept, and both concepts -- in general -- are enforced through the rule of law. We received e-mails tonight from viewers who argued that violence would likely decrease significantly if laws against adultery would be enforced.

In my uneducated but perceptive opinion, the vast majority of murder-suicides are perpetrated by a man whose relationship or marriage is in trouble. It's hard to put a finger on the source of such trouble, but often a scorned white man decides to act out his rage against women by killing the woman he supposedly loves.

So, I'd submit that adultery is actually a serious social problem, and the response to this story seems to indicate that Oklahomans agree. However, I could identify many social problems with moralistic undertones, and while they could be legislated, it's highly impractical to do so.

Would police become nothing more than glorified private investigators?

Would wives entrap husbands by paying hotties to flirt with them, trying to lure them into a crime?

Heck, prosecute adultery, as crazy as it sounds, and it would push it underground much like prostitution was pushed away from the fringes of mainstream. It would also waste the time of hard-working officers and investigators.

It's downright silly to think adultery is illegal insomuch as it could be a prosecutable offense. On the other hand, husbands or wives could argue that they've been defrauded, losing out on money, livelihood and the company of children, not to mention mental damage -- and that's why we let civil courts sort it out.

Nevertheless, I support leaving adultery ON the books as being illegal, if for no other reason than to codify the seriousness of the contractual transgression of violating a marriage. In a civilized society, that should be codified.

However, I am also a novice student of sociology. As long as we have great looking women, available men, booze, free time, country music and air to breathe, we'll have cheatin'. I'd go so far as to say it's highly dangerous for any of us to judge anybody else who has cheated or been cheated on for any reason given the complexities of humanity.

That's not a cop out; it's reality. Not every marriage is sacred, even if we'd like to think it is or believe that the institution is in general. Heck, the argument could be made that too many marriages are granted far too easily to people in no position to make any sort of commitment.

But like legal judgments on adultery, that isn't practical either.

However, given the response to this story, a surprising response, possibly one whose arguments I'm not privy to, there is reason to believe there is at least nominal support for adultery prosecution.

If nothing else, it would make for wonderful reality TV.