Citation

Held S, Cheseaux JJ, Tolsa JF, Depallens S. Int. J. Legal Med. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00414-024-03212-4

PMID

38546867

Abstract

Abusive head trauma (AHT) is a criminal offence that is prosecuted ex officio, following report to the police from physicians or child protection services. The aim of this study was to assess whether the judicial outcome (dismissal vs indictment) was influenced by the quality of the medical documentation and/or the time span between AHT diagnosis and reporting child abuse to the police. The cohort was divided in two groups: 13/23 dismissals (57%) and 10/23 indictments (43%). The diagnostic probability of the AHT cases was certain for both groups. Nonetheless, in fraction of dismissed cases, alternative explanations for the observed lesions seemed plausible to the public prosecutor. Legal files of only 3/12 dismissed cases had a forensic report, while 6/10 cases that were indicted included a forensic report. Further, the legal file of several dismissed cases entirely lacked medical documentation (3/12), which was not the cases for indicted cases. The period between AHT diagnosis and reporting to the police was not different for dismissals (29 ± 19 days) and indictments (7 ± 4 days) (p = 0.32). Physicians filed reports more rapidly (6 ± 1 days) compared to childhood protection service (70 ± 46 days) (p = 0.01) and that may increase the rate of indictments (9/18) compared to reporting via the childhood protection service (1/5). Despite diagnostic certainty, other causes for the lesions were considered as plausible alternative explanations to judicial professionals in several dismissed cases. These seemed to have less medical documentation and forensic evaluations. In addition, more rapid reporting to the police by physicians seems to increase the likelihood of indictments.

Language: en

Keywords

Abusive head trauma (AHT); Child abuse; Childhood protection service; Retinal hemorrhages (RH); Shaken baby syndrome (SBS); Subdural hemorrhages (SDH)