Paul Wilson (criminologist)

Paul Richard Wilson (born 9 March 1941) is a New Zealand-born Australian social scientist. He was convicted and jailed in 2016 for historical sex offences.

Biography
Wilson was born in New Zealand. He holds both B.A. and M.A.(Hons) degrees from the University of Canterbury, and an earned Ph.D. from the University of Queensland.

He has made contributions to the forensic investigation of criminological issues,  Australian policing   and the Australian criminal justice system. He has questioned the use of mandatory sentencing.

Wilson also has written critiques of societal and political issues including the ethics of Australia's involvement in the Iraq War, the casualties of the Iraq War and youth mental health.

Wilson has held academic appointments at the University of Canterbury, the Australian National University, the University of Queensland, the Australian Institute of Criminology, Queensland University of Technology, and Bond University and also has been a visiting fellow at Murdoch University, the University of Western Australia, Rutgers University in the United States, and Simon Fraser University in Canada. He also was a Fulbright Scholar. At Bond University, he held the Chair in Criminology for almost 20 years and was the Research Director of the Centre for Applied Psychology and Criminology. In addition, he was Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for many years.

He has authored some 50 books and many book chapters in international handbooks as well as hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles on crime and related social issues. He was an occasional columnist for several Australian newspapers and gave various radio and television interviews.

He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day Honours of 26 January 2003. His OAM was rescinded on 22 September 2017.

Criminal convictions
In November 2012, Wilson was accused of child sex offences allegedly committed in the early 1970s. On 16 May 2014, he was committed to stand trial. He pleaded not guilty. On 23 November 2016, he was found guilty of four counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12 years. On 24 November 2016, he was sentenced to 18 months, suspended after serving six months.