49,000 Men Posthumously Pardoned of Homosexual Crimes in United
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ing males over the males posthumously pardoned on January 49,000 Men Posthumously age of 21 in England 31st. Wilde was convicted in 1895 of gross Pardoned Of Homosexual and Wales in 1967, indecency with a male, and sentenced to in Northern Ireland two years in prison at hard labor. Wilde died Crimes In United Kingdom in 1982 (and in Scot- destitute in Paris in 1900. land in 1980). The he United Kingdom has posthumously age of consent for The buggery pardons also apply to women Tpardoned about 49,000 males who lawful homosexual because it was a non-gender specific crime. were convicted of consensual homosexual activity was reduced However, it isn’t known if any women were activity that is no longer considered crimi- to 18 in 1994. In actually convicted of buggery. nal. The pardons were included in the Polic- Oscar Wilde 2000 it was reduced ing and Crime Act 2017 that received Royal (dailymail.co.uk) to 16 to equalize the The pardons don’t Assent on January 31, 2017. People still age of consent for apply to convictions alive who were convicted of the affected heterosexual and homosexual activity. in Scotland, so the crimes can apply for a pardon. Scottish Parliament The movement for mass pardons arose after will have to sepa- The pardons were for males convicted of homosexual Alan Turing was granted a rately deal with his- two crimes that have been partially decrim- posthumous royal pardon by Queen Eliza- toric homosexual inalized in the United Kingdom (England, beth II in 2013, for his conviction in 1952 related prosecu- Wales and Northern Ireland, with the ex- for gross indecency with a 19-year-old tions. ception of Scotland). Those crimes were: male. Turing underwent “organo-therapy” – Alan Turing chemical castration – as an alternative to a A summary of the (dailymail.co.uk) ● Buggery (sodomy/anal sex) was crim- prison sentence. He died in 1954 from what UK’s Policing and inalized in 1533. The maximum penalty was ruled to be self-administered cyanide Crime Act 2017 is online at, was death until 1861, when it was re- poisoning. Turing was an English mathe- www.gov.uk/government/collections/poli duced to a maximum of life imprison- matician, computer scientist, and cryptana- cing-and-crime-bill. ment. lyst whose work breaking coded German Sources: ● Gross Indecency was made a crime in military messages is credited with shorten- 49,000 gay and bisexual men convicted of ancient sex the United Kingdom in 1885. It crimi- ing World War Two. crimes - including Oscar Wilde - to be posthumously nalized sexual activity other than sod- pardoned under new ‘Turing's Law’, Daily Mail (Lon- omy between two males. The maximum The pardoning provision of the Policing and don), January 31, 2017 penalty was two years in prison with or Crime Act 2017 is known as “Turing’s Sexual Offences Act 1967, Wikipedia.org without hard labor. Law.” Alan Turing, Wikipedia.org The two crimes were decriminalized for pri- Policing and Crime Act, www.Gov.UK, January 31, 2017 vate homosexual activity between consent- Playwright Oscar Wilde was among the chair to be a “vehi- Greene appealed. His lawyer argued that James Richard Greene’s cle” under Oregon’s ORS 801.385 specifically defines “pedestri- Conviction Tossed For DUII statute. Thus an” for purposes of the vehicle code, as when Greene was “any person afoot or confined in a wheel- Driving Motorized operating his wheel- chair.” Wheelchair While Drunk chair on the street he was driving a ve- On December 29, 2016 the Oregon Court of ames Richard Greene was acquitted by hicle. Appeals unanimously reversed Greene’s Jthe Oregon Court of Appeals on Decem- conviction and ordered his acquittal. The ber 29, 2016, of driving under the influence After a two day trial Court determined that when a wheelchair is of intoxicants while he was operating his Greene was con- in an area of a street intended for pedestri- victed by a jury in ans -- such as a crosswalk -- the operator is motorized wheelchair. James Richard Greene (Lincoln County, Oregon June 2013. Greene a pedestrian and not subject to Oregon’s On October 16, 2012 James Greene turned Sheriff’s Office) made a motion for a DUII law. It was undisputed by the prosecu- his motorized wheelchair from a sidewalk judgment of acquit- tion that Greene’s wheelchair was in a pe- onto a marked crosswalk in Lincoln Coun- tal. He didn’t contest the evidence estab- destrian crosswalk when he collided with ty, Oregon. The 56-year-old Greene then lished he was intoxicated. His motion was the truck. The Court ruled in State of drove his wheelchair into the side of a mov- based on the argument his wheelchair isn’t Oregon v. James Richard Greene, 283 Or. ing truck. Greene was injured and received a vehicle under Oregon’s DUII law, so the App. 120 (2016): medical care. The officer who arrived at the prosecution failed to prove he was driving while intoxicated. The judge denied “Here, the evidence viewed in the light scene determined Greene was intoxicated, most favorable to the state establishes and he was arrested. Greene’s motion, siding with the prosecu- tion’s argument that a motorized wheelchair that defendant left a sidewalk in his is a “vehicle” when on a street. motorized wheelchair and travelled in a Greene was charged with driving under the crosswalk. Accordingly, defendant was influence of intoxicants. His prosecution The judge sentenced Greene to pay a $1,500 a pedestrian and not a driver of a vehicle was based on the Lincoln County District for purposes of the DUII statutes. Attorney considering a motorized wheel- fine and suspended his driver’s license for three years. Greene cont. on page 15 JUSTICE DENIED: THE MAGAZINE FOR THE WRONGLY CONVICTED PAGE 14 ISSUE 67 - SPRING 2017.