Mar 18, 2025 08:00 PM
https://www.thefp.com/p/the-junk-science...ts-parents
EXCERPTS: Although Woodward’s case put a spotlight on the questionable science behind shaken baby syndrome, today, mothers, fathers, and caregivers are still being prosecuted for it. It is estimated that over the decades thousands have been accused, and many convicted, of harming or killing a child by shaking.
[...] “Over the last two decades, extensive scientific research has discredited SBS,” wrote Scheck. But “because misinformation and misconceptions about SBS persist, Mr. Roberson is still at risk of execution for a crime that never occurred.”
[...] When the hypothesis that shaking a baby could cause brain damage entered pediatrics in the 1970s, it was part of a wave of movements in the U.S. seeking to make children safer. Domestic abuse was shedding its long history as a private source of shame and gaining recognition as a legal and social issue that required intervention—and if necessary, criminal prosecution.
[...] Of course, when a baby or young child unexpectedly falls unconscious or dies, society rightfully wants to know why. But sometimes there is no obvious cause, no visible injury, no immediate explanation. Shaken baby syndrome provided one. (To be clear, child abuse is a serious problem, and babies should never be violently shaken.)
[...] At the same time, there were signs that the noble cause of stamping out child abuse had taken a bizarre turn. The first was “recovered memory syndrome.” Adults—mostly women—were encouraged by self-help books and therapists to “recover” suppressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, which would explain everything from anxiety to joint pain. These memories turned out to be overwhelmingly false, implanted by the therapists themselves. Eventually, lawsuits and exposés by journalists revealed how the power of suggestion had fomented a moral panic that tore apart thousands of families.
Running parallel was spreading fear of “satanic ritual abuse” of children. This grew into a witch hunt that led to thousands of accusations of lurid and ludicrous abuse of toddlers by day-care providers. Prosecutions resulted in dozens of convictions, decades-long sentences, and ruined lives.
[...] By then, prosecutions for shaken baby syndrome were proving highly effective, frequently winning convictions against the accused. In these cases, typically the defense asks juries to accept that we may never know how or why an infant died. Signs of damage to the brain, juries are told, can have numerous causes, often completely unrelated to abuse. The prosecution, on the other hand, offers certainty. Prosecutors call on expert witnesses—specialists in child abuse—who confidently assert that a child’s caregiver delivered mortal damage.
As convictions based on shaken baby syndrome rose, so did questions about the reliability of that diagnosis... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: Although Woodward’s case put a spotlight on the questionable science behind shaken baby syndrome, today, mothers, fathers, and caregivers are still being prosecuted for it. It is estimated that over the decades thousands have been accused, and many convicted, of harming or killing a child by shaking.
[...] “Over the last two decades, extensive scientific research has discredited SBS,” wrote Scheck. But “because misinformation and misconceptions about SBS persist, Mr. Roberson is still at risk of execution for a crime that never occurred.”
[...] When the hypothesis that shaking a baby could cause brain damage entered pediatrics in the 1970s, it was part of a wave of movements in the U.S. seeking to make children safer. Domestic abuse was shedding its long history as a private source of shame and gaining recognition as a legal and social issue that required intervention—and if necessary, criminal prosecution.
[...] Of course, when a baby or young child unexpectedly falls unconscious or dies, society rightfully wants to know why. But sometimes there is no obvious cause, no visible injury, no immediate explanation. Shaken baby syndrome provided one. (To be clear, child abuse is a serious problem, and babies should never be violently shaken.)
[...] At the same time, there were signs that the noble cause of stamping out child abuse had taken a bizarre turn. The first was “recovered memory syndrome.” Adults—mostly women—were encouraged by self-help books and therapists to “recover” suppressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, which would explain everything from anxiety to joint pain. These memories turned out to be overwhelmingly false, implanted by the therapists themselves. Eventually, lawsuits and exposés by journalists revealed how the power of suggestion had fomented a moral panic that tore apart thousands of families.
Running parallel was spreading fear of “satanic ritual abuse” of children. This grew into a witch hunt that led to thousands of accusations of lurid and ludicrous abuse of toddlers by day-care providers. Prosecutions resulted in dozens of convictions, decades-long sentences, and ruined lives.
[...] By then, prosecutions for shaken baby syndrome were proving highly effective, frequently winning convictions against the accused. In these cases, typically the defense asks juries to accept that we may never know how or why an infant died. Signs of damage to the brain, juries are told, can have numerous causes, often completely unrelated to abuse. The prosecution, on the other hand, offers certainty. Prosecutors call on expert witnesses—specialists in child abuse—who confidently assert that a child’s caregiver delivered mortal damage.
As convictions based on shaken baby syndrome rose, so did questions about the reliability of that diagnosis... (MORE - details)
