Was Prosecuting Alan Turing a Mistake?

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Tim,

The logical extension would be to go even further and pardon every other person ever convicted under a law no longer on the statute books!

Cheers,

Sid

[HFK]

Hello,
Prosecuting him was not a mistake if he was guilty. And apparently he was guilty.
Regards, Harry

[Sid Guttridge]

..........by the standards of his and his prosecutors times.

[LWD]

Indeed if there was a "mistake" I think a more credible argument can be made for the law being the mistake and not the prosection. Now whether clemancy should have been shown at the time is another issue.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi LWD,

Repeal of such laws in the 1960s has effectively meant that history, as it now stands, has, indeed, judged them a mistake.

However, perhaps an even bigger mistake would have been to undermine the rule of law by ignoring its provisions at the time Turing was charged. The rule of law is important to everyone, not just minority groups and, in bringing the prosecution it might be argued that his prosecutors were acting for the greater good, if at his personal expense.

Cheers,

Sid.

[JonS]

However, perhaps an even bigger mistake would have been to undermine the rule of law by ignoring its provisions at the time

I'm not so sure about that. IMO there's nothing that undermines the rule of law quite as much as its blind application without consideration of circumstances, compassion, or discretion.

Which is /not/ to say that Turning should have gone free just because while others charged under the same law were left to rot.