The University of Michigan’s Innocence Clinic is receiving an astounding $250,000 in federal grant money in order to reexamine convictions in a number of ‘shaken baby” cases. More and more in recent years, science is revealing that a great deal of the symptoms closely associated with shaken babies, are actually the result of a much broader set of circumstances. As a result, a horrifying number of parents and caregivers have been falsely convicted over the years.

For decades, thousands of caregivers have been accused, convicted and imprisoned for violently shaking infants, many of whom died as a result. But now, many of the doctors who fought so hard to have those very parents convicted, are reconsidering what they were once been so certain of. Asking “what if we were wrong?” and wondering if this was an accurate medical diagnosis, or a