Labour Backs 'turing Law' To Quash Historical Gay Convictions

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31707197

What do we all think about this ?

I for one, think that all previous convictions should be pardoned. If it can be done for a nationally important figure such as Alan Turing, I can't see any reason to let all other convictions stand.

[ichkeria]

Yes. Turing was a great man but it makes no sense to pardon him and no one else because that suggests he is not really being pardoned at all but merely having his offence overlooked because of who he was. Which is just as retarded at the original conviction

[youngmafbog]

Always difficult this sort of thing.

There will be many cases where homosexuality was the only cause of the conviction, however there will be others that include lurid behavoir in public place or dare I even say it underage.

As I say, difficult en-masse.

[Peter Pedant]

You should all get a grip on yourself and agree that what is done is done.

Turing was convicted of sexual offences ( OK it was the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1884) and there is no point in unconvicting each time the law changes

It is historical ( and probably NOT like in Imitation Games )

Are we gonna pardon the heretics that each side burnt 1405- 1558 ?
because we think it is barbaric now ?

You should only pardon people if they havent done what was complained about

[Baldric]

Way back in the late 70's I was done for speeding, I think it was 40+ in an rural 30 limit, not a built up area.
That stretch of road is now a 50 limit so,
Should I have my fine refunded?
Should I be recompensed for the financial penalty imposed via my insurance over the following 3 or 4 years?
And should that apply to anyone else done at that time?

[mikey4444]

I somewhat reluctantly agree with you ymb. ( this is twice now, in as many days ! )

But I think they should be pardoned anyway, as it would show that the persecution of gay people is now completely unacceptable to the minority of bigots that we still have in Britain.

[mikey4444]

PP...so do you agree that Turing should not have been pardoned then ?

[jim360]

Pardoning does no good to dead people, really. It's just about how we feel about it. But Turing was already completely rehabilitated way before an official pardon, and by extension so are all other people convicted under homosexuality laws. Whether or not they are "officially" criminals seems to be a matter for pedants rather than something that actually matters in practice.

That said, once you pardon one you really ought to be pardoning all of them -- or none at all. And then indeed why stop with just homosexuality? Plenty of other totally broken laws have led to unjust convictions.

[Retrochic]

Why pardon someone who is dead and was in fact doing something illegal at the time? Doing this will open the flood gates for other things that were illegal at one time but no longer are -oh and don't even mention the compensation claims for 'wrongful conviction'. Its nothing more than a pre-election carrot and they are going to have to do a lot better than that.

[mikey4444]

Retrochic...I am not sure this is a pre-election carrot, as the petition has been gathered by Turing's family. dave hasn't turned his back on it either, so its not really a party-political issue.

[sp1814]

I support the idea too, but am willing (and would welcome) concrete arguments against the proposal, because I think that this is one of those issues that can be argued one way or the other.

[ichkeria]

I agree with the view "Where do you stop"
But in that case Turing's pardon should be rescinded.
And I cannot see that happening

[jackthehat]

I would argue against giving a posthumous pardon for Turing, for reasons I have given before.

However, I would be in favour of expunging the criminal records of men alive today who suffered similarly under those pernicious laws.

[jno]

off topic, mikey, but I see Rolf has lost his CBE

[jno]

divebuddy, no, surely that's having your conviction quashed? Pardons are for people who did do it.

[mikey4444]

JNO....yes I saw that earlier this afternoon...about b****y time !

[ToraToraTora]

I'm am a huge admirer of Turing and probably owe my living to him today, he truly is the father of computing and in his case I have no real objection to a pardon but I do worry where the precident leads. In these enlightened times we see many attitudes of the past as incomprehensible but we cannot go back in time and pardon every transgressor of laws that are no longer in force.

[ludwig]

I think it's a bit pointless. For it to be done fairly you'd have to automatically pardon everyone that's ever been convicted of some crime that's no longer considered a crime, and then keep doing that going forward.

So for instance if certain drugs are decriminalised at some point, you automatically pardon everyone that's ever been convicted of possessing\dealing that drug. That won't happen, so why single out a particular law or particular person.

[sp1814]

Are we all sure we're talking about the same thing?

There's a pardon, and then there's having the conviction wiped from your records.

Aren't the two different?