Alan Turing granted posthumous royal pardon

[white rabbit]

Better late than never, I suppose, but good news.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/24/enigma-codebreaker-alan-turing-royal-pardon

 

[1%er]

Does that mean he is still guilty but forgiven or is there more to it than that?

 

[marty21]

better late than never - will they be doing the same for the thousands of men who were also convicted of the same 'crime' ?

 

[bi0boy]

Better late than never

Nope: http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/royal-pardon-for-codebreaker-alan-turing.318739/

 

[Santino]

If you pardon someone you still think they did something wrong.

 

[1%er]

If you pardon someone you still think they did something wrong.

I looked it up and it says "A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the cancellation of the relevant penalty" it doesn't say it overturns or removes the original conviction.

 

[Corax]

I looked it up and it says "A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the cancellation of the relevant penalty" it doesn't say it overturns or removes the original conviction.

Indeed.

Nice piece on that here:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/24/alan-turing-pardon-wrong-gay-men

 

[1%er]

Indeed.

Nice piece on that here:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/24/alan-turing-pardon-wrong-gay-men

Thanks for that, it goes to the heart of my asking the question.

 

[Favelado]

Oh thank you your Majesty! How gracious!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Oh thank you your Majesty! How gracious!

I've seen royal pardons in old files before and the wording is ridiculous. I presume examples are in the public domain so worth having a look. Talk about florid.

 

[bi0boy]

Pretty dull nowadays: http://cryptome.org/2013/12/turing-pardon.pdf

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Pretty dull nowadays: http://cryptome.org/2013/12/turing-pardon.pdf

God that's dull! The old ones are superbly over the top, complete with official big red wax seal - presumably the royal seal or a state one - not sure.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Pretty dull nowadays: http://cryptome.org/2013/12/turing-pardon.pdf

To all to whom it these Presents may come

All the presents?

 

[bi0boy]

God that's dull! The old ones are superbly over the top, complete with official big red wax seal - presumably the royal seal or a state one - not sure.

This is the most epic one, pardoning everyone for everything (except treason, buggery, any crime to do with bridges etc etc )

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47454

 

[SpookyFrank]

It is shocking to realise that there are still people alive today who were unjustly criminalised in their youth, and who have carried the stain of a criminal record, as a sex offender, through almost their entire adult lives.

And some of them have recently been rounded up by police and forced to give DNA samples, despite the repeal of the laws under which they were convicted. A posthumous pardon of one man does look rather hollow in the light of that despicable fiasco.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Pretty dull nowadays: http://cryptome.org/2013/12/turing-pardon.pdf

This is an example of one I found, and the wording seems the same. But the format was much nicer in the olden days - printed on beautiful thick paper, presumably designed not to deteriorate in the decades it would spend living on a file somewhere.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

I suppose if you're a queen no-one tells you to curb the rogue capitalisation.

 

[KeeperofDragons]

It may well be better late than never but how about all the others that were convicted & gaoled over the years.

 

[CyberRose]

So if you were convicted of the 'crime' of being gay in the past you need to have done something to make your mark to get a pardon?

 

[KeeperofDragons]

So if you were convicted of the 'crime' of being gay in the past you need to have done something to make your mark to get a pardon?

And be deceased

 

[Nine Bob Note]

That next-to-last paragraph looks like a fucking keyword cloud.

 

[friendofdorothy]

nearly cried when I heard this. Doubt queenie will ever pardon all the other men who suffered and struggled and died for their love.

What a waste of a brilliant mind and national asset. It's still all too late for Mr Turing.

 

[frogwoman]

isn't it a bit of an insult? surely an apology to his family would be better? a pardon is still implying what he did was a crime but it wasn't, he was just gay

 

[Nine Bob Note]

nearly cried when I heard this. Doubt queenie will ever pardon all the other men who suffered and struggled and died for their love.

What a waste of a brilliant mind and national asset. It's still all too late for Mr Turing.

Locking their computers away at the end of WW2 as military secrets and allowing the computer revolution to take place instead in America was a waste of national assets.

I'm afraid I couldn't much give a shit about any royal pardons. The guy's dead, those responsible for persecuting him are dead. Society at the time were cunts towards gayers and his conviction stands as testament to that.

 

[danny la rouge]

Fuck the Queen.

 

[white rabbit]

As a gesture for the wrong done against him, I think it's to be applauded. I don't think it's possible to retroactively unmake a law, and it's often assumed that illegality and immorality is the same. This is merely a legal issue.

 

[Frances Lengel]

Fuck the Queen.

Up the arse.

 

[shagnasty]

Do the convictions for homosexual activity stay on the books as a crime record

 

[friendofdorothy]

isn't it a bit of an insult? surely an apology to his family would be better?

Does he have any surviving family?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Do the convictions for homosexual activity stay on the books as a crime record

Some were struck off a while back - I can't remember the details now but it was to erase the convictions of those who wouldn't be convicted today. It was in essence re-writing history. So it clearly can be done, and it is a political decision.