Can A Judge Order Celibacy?

Legal scholars are questioning the punishment doled out to a convicted rapist by an Idaho judge. The judge ordered that a 19-year-old man serve five to 15 years in prison for statutory rape, but suspended that sentence for a one-year rider program. If the man, Cody Duane Scott Herrera, completes the program, he will be released on probation, which requires celibacy until marriage. Judge Randy Stoker said he saw the need for the celibacy condition after Herrera told presentence investigators he’s had 34 sexual partners. “If you’re ever on probation with this court, a condition of that will be you will not have sexual relations with anyone except who you’re married to, if you’re married,” Stoker told Herrera. But that condition “infringes on [Herrera’s] constitutional rights,” according to Shaakirrah R. Sanders, associate professor at the University of Idaho College of Law. “I think if he appealed, he would win.”