Alan Turing pardoned

[mr friendly guy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/worl ... Queen.html

Alan Turing granted Royal pardon by the Queen
Alan Turing, the World War Two codebreaker who later killed himself after receiving a criminal conviction for his homosexuality, is granted a Royal pardon by the Queen

Alan Turing, the wartime codebreaker, has been granted a posthumous pardon by the Queen for his criminal conviction for homosexuality.
Dr Turing, who helped Britain to win World War II, killed himself after receiving the conviction in 1952.
He has now been granted a pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy after a high-profile campaign supported by tens of thousands of people including Professor Stephen Hawking.

David Cameron said: "Alan Turing was a remarkable man who played a key role in saving this country in World War Two by cracking the German Enigma code.

"His action saved countless lives. He also left a remarkable national legacy through his substantial scientific achievements, often being referred to as the father of modern computing."

Dr Turing, a "genius" mathematician, was a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, where he invented the machine which cracked the Enigma codes used by German U-boats in the Atlantic. Historians believe his work may have shortened the war by two years.
However, despite the importance of his work Dr Turing was convicted of gross indecency for having a relationship with a 19-year-old.
At that time homosexuality was illegal, and he chose to be chemically castrated with injections of female hormones rather than go to jail. He committed suicide two years later.
In 2009 Gordon Brown, the then Labour Prime Minister, made a public apology for Mr Turing's treatment, but at the time ministers said it was not possible to overturn his conviction for gross indecency.
Last year ministers rejected a motion which would have helped to clear the way for Mr Turing to be granted Parliamentary Pardon because Mr Turing was "properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offence".
The government dropped its opposition to a similar motion this year, but has decided to request a Royal pardon for Dr Turing.
Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, said: “Dr Alan Turing was an exceptional man with a brilliant mind. His brilliance was put into practice at Bletchley Park during the Second World War where he was pivotal to breaking the ‘Enigma’ code, helping to end the war and save thousands of lives.
“Dr Turing deserves to be remembered and recognised for his fantastic contribution to the war effort and his legacy to science. A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man.”
The pardon states: "Now know ye that we, in consideration of circumstances humbly represented to us, are graciously pleased to grant our grace and mercy unto the said Alan Mathison Turing and grant him our free pardon posthumously in respect of the said convictions."

A royal pardon is rare, and usually only granted where a person has been found innocent of an offence and a request has been made by a family member.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Uniquely on this occasion a pardon has been issued without either requirement having been met, reflecting the exceptional nature of Alan Turing's achievements."

Iain Stewart, Conservative MP for Milton Keynes South, who was involved in the campaign to secure a royal pardon, said: "Alan Turing was an incredibly important figure in our history. He was the father of computer science and the originator of the dominant technology of the late 20th century.
"He made a huge impact on the world he lived in and left a legacy for the world of today and tomorrow. This royal pardon is a just reward for a man who was stripped of his honour, his work, and the loyalty he showed his nation.”

Good.

[Stormin]

Could you possibly imagine where the world would be if people like him hadn't been hounded to death for such stupid things and had been able to continue their works?

The pardon is a nice token gesture, and probably the only decent thing that was left able to be done at this point except to remind everyone to not let this shit happen again.

[Crazedwraith]

This rubs me the wrong way.

A royal pardon is rare, and usually only granted where a person has been found innocent of an offence and a request has been made by a family member.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Uniquely on this occasion a pardon has been issued without either requirement having been met, reflecting the exceptional nature of Alan Turing's achievements."

It's only because of his exceptional acheivements, that we recognise that his conviction for homosexuality was wrong? Rather than the fact he was convicted under an unjust law? Yeah, if you were homosexual and not a great mind, it was totally right to wreck your life!

Problematic wording or not though, it's still better than him not being pardoned.

[Purple]

Took them long enough.

[Wing Commander MAD]

Took them long enough.

Seconded, though I suppose late is better than never. That said, I wander how much of this is the Queen and the country trying to save face in the eyes of history rather than any true acceptance of wrong doing on their part.

[Dr Roberts]

This rubs me the wrong way.

A royal pardon is rare, and usually only granted where a person has been found innocent of an offence and a request has been made by a family member.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Uniquely on this occasion a pardon has been issued without either requirement having been met, reflecting the exceptional nature of Alan Turing's achievements."

