Bill Thompson

Thompson

Dr Bill Thompson, formerly a Reading University academic, is known widely for his publications on pornography, moral panic and censorship. He has also published on debunking false allegations of child abuse and satanic panic and has stood as an expert witness in numerous child abuse cases. Thompson has legal clearance to investigate potentially indecent images of children, using this to advise defendants on their pleas. He can be seen here (timestamp: 1:30:00-1:59:00) discussing the history of child pornography law at a 2013 University of Texas conference organized by Thomas Hubbard

Raid

In 2002, Thompson's home and office were raided for child pornography after police failed to take into account his expert status. The case was later dropped, but only after a damaging, year long suspension from his university.

2013 Book

• Thompson, B., & Williams, A. (2014). The myth of moral panics: sex, snuff, and Satan. (Routledge advances in criminology; Vol. 14). Routledge. -- The authors develop the idea that "moral panic" is often not panic as such, but rather moral enterprise.

2018 Expert report

• Thompson, W. (2018). Child pornography, pedophilia, and contact offending: the empirical research. -- In this expert report, presented in the Thames Magistrates Court, Thompson argues that severe punishment for possession of child pornography is not based on the actual harm done to the minor portrayed. In this brief, a well-known criminologist and expert witness reviews the most recent scholarship on the question, and concludes that there is no credible link between viewing such images and committing hands-on offenses against minors.

See also

• Ralph Underwager - An American who followed a similar career path
• Ken Plummer - Thompson was a student of Plummer's

External Links

• Review of 2013 book
• Thompson's own Web Site - unfortunately incomplete archive
• Raid
• Countersuit
• Reading profile