The Misuse of Abuse: Restricting Evidence of Battered Child Syndrome
نویسنده
چکیده
The line between medicine and law has never been exactly bright. Yet when physical violence occurs, it naturally implicates both disciplines. This interdisciplinary blend is particularly evident in the case of child abuse. Thus, as child abuse became a recognized phenomenon in medical science, it also became a subject of criminal prosecution. As the scientific definition of child abuse has expanded, so has its importance in the legal arena. Battered child syndrome (BCS), which was originally intended to be a helpful tool for physicians, has evolved into a cunning instrument for prosecutors and a clever trump card for parricide defendants. Since 1962, doctors have been researching child abuse in the form of BCS. More recently, over the past few decades, both child abuse prosecutors and homicide defendants have sought to introduce evidence of the syndrome into the courts. Because of these two distinct and conflicting forms, one might ask, “[W]hich use of battered child syndrome do you believe? Many courts have still not figured this out.” Medical and mental health professionals generally use BCS as a shorthand description of serious abuse. Children who are intentionally harmed by their caretakers are labeled battered children. Injuries that may fall within BCS range from minor bruises to fatal skull fractures. Furthermore, the broad
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Battered Child Syndrome; a Case Study
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