Center for Child Policy
A Child Maltreatment Think Tank
Abusive Head Trauma
Abusive Head Trauma (AHT) is a severe head and/or neck injury from physical child abuse. It typically occurs when an infant is shaken or thrown against a hard surface, often in response to the baby’s continuous crying. AHT is the most common cause of severe injury and death from child abuse in children under the age of one.
Despite an increased scientific understanding of the causes and dynamics of AHT and improved ability to diagnose it, it is often difficult to achieve justice for child victims. Cases involving AHT are usually extremely complex and difficult to litigate for prosecutors who don’t fully understand the nature of the injury, the science behind it, and legal issues related to its prosecution. Courts have also become increasingly receptive to testimony provided by irresponsible expert witnesses who challenge the legitimacy of AHT diagnoses by providing misleading, misguided, and scientifically unsound testimony.
Preventing AHT before it ever occurs would be the optimal goal, and a number of programs have been developed to address it, but research on preventing severe child abuse like AHT is limited.
Below are links to resources to help prosecutors and other legal child welfare professionals be better prepared to litigate AHT cases. We also offer resources describing the current state of prevention of this most severe form of child abuse.
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PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
MILTON LEE LEMONS, Defendant-Appellant.
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Authors
Paul Stern, JD
Prosecuting Attorney, Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office
Vincent J. Palusci, MD
Professor, Department of Pediatrics at
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Frank Vandervort, JD
Clinical Profession of Law, University of Michigan Law School
Ronald C. Hughes, PhD, MSSA
Executive Director, Center for Child Policy
Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Child Policy
Executive Director, Institute for Human Services
Robert Parrish, JD
Professor of Fundamentals of Lawyering,
George Washington University School of Law
Debangshu Roygardner, PhD
Assistant Director, Vincent J. Fontana Center &
Mental Health Services, The New York Foundling
Kelli N. Hughes, JD
Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Child Policy
Advisors
Elaine S. Cabinum Foeller, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine
Marcella M. Donaruma-Kwoh, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics,
Baylor College of Medicine
Tricia Gardner, JD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Directors of Professional Education
Center on Child Abuse and Neglect,
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Richard Krugman, MD
Distinguished Professor,
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Bethany Mohr, MD, FAAP
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, University of Michigan
Medical Director, Michigan Medicine Child Protection Team