Alan Turing Law
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(Redirected from Turing's Law)
The Alan Turing Law, or just Turing's Law, refers to a provision of the Policing and Crime Act 2016 which gave an automatic pardon to deceased men convicted of offences of gross indecency or buggery provided both parties were 16 yrs or older and the activity was consenting. It takes its name from Alan Turing, who is thought to have killed himself after being convicted of gross indecency. The Act became law on 31 January 2017.[1]
The pardon provision was extended on 13 June 2023 to other offences no longer in law such as soliciting and importuning provided they would not be against the law if the activity took place today (which seems to suggest that offences in public toilets would not qualify for a pardon). It is debatable if Oscar Wilde would qualify for a posthumous pardon as some of the witnesses in his 1895 trial may have been under 16 years of age [2].
References
- ↑ Policing and Crime Bill.
- ↑ Most commentators automatically assume the pardon applied to Wilde's case. The posthumous pardon system does not individually examine cases
