VOTE: Should the Pendle Witches receive an official pardon? – Peek Into The Past – Burnley Express

IT’S a big year across the whole of the area … 2012: the 400th annievrsary of the infamous Pendle Witches trials.

With exhibitions, events and even a thwarted plan to mark the event with a huge ‘2012’ on Pendle Hill, the spotlight has fallen on the group of women who were hanged for their crimes of ‘witchcraft’.

Read more @ VOTE: Should the Pendle Witches receive an official pardon? – Peek Into The Past – Burnley Express.

The legal definition of a pardon is: “The granting of a pardon to a person who has committed a crime or who has been convicted of a crime is an act of clemency, which forgives the wrongdoer and restores the person’s Civil Rights” –The Free Dictionary

If you were innocent of the crime then you’d want the conviction overturned as an admittance of the mistake made by the court at the time.

“In the United Kingdom a jailed person whose conviction is quashed may be paid compensation for the time they were incarcerated.” -Wikipedia

One of the commenters on the FB link suggested that to pardon the Pendle Witches will only seek to make the wrongdoers feel better, and that the convictions should stand as a monument to their murders.  I can’t say that I fully agree with this.

Somehow, I really doubt that the current government cares one way or another.  It’s an obvious PR move.  These women weren’t Witches as we know them today.

What I would like to see rather than a meaningless gesture of “Oops, our bad”, is a memorial erected on the site.  Tell their story.  Show future generations what happens when religious hysteria spins out of control.

What are your thoughts?