The medical diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, or abusive head trauma (SBS/AHT), arose from a hypothesis developed in the early 1970s. Over the decades, it has led to thousands of criminal court convictions and family court determinations taking children from their parents. The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome claims that law enforcement authorities process at least 1,300 SBS/AHT cases per year. The diagnosis has attained iconic status within the medical specialty of child abuse pediatrics. Yet, for the past few decades, outside of the child abuse pediatrics specialty, the scientific, medical, and legal literature has been replete with challenges to the reliability of the diagnosis. With the first-in-the-nation execution of Robert Roberson based on the SBS/AHT diagnosis scheduled two weeks from now in Texas, the trustworthiness of the diagnosis is increasingly relevant. A panel of medical and forensic science experts will examine the issue in depth.

• Consensus Statement on Abusive Head Trauma in Infants and Young Children
• Feigned Consensus: Usurping the Law in Shaken Baby Syndrome/​Abusive Head Trauma Prosecutions
• Outside the Echo Chamber: A Response to the “consensus Statement on Abusive Head Trauma in Infants and Young Children”
• Researchers Say Criterion for Diagnosing Child Abuse Not Always Accurate
• Appeals Court Agrees Shaken Baby Syndrome Is “Junk Science”’” in Some Cases
• Texas May Execute a Man Based on Flawed Science. Will Abbott Intervene?