Shaken Baby Syndrome
Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy

The first collaborative, multidisciplinary book to tackle this highly controversial subject at the intersection of medicine, science and law.

Keith A. Findley (Edited by), Cyrille Rossant (Edited by), Kana Sasakura (Edited by), Leila Schneps (Edited by), Waney Squier (Edited by), Knut Wester (Edited by)

9781009384766, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 June 2023

464 pages
24 x 16.1 x 2.5 cm, 0.94 kg

Since the early 2000s, a growing body of scientific studies in neuropathology, neurology, neurosurgery, biomechanics, statistics, criminology and psychology has cast doubt on the forensic reliability of medical determinations of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), more recently termed Abusive Head Trauma (AHT). Studies have increasingly documented that accidental short falls and a wide range of medical conditions, can cause the same symptoms and findings associated with this syndrome. Nevertheless, inaccurate diagnoses, unrealistic confidence expression, and wrongful convictions continue to this day. Bringing together contributions from a multidisciplinary expert panel of 32 professionals across 8 countries in 16 different specialties, this landmark book tackles the highly controversial topic of SBS, which lies at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With comprehensive coverage across multiple disciplines, it explains the scientific evidence challenging SBS and advances efforts to evaluate how deaths and serious brain injuries in infants should be analysed and investigated.

Preface Barry Scheck
Part I. Prolog: 1. Maintaining the orthodoxy and silencing dissent Chris Brook
2. The history of SBS Randy Papetti
Part II. Medicine: 3. The neuropathology of SBS or retinodural haemorrhage of infancy Waney Squier and Tommie Olofsson
4. The importance of the correlation between radiology and pathology in SBS Waney Squier and Julie Mack
5. SBS, AHT – or just a type of hydrocephalus? Knut Wester and Johan Wikström
6. SBS or benign external hydrocephalus – how is AHT depicted in the scientific literature? Knut Wester and Johan Wikström, Jose
7. Are some cases of sudden infant death syndrome incorrectly diagnosed as SBS? Marta Cohen
8. AHT: the importance of predisposing factors Bernard Echenne
9. How I became a SBS skeptic paediatrician Marvin Miller
Part III. Science: 10. The Swedish systematic literature review on suspected traumatic shaking (SBS) and its aftermath Niels Lynoe and Anders Eriksson
11. Interrogation and the infanticide suspect: mechanisms of vulnerability to false confession Deborah Davis and Richard Leo
12. Can confession substitute for science in SBS/AHT? Keith Findley
13. Cognitive bias in medicolegal judgments Jeff Kukucka and Keith Findley
14. Biomechanical forensic analysis of shaking and short fall head injury mechanisms in infants and young children Kirk Thibault
15. When lack of information leads to apparent paradoxes and wrong conclusions: analysis of a seminal article on short falls Leila Schneps
16. Epidemiology of findings claimed to be highly specific for SBS/AHT, a prerequisite to improve diagnosis of child abuse Ulf Högberg
17. SBS: exploring concerns about the 'triad' diagnosis and its statistical validation using a causal Bayesian network Norman Fenton and Scott McLachlan
Part IV. Law: 18. Mandatory reporting of child maltreatment Felicity Goodyear-Smith
19. SBS/AHT opinion evidence in US Courts Kathleen Pakes
20. Undoing wrongful convictions: exonerating the innocent in SBS/AHT cases Keith Findley
Part V. International: 21. Ptolemy rather than Copernicus – the state of SBS in the British legal system Clive Stafford Smith
22. SBS in France Cyrille Rossant and Grégoire Etrillard
23. Sweden and SBS/AHT Ulf Högberg and Goran Högberg
24. SBS/AHT in Japan Kana Sasakura
25. SBS in Australia Chris Brook and Michael Nott
26. SBS around the world
Part VI. Postface: 27. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Pathology [MMF]