The shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a common variant of abusive head trauma (AHT) in infants and toddlers. Data on the legal outcome of such cases are still sparse. By means of a retrospective multi-center analysis, 72 cases of living children diagnosed with SBS/AHT from three German university institutes of legal medicine were identified. Forty-six of these cases with 68 accused individuals were available and could be evaluated with regard to basic data on the course of the criminal proceedings as well as the profile of the defendants (sub-divided into suspects, convicts, and confessed perpetrators). Criminal proceedings predominantly commenced with a complaint by the treating hospital (62%) and were found to be closed (without judgment) in 50% of the cases, mostly due to a “lack of sufficient suspicion.” Of the 23 cases with judgment, the court decided on acquittal in 4 cases (17%). Imprisonment was the most frequent sentence (16 out of 19 cases with conviction, 84%), whereby the sentence has been suspended on probation in 63% of the cases. Suspects and perpetrators were mostly male and derived from the close family environment of the injured children. All confessed perpetrators stated an “excessive demand” as the reason for the violent shaking of the child. The results of the present study are in line with data from other studies with other legal systems. As many criminal proceedings were closed and the 4 acquittals occurred because the perpetration could not be ascribed to a specific perpetrator, improving the forensic methods for such an unequivocal assignment would be desirable.

Abusive head trauma (AHT) and its most common variant, the shaken baby syndrome (SBS), are predominantly characterized by central nervous system-associated lesions. Relatively little data are available on the value of skeletal and skin injuries for the diagnosis of SBS or AHT. Thus, the present study retrospectively investigated 72 cases of living children diagnosed with the explicit diagnosis of SBS during medico-legal examinations at three German university institutes of legal medicine. The risk of circular reasoning was reduced by the presence of 15 cases with confession by perpetrators. Accordingly, the comparison with the 57 non-confession cases yielded no significant differences. Skeletal survey by conventional projection radiography, often incomplete, was found to be performed in 78% of the cases only. Fractures were found in 32% of the cases. The skull (43%) and ribs (48%) were affected most frequently; only 8% of the cases showed classic metaphyseal lesions. In 48% of the cases, healing fractures were present. Skin lesions (hematomas and abrasions) were found in 53% of the cases with the face (76%), scalp (26%), and trunk (50%) being the major sites. In 48% of the cases, healing skin lesions were observed. Nearly 80% of the cases with fractures also showed skin lesions. The data prove that SBS is frequently accompanied by other forms of physical abuse. Therefore, skeletal survey is indispensable and should always be done completely and according to existing imaging guidelines if child abuse is suspected.