I agree with you. Adultery in this day and age is treated too lightly. The shock to a person when it is revealed that a trusted spouse has committed adultery can be overwhelming. A simple review of many appellate opinions regarding murder reveals that many such killings arise out of adultery. Killing is real social harm directly caused by betrayal. Secondly, wide spread adulteries lead to a cynicism regarding peoples trustworthiness, and rightly so. Thirdly, adultery leads to the destruction of families and the failure to support children thus burdening the taxpayer. Fourthly, it leads to the spread of disease. Fifthly, the winking at adultery leads to a laxity towards law breaking. There can be no excuse for the behavior
The punishment of adultery became out of fashion due to problems of proof which reason when weighed against the harm occasioned by the widespread nature of the wrong is not sufficient reason to stop punishment. The punishment does not have to be savage, merely a bit of jail coupled with shameing