MikeDunnAuthor<p>Today in Labor History November 27, 1835: James Pratt and John Smith were hanged in London, the last two people to be executed for sodomy in England. William Bonill, whose room it was, was transported to Australia as an accessory to the crime, where he died. They were convicted entirely on the testimony of the landlord, who had been spying on them through the keyhole. In 2017, they were posthumously pardoned under the Alan Turing Law, an amnesty law that pardoned British men who had previously been convicted of sodomy. The law was named for mathematician, cryptologist and computer scientist Alan Turing. Home Secretary, Lord Russell, argued for a commutation of the death sentences, stating: “It is the only crime where there is no injury done to any individual and in consequence it requires a very small expense to commit it in so private a manner and to take such precautions as shall render conviction impossible. It is also the only capital crime that is committed by rich men but owing to the circumstances I have mentioned they are never convicted.”</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>workingclass</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LaborHistory</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/homophobia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>homophobia</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lgbtq" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>lgbtq</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/prison" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>prison</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/deathpenalty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>deathpenalty</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/alanturing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>alanturing</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/deportation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>deportation</span></a></p>