A Decade of Pediatric Homicide: A Retrospective Study at the Medical University of South Carolina

Citation:

Collins KA, Nichols CA: A decade of pediatric homicide: a retrospective study at the Medical University of South Carolina. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 20(2):169-172, June 1999.

Abstract

Notes:

• 60 of the 342 cases in this study were classified as homicides. About 1/4 of them were diagnosed as being caused by shaking.
• In 97% of the shaken baby cases, the assailant was known to the victim and was a relative 77% of the time. 63% of assailants were female and 45% were male. Sometimes both parents were implicated.
• The time interval between injury and death ranged from minutes to hours to months in cases of repeated abuse.
• The abstract states that the interval between injury and onset of symptoms remains unknown in most cases because of the lack of credibility of the caretaker. The article states, "In the cases of SBS, the histories reveal that the interval between injury and onset of signs and symptoms was extremely brief." (p. 170)
• Head trauma was the most common cause of death, and a fall was the most common initial history given.

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