Flawed Convictions: "Shaken Baby Syndrome" and the Inertia of Injustice

by Deborah Tuerkheimer

Overview

The emergence of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) presents an object lesson in the dangers that lie at the intersection of science and criminal law. As often occurs in the context of scientific knowledge, understandings of SBS have evolved. We now know that the diagnostic triad alone does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an infant was abused, or that the last person with the baby was responsible for the baby's condition. Nevertheless, our legal system has failed to absorb this new consensus. As a result, innocent parents and caregivers remain incarcerated and, perhaps more perplexingly, triad-only prosecutions continue even to this day.

Flawed Convictions: "Shaken Baby Syndrome" and the Inertia of Injustice is the first book to survey the scientific, cultural, and legal history of Shaken Baby Syndrome from inception to formal dissolution. It exposes extraordinary failings in the criminal justice system's treatment of what is, in essence, a medical diagnosis of murder. The story of SBS highlights fundamental inadequacies in the legal response to "science dependent prosecution." A proposed restructuring of the law contends with the uncertainty of scientific knowledge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190233617
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/02/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Deborah Tuerkheimer is a Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. From 2009 to 2014 she was Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law. She earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard College and her law degree from Yale. After clerking for the Alaska Supreme Court, Professor Tuerkheimer served for five years as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office, where she specialized in domestic violence and child abuse prosecution.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One: A Medical Diagnosis of Crime
The Prosecution Paradigm
The Lure of Blame

Chapter Two: Complications
Scrutiny
The New SBS
Doubtful Convictions

Chapter Three: The Triad Endures
Today's SBS
Child Abuse Specialization
Prosecutorial Certainty
Staying Power

Chapter Four: Trials
Deciding Guilt
Case on Trial

Chapter Five: Missed Diagnosis
Diagnostic Error
A Legal Perspective on Differential Diagnosis
Anatomy of a Missed Diagnosis

Chapter Six: Confessions
Non-Confession Confessions
Unreliable Confessions
Inside the Interrogation Room

Chapter Seven: Fluky Justice
Acquittals
Dismissals
No-Arrest Cases

Chapter Eight: Guilty Pleas
A System in Flux
When Innocents Plead Guilty
The Meaning of Lopsided Pleas

Chapter Nine: The Limits of Judicial Review
Sufficiency Challenges
Collateral Attack

Chapter Ten: Reform
Improving Medical Outcomes
Upstream Innocence Protection
Downstream Innocence Protection

AFTERWORD

INDEX

Editorial Reviews

"Deborah Tuerkheimer's Flawed Convictions is a brilliant and timely book that meticulously presents a clear, comprehensive, and thoughtful analysis of the evolution of "shaken baby syndrome" homicide prosecutions, their impact on innocent caregivers, and the failure of the American legal system to self-correct in the face of staggering evidence of its biases and errors. It is a shocking indictment of how one form of junk science has led to scores of wrongful convictions and destroyed hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent lives and families. Tuerkheimer provides important historical context, a framework for understanding the roots of the problem as well as its persistence, and a roadmap out of the current quagmire. Flawed Convictions is an invaluable book that, well-heeded, will help prevent future miscarriages of justice." -Richard A. Leo, Dean's Circle Research Scholar and Professor, University of San Francisco School of Law

"Flawed Convictions is a brave and eye-opening exposé of the wrongful convictions of innocent caregivers in the death of a child based on 'shaken baby syndrome' (SBS). With meticulous research and gripping excerpts from police interrogations and criminal trials, Deborah Tuerkheimer traces the disturbing progression of SBS, from the scientific origins of the diagnosis to its role as a prosecution paradigm in child homicide cases. She uncovers major flaws in the criminal justice system, and offers a variety of reforms that have the potential to end the misuse of SBS, while reminding us of the reluctance of prosecutors to admit they were wrong. Flawed Convictions is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how grave errors occur in the criminal justice system and what it will take to correct them." -Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss University Professor of Law & Sociology, and Sadie & Raymond Pace Alexander Professor of Civil Rights, University of Pennsylvania

"This masterful interdisciplinary work is both a trenchant history and a roadmap toward sensible reform. Required reading for those who care about public health, criminal justice, and abused children." -Barry Scheck, Professor of Law, Cardozo Law School, Co-Director, Innocence Project

"Law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer's new book, Flawed Convictions: "Shaken Baby Syndrome" and the Inertia of Injustice, comprehensively and neatly describes the evolution of the SBS medical hypothesis-how it emerged, became entrenched in both the medical and legal communities, then unraveled under the scrutiny of evidenced-based medicine, shifted in form but still persists-and the problematic ways it is used in criminal cases. The book takes a hard and honest look at the issues that increasingly divided doctors and challenge the legal system's ability to adapt to the changing medical and scientific evidence upon which the legal system is increasingly dependent." -Keith A. Findley and Barry Scheck, American Bar Association Criminal Justice Magazine

"Tuerkheimer's book is a highly readable resource for anyone interested in the history of the SBS controversy and the current state of affairs." -David A. Moran, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic, University of Michigan Law School, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books

"Tuerkheimer provides a convincing and well-written intellectual analysis of the problem...Tuerkheimer's book will be an eye-opening experience for anyone interested in understanding the controversy surrounding prosecution of SBS and the role of science in the courtroom." -Theodore P. Cross and Rebecca Fajnzylber, PsycCRITIQUES, American Psychological Association

"Tuerkheimer's account encompasses medical research, forensic science, child advocates, law enforcement, and prosecutorial tactics. Her stories engage and propel the book. In terms of style, Tuerkheimer writes with conviction, makes her points, and then keeps making them." -Jon M. Sands and Rachelle Jones-Rowe, Jurimetrics

"As a history of SBS, Tuerkheimer's book is the definitive account. She has traced the waxing and waning of a forensic explanation from criteria that raised questions to a syndrome that was unquestioned to now an explanation that can be flawed, and can only be used with skepticism and care. No certainty exists. Tuerkheimer's account encompasses medical research, forensic science, child advocates, law enforcement, and prosecutorial tactics." —Jurimetrics, The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU

From the Publisher