S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor Amos Guiora discussed recent FLDS related court decisions in a story titled, “Polygamist Cult Found Guilty of Violating Civil Rights: Federal court verdict that FLDS officials discriminated against non-believers could be a final blow for the mormon sect.”
Amos Guiora, a law professor at the University of Utah who has studied the FLDS, says it’s partly because of the political blowback caused by the 1953 raid, when Arizona law enforcement took 263 children into custody and arrested every polygamist in town. Pictures of children crying as they were separated from their mothers sparked outcry across the country and ultimately cost then Arizona Governor Howard Pyle reelection.
“It takes a long time to build these cases,” Guiora says. “You have to have people who are willing to talk, but I know that for years there were people talking, and they couldn’t get law enforcement to listen.”