WATCH: Law to overturn historic convictions for homosexuality under consideration

Saturday 04 May 2024

A law which overturns historic convictions for acts of homosexuality could be introduced in Jersey, according to the Home Affairs Minister.

Deputy Mary Le Hegarat said that she was looking at introducing legislation similar to the UK’s Turing Law.

The announcement came in this week's States sitting when Deputy Tom Coles asked the minister whether any convictions regarding an act of homosexuality had ever been quashed or overturned.

The island's Sexual Offences Law 1990 decriminalised homosexual acts in private, and anyone wishing to overturn a conviction would have to go through an appeals court.

Deputy Le Hegarat said that there was no record of any such appeals taking place.

Video: Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat made the comments during this week's States Assembly meeting, which you can watch above.

She added that she was "more than happy to have a look" at whether something similar to the Turing Law could be introduced in Jersey and that she was "fully aware" of that legislation.

She said: "There is a piece of work to be done to see what we can actually do, and I will work to move this forward."

The Minister also agreed that posthumous pardons or an automatic system would "make sense" and would be the "right thing to do" and that she would both inform the Assembly of her progress to resolve the matter and engage with members of the Island's LGBTQ+ community.

The Chief Executive of Liberate Jersey, Kaye Nicholson, said: "While the matter of historic convictions is not one which any individual of the LGBTQ+ community has approached me about to date, if there are any members of the community who are impacted by this I would encourage them to let me know.

"We would certainly welcome considering this matter in further detail with the Home Affairs Minister."

What is the Turing Law?

It is the informal name for an amendment in the UK's Policing and Crime Act 2017 which grants automatic pardons to those who were convicted of sexual acts that are no longer deemed criminal.

The law was named after wartime codebreaker Alan Turing who was convicted of gross indecency for homosexual acts but given a posthumous pardon in 2013.