Ed Miliband proposes 'Turing's Law' to pardon convicted gay men
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...d-gay-men.html
Ed Miliband proposes 'Turing's Law' to 'pardon' convicted gay men
Labour leader wants convictions of gay men under historic indecency laws to be struck off
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daily Telegraph
Ed Miliband will secure posthumous 'pardons' for gay men convicted under historic indecency laws, Labour announced today. If elected, Mr Miliband will introduce legislation to allow the family and friends of deceased men punished for consensual relationships to have the convictions disregarded.
The ‘Turing’s Law’ will be named in honour of
Alan Turing, the mathematician who broke the wartime Enigma Codes. He was convicted of gross indecency in 1952, and killed himself with cyanide two years later. He received a
posthumous Royal Pardon in 2013. However,
campaigners have urged the Government to go further and pardon all 49,000 men convicted under the law, which was used widely in the 1980s only fully repealed in 2003.
At present, individuals can apply to the Home Office for convictions for homosexual acts to be disregarded under the Protection of Freedom Act 2012. However, there is no redress available for those who have since died. Labour propose extending the act to allow applications from family members to make applications for disregards. Under the process, which falls short of a full pardon, the Home Secretary can order that convictions for consensual gay offence are treated as "spent". Criminal records are deleted or annotated, and the convictions will not be disclosed in Criminal Records Bureau checks or in court proceedings.
Regardless of what you think of those laws this is stupidity beyond belief: Milipede is pandering to the minority vote yet again which isn't surpising given how the Scottish people and the working classes are abandoning Labour like an Ebola vial dropped in a crowded room.
The men convicted under those laws were guilty: the merits of the law are another and different issue. Under this sort of retrospective thinking, we may aswell open up the history books and pardon those convicted of witchcraft, undermining the King via the Papacy and even with tiny laws which have changed which people were convicted under but which have since changed which means they wouldn't be prosecuted today. IE if your Grandad broke planning laws when he got his garden wall built 20 years ago and was taken to court over it but since planning laws have been relaxed, is he then entitled to a pardon?
Thoughts?
