Schrödinger’s pardon: the difficulties of the Turing Bill

When the ‘Turing Bill’ – which would have granted pardons to people with historical convictions for consensual gay sex – was talked out by the government last week, there was confusion and misunderstanding about the ramifications. The practical problem is that the old law did not distinguish between non-consensual and consensual gay sex. James Chalmers explains the difference between disregarding a conviction and pardoning it, and how the ‘Sharkey amendment’ accepted by the government will differ from John Nicholson MP’s ‘Turing Bill’. He suggests another way of tackling the problem – but one which is unlikely to gain backing.