It's only because of his exceptional acheivements, that we recognise that his conviction for homosexuality was wrong? Rather than the fact he was convicted under an unjust law? Yeah, if you were homosexual and not a great mind, it was totally right to wreck your life!

Problematic wording or not though, it's still better than him not being pardoned.

The thing is under the way the law works here it is you have to be found innocent of the offense regardless of whether or not the law is just or not. Alan Turing was guilty and using the traditional use of pardoning isn't eligible even though whoever wrote the law should be shot. Of course, people often get pardoned of crimes if they have made a significant contribution to humanity. This is what has happened here. The law has been recognized as unjust for years.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Took them long enough.

Seconded, though I suppose late is better than never. That said, I wander how much of this is the Queen and the country trying to save face in the eyes of history rather than any true acceptance of wrong doing on their part.

Does it matter? Honestly, the two are extensionally equivalent. If someone is afraid they will be judged poorly by history, they generally think that the thing they are being judged for was the wrong thing to do.

Incidentally, he was also a biologist. He may have fathered modern computer science, but in developmental biology, his equations and the principle that underlies them are still used to model many developmental processes that rely on interacting chemical gradients used as intercellular signals. Like Dorsal/Ventral and Anterior/Posterior morphogenesis.

Read: The reason you have a head region and an ass region? Yeah. The reason was derived by Turing and confirmed later in experiment. Hox genes just determine what goes in those various regions.

[Wing Commander MAD]

Does it matter? Honestly, the two are extensionally equivalent. If someone is afraid they will be judged poorly by history, they generally think that the thing they are being judged for was the wrong thing to do.

No, though I can easily see someone, particularly the figureheads of nations, being concerned with how history views them (or their nation) overall and thus publicly admitting wrong doing in a particular instance without actually believing that what they did was wrong if it means avoiding tarnishing their legacy in their eyes. In the case of national figureheads/leaders I actually would expect them to do this as a matter of course, unless their ego is such that it is greater than their long term concerns over such things as legacy. Then again I may be a bit more pessimistic than you.

[Sea Skimmer]

The thing is under the way the law works here it is you have to be found innocent of the offense regardless of whether or not the law is just or not. Alan Turing was guilty and using the traditional use of pardoning isn't eligible even though whoever wrote the law should be shot. Of course, people often get pardoned of crimes if they have made a significant contribution to humanity. This is what has happened here. The law has been recognized as unjust for years.

A new law could easily be passed to change the old law in this case, and remove all convictions. That would be a worthy effort. Nothing stops changing any British law via vote of a parliament.

The bonus part is all the time times UK security actually was compromised because Soviet spies could easily threaten to out gays, and said gays knew they would in fact go to prison if outed. Four or five different cases that we even know of as I recall, but it may have happened in others still secret in the archives of the KGB. This whole pardon effort remains a farce, an attempt to conveniently wallpaper over history.

[Kitsune]

The thing is under the way the law works here it is you have to be found innocent of the offense regardless of whether or not the law is just or not. Alan Turing was guilty and using the traditional use of pardoning isn't eligible even though whoever wrote the law should be shot. Of course, people often get pardoned of crimes if they have made a significant contribution to humanity. This is what has happened here. The law has been recognized as unjust for years.

I am pretty sure Queen Victoria signed them once the laws against female homosexuality were removed. . . .
Not because she was a feminist but because she could not believe that women could do that sort of thing.

[Kitsune]

I just found this

50,000 men convicted of Alan Turing’s ‘gross indecency’ offense may apply to be pardoned
LGBTI activists have demanded 50,000 men living with Turing-era 'gross indecency' convictions be pardoned, with one activist requesting an inquest into Turing's cause of death to rule out death by special forces
24 December 2013 | By Jean Paul Zapata

After gay math genius and war hero Alan Turing has been posthumously pardoned for then-criminal homosexuality, LGBTI activists are calling for apologies and pardons for the 50,000 men with the same convictions.

London-based activist Peter Tatchell and gay rights organization Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) released statements criticizing the UK government for not apologizing or pardoning the 15,000 men still alive who were convicted under the same ‘gross indecency’ offense as Turing.

Tatchell also wants the government to go a step further than their pardon: He claims the British Secret Service has not been completely ruled out as suspects in Turing’s death, and so wants an inquest into his death.

Turing is credited with helping Allied forces during WWII using his code-breaking skills to infiltrate enemy military intelligence.

