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I'm a homosexual, and Mr. Turing is one of my heroes. The conviction should stand, not as a shame for Mr. Turing but for those who convicted him.

avar 14y ago
I think the conviction should stand because it's pretty ridiculous to go around pardoning dead people convicted under laws we now view as having been wrong. Where should it end? Should the UK start hunting down and posthumously pardoning some of the convicts it shipped off to other continents for petty crimes during the Victorian era? Unless you go and systematically posthumously pardon people how are you serving justice by only pardoning historical persons famous enough to have enough of a modern following to petition the modern-era government on their behalf?
- jeltz 14y ago
  I agree, but there has in the UK been at least one posthumous mass pardon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Act_2006#Pardon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Act_2006#Pardon
  - pbhjpbhj 14y ago
    Whilst these were, by that link, not really "pardons" in the legal sense there is another important difference. These represent a change in the material facts considered in the convictions (hence presumably if anything happened the convictions should really have been overturned; doing it the way they did probably avoided getting sued though?) - these people were shot for cowardice/desertion but it is now understood that they were suffering a mental health condition, ie shell-shock. So as far as precedent goes this doesn't appear relevant [to me] as in Turing's case it is a revisionist attitude to the moral underpinning of the law at the time that has changed things and not the material facts.
sumfin 14y ago
Agreed. A verbal bandage on an old hurt? Rather, work for civil rights now and in the future. Even apologizing for Turing's persecution seems silly, unless you are one those who 'outed' him or prosecuted him. You can't erase the past so easily, and why would you want to?
corin_ 14y ago
Same position as you, and I'd add that frankly I'd rather my government were spending their time on more important matters.
lutze 14y ago
This is a really good point, lets not airbrush history just because we're uncomfortable with it. Maybe that discomfort will remind us to be better people.

avar 14y ago

I think the conviction should stand because it's pretty ridiculous to go around pardoning dead people convicted under laws we now view as having been wrong. Where should it end? Should the UK start hunting down and posthumously pardoning some of the convicts it shipped off to other continents for petty crimes during the Victorian era? Unless you go and systematically posthumously pardon people how are you serving justice by only pardoning historical persons famous enough to have enough of a modern following to petition the modern-era government on their behalf?

jeltz 14y ago
I agree, but there has in the UK been at least one posthumous mass pardon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Act_2006#Pardon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Act_2006#Pardon
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  Whilst these were, by that link, not really "pardons" in the legal sense there is another important difference. These represent a change in the material facts considered in the convictions (hence presumably if anything happened the convictions should really have been overturned; doing it the way they did probably avoided getting sued though?) - these people were shot for cowardice/desertion but it is now understood that they were suffering a mental health condition, ie shell-shock. So as far as precedent goes this doesn't appear relevant [to me] as in Turing's case it is a revisionist attitude to the moral underpinning of the law at the time that has changed things and not the material facts.

sumfin 14y ago

Agreed. A verbal bandage on an old hurt? Rather, work for civil rights now and in the future. Even apologizing for Turing's persecution seems silly, unless you are one those who 'outed' him or prosecuted him. You can't erase the past so easily, and why would you want to?

corin_ 14y ago

Same position as you, and I'd add that frankly I'd rather my government were spending their time on more important matters.

lutze 14y ago

This is a really good point, lets not airbrush history just because we're uncomfortable with it. Maybe that discomfort will remind us to be better people.