Alan Turing 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 legislation was an extension of the 2012 Disregards and Pardons scheme which was launched to allow people historically convicted for consensual same-sex activities to have those convictions deleted from official records.
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 (so offences in public toilets would not qualify for a pardon as they would still be crimes today). 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]. In 2023 the pardons scheme was also expanded to include women and more former military personnel affected by the pre-2000 ban on gay and lesbian service members (see Armed Forces).In 2012, the government's Disregards and Pardons scheme was launched to allow people historically convicted for consensual same-sex activities to have those convictions deleted from official records [3].
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
- ↑ Under provisions in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, men with historical convictions for consensual gay sex may apply to the Home Office to have their convictions disregarded (i.e., deleted, or where not possible, annotated) and pardoned. The offences covered by the legislation are offences under Section 12 (buggery) and Section 13 (gross indecency) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, as well as the equivalent military service offences and corresponding offences under earlier legislation. Where eligible, previous cautions, warnings and reprimands for the same offences can be considered