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Law Needs to Keep Up with Science in Shaken Baby Syndrome Cases
- bell-cot 3y agoSounds extremely reasonable...but (sadly) neither "truth" nor "justice" count for much in the American legal system.
- tboyd47 3y agoScientists also need to start exercising a modicum of humility, recognize that their own knowledge has limits, and be more conscious of the way they present their theories outside their field. > In 1997, I was an expert medical witness for the prosecution in the high-profile case of Louise Woodward, a British nanny prosecuted for allegedly causing the death of a baby in her care by violent shaking. For many Americans, this was the first time they had ever heard of shaken baby syndrome. Woodward was convicted of second-degree murder under the SBS hypothesis. Based on my own subsequent research and significant developments in scientific understanding, I would not give the same testimony again. I wonder if he characterized it in his testimony as a "hypothesis" or as a scientific fact.