Shaken Baby Syndrome

Unreliable medical determinations of Shaken Baby Syndrome are pervasive around the world and lead to many miscarriages of justice, say experts in a new book published next month.

‘Shaken Baby Syndrome: Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy’ is the first international book to examine the medical, scientific, and legal underpinnings of the SBS controversy.

Experts review radiological and neuropathological findings in alleged SBS cases, some of their known medical causes, police interrogation techniques and false confessions, cognitive biases, evidence standards in court, and the challenges of overturning wrongful convictions.

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, Shaken Baby Syndrome: Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy, is a landmark book that 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.

Shaken Baby Syndrome: Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy will be published by Cambridge University Press on Thursday 8th June 2023 (HB / £49.99 / 9781009384766).