R v (1) GRAHAM WESTGARTH SMITH (2) MIKE JAYSON (2002)

[Malcolm Hutty]

Roland Perry wrote:
> In message <3CC94C6C.307D@dmed.demon.co.uk>, Peter Mitchell
> <pete@dmed.demon.co.uk> writes
> 
>>By "alternative" do you mean that there is already good research
>>evidence supporting this theory?
 >
> None I'm aware of, just conjecture.
 >
>>If so, we don't need to worry about
>>what the social workers do or don't believe about it
 >
> The agencies I have in mind are closer to the parole service, than
> social service.

Can we take research by such agencies on trust?

The advancement of knowledge through research requires that those 
conducting serious research be able to make their case whether in 
support of or in opposition to the prevailing orthodoxy; otherwise we've 
reverted to arguments from authority.

Confidence that the possibility of scientific dispute exists is 
undermined by the case of Dr Bill Thompson, a criminologist at Reading 
University, who has been publicly critical of some aspects of the 
criminal process in this area,

e.g. his criticism of police "trawling" for accusations (Guardian, Nov 2001)
http://society.guardian.co.uk/scperformance/story/0,11025,589197,00.html

and was subsequently raided himself (March 2002):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/03/24/nwit24.xml

When Parliament prohibits private research by unqualified individuals 
(for the greater good of suppressing paedophiles), if qualified 
researchers are then harrassed there are no grounds for having faith in 
"official" research - though it may in fact be correct, we cannot judge.

I have heard Bill Thompson speak a couple of times, and to my 
(non-academic) ear he sounded serious, informed, well-reasoned and 
undogmatic - in short everything you would hope for from a serious 
researcher. I do not know him personally, and I admit that it is just 
possible that he might also secretly be a paedohile, just as it is in 
the case of prosecutors.

But it seems much more likely to me that someone just shouted "Witch!"