He allegedly committed suicide via cyanide poisoning at the age of 41 in 1954, two years after being convicted of ‘gross misconduct’ of same-sex behavior with another man.

At the time, homosexuality was still a crime in Britain. Instead of jail time, Turing opted for female hormone treatment, otherwise known as chemical castration.

Some LGBTI groups today believe the same pardon granted to Turing should be passed down to the remaining men still convicted of a non-violent crime that is no longer illegal.

The UK Home Office told Gay Star News the remaining 50,000 convictions could be reconsidered by submitting a formal application: ‘The government has taken concrete action to allow those affected by this to apply for their convictions to be disregarded and would encourage anyone affected to apply to have these records deleted or disregarded and guarantee that all applications will be considered carefully.'

A UK Home Office representative said Turing was pardoned because an application was submitted on his behalf, and Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said considering Turing’s role in ‘helping to end the war and save thousands of lives…A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man.’

PTT secretary George Broadhead said in a press release: ‘As a gay atheist Alan Turing is a Humanist hero and a pardon is long overdue. However, I agree with other LGBT activists that it’s wrong that the many other men convicted of exactly the same offence are not even being given an apology, let alone a pardon’.

While the possibility exists for conviction pardons on decriminalized offenses, The UK Home Office told GSN the government would be responding to Tatchell’s inquest demand in due course, as authorities have not been contacted.

Tatchell calls the original inquest into Turing’s death ‘inadequate’ and ‘perfunctory,’ claiming the apple Turing laced with cyanide that caused Turing’s death was never tested for cyanide.

‘Although there is no evidence that Turing was murdered by state agents, the fact that this possibility has never been investigated is a major failing.

‘Turing was convicted under the same ‘gross indecency’ law that sent Oscar Wilde to prison in 1895,’ Tatchell adds.

‘The security services would have been very fearful that Turing was vulnerable to blackmail and anxious that he might pass information to the Soviets…’

‘In this frenzied homophobic atmosphere, all gay men were regarded as security risks - open to blackmail at a time when homosexuality was illegal and punishable by life imprisonment. Doubts were routinely cast on their loyalty and patriotism. Turing would have fallen under suspicion.’

Applications to have convictions of decriminalized sexual offenses revised can be accessed on the Home Office website.

[Dr Roberts]

The thing is under the way the law works here it is you have to be found innocent of the offense regardless of whether or not the law is just or not. Alan Turing was guilty and using the traditional use of pardoning isn't eligible even though whoever wrote the law should be shot. Of course, people often get pardoned of crimes if they have made a significant contribution to humanity. This is what has happened here. The law has been recognized as unjust for years.

I am pretty sure Queen Victoria signed them once the laws against female homosexuality were removed. . . .
Not because she was a feminist but because she could not believe that women could do that sort of thing.

Exactly the queen believed they had to be innocent.

[Wicked Pilot]

I for some reason always assumed he was pardoned and this was cleared up decades ago. Wow, but I guess better late than never.

[mr friendly guy]

I for some reason always assumed he was pardoned and this was cleared up decades ago. Wow, but I guess better late than never.

Gordon Brown did apologised for his treatment a few years back which may have contributed to the confusion. An apology even one from the PM isn't quite the same as a pardon though.

[Thanas]

Too late, too little for Turing and even less so for the hundreds of thousands of gay people who had to live with this over their head.

[Gandalf]

A royal pardon is rare, and usually only granted where a person has been found innocent of an offence and a request has been made by a family member.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Uniquely on this occasion a pardon has been issued without either requirement having been met, reflecting the exceptional nature of Alan Turing's achievements."

Apparently retroactive justice only applies to well known victims of injustice. Is there an election around the corner or something?

[The Xeelee]

A royal pardon is rare, and usually only granted where a person has been found innocent of an offence and a request has been made by a family member.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Uniquely on this occasion a pardon has been issued without either requirement having been met, reflecting the exceptional nature of Alan Turing's achievements."

Apparently retroactive justice only applies to well known victims of injustice. Is there an election around the corner or something?

Can you not read the thread where this has already been pointed out and discussed?

[Channel72]

Whatever. Better late than never. I find it sweetly satisfying that our entire 21st century software infrastructure is founded on a particularly fucking brilliant homosexual.

Code: Select all

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
  printf("RIP Alan...\n");
}