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Man still has to declare 51-year-old buggery conviction

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by Pseudojim, Feb 16, 2010.

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  1. Pseudojim

    Pseudojim
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    http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/02/15/man-still-has-to-declare-51-year-old-buggery-conviction/

    A gay man who was convicted of buggery 51 years ago is fighting to clear his name and have the conviction removed from his criminal record.

    John Crawford, a retired butler from London, was convicted in 1959 aged 19 for having consensual sex with another man.

    He told the Guardian he made a confession to the crime after being held in a cell and beaten for a week.

    Although the law began to change in 1967, it was not until 2004 when gay people were given completely equal sexual rights.

    Mr Crawford said he discovered the conviction remained on the police national computer (PNC) when he applied for a job as volunteer at Wormwood Scrubs prison eight years ago.

    He told the newspaper: "I saw John Crawford. 1959. Charged on two counts of buggery. Since then, I've analysed my life and found out the amount of my jobs that I've lost because I've got a criminal record."

    Mr Crawford must mention the conviction every time he applies to do volunteer work. Although Hampshire police agreed to treat him as an "exceptional" case and delete his record from the PNC last month, he must still admit the conviction when applying to work with vulnerable people.

    He said: "What I want to do is apply for voluntary work and, when it comes to the box on the application form that says 'do you have a criminal record', I want to be able to say no."

    His lawyers have informed the justice secretary, Jack Straw, that the rules must be changed or they will initiate judicial review proceedings at the high court to challenge the Rehabilitation of Offenders Exceptions Order 1975.

    This means those working with vulnerable people must disclose their conviction history, even if the record is spent or deleted.

    They will argue that Mr Crawford's sexual orientation continues to be criminalised under the existing system and that it "condones" his original conviction.

    Last year, prime minister Gordon Brown made a formal posthumous apology to gay mathematician Alan Turing.

    Turing was convicted of homosexuality in the 1950s. He lost the right to continue his code-breaking work and subsequently killed himself after undergoing brutal hormone treatment.

    Some critics welcomed the apology but said the estimated 100,000 other British men who were convicted of homosexuality offences should also receive similar recognition.
     
    #1 Pseudojim, Feb 16, 2010
  2. Connor22

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    AWW that sucks, hope he gets out
     
    #2 Connor22, Feb 16, 2010
  3. Just Adam

    Just Adam
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    Equality wont exist here when so many see each other as so different. And i agree that saying he has to mention it shows despite what they say there must still be a record of the events and he is still being persecuted for it. When he mentions it at an inteview the damage is done as just a hint of conviction and sexual raises alarms. Gordon brown can go blow himself too, its fine saying some half assed apology but when u represent the system that did that injustice it takes more than a few words to put right the suffering of so many. Justice blind and sheep wark in the darkness.
     
    #3 Just Adam, Feb 16, 2010
  4. adam88

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    Glad to hear this but it should not have taken 57 years. Turing was a hero who probably shortened the war through his code breaking and computational contributions alone.

    EDIT: Back to your regularly scheduled thread. :slight_smile:
     
    #4 adam88, Feb 16, 2010
  5. padre411

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    There is a long way to go, and there are plenty of countries where homosexuality is a criminal if not capital offense. I am grateful to not live in one of those countries and thankful for the pioneers before me who have brought this about.
     
    #5 padre411, Feb 16, 2010
  6. dromadus

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    This was welcome news about Alan Turing which I had not heard before. Thanks

    While our gentle little revolution is well underway in lots of places in the world, it is not over yet here and any gains we have won in the past could always be reversed in the future. We still struggle in California for a right to marry. We still face criticism and condemnation from the pulpits of many organized religions and we have the weight of a history of oppression upon us still. Change in this is uneven.

    To insure that our space of time on this planet is not just a respite in the chain of crimes that have been waged against us, we need to keep vigilant and stay actively engaged. We cannot rest until everyone is free.

    Our best weapon is our constant visible presence as gay people, open, loving and free. People can give spite and hate so much more easily when they are ignorant of how many people in the same room with them, in their lives at home and at work are being hurt by their careless remarks.

    What has gotten us this far hasn't been demonstrations, hasn't been legal actions, hasn't been violence. It comes from standing up and saying: ME TOO !!!

    Thank you EC for this forum. ME TOO :thumbsup:
     
    #6 dromadus, Feb 16, 2010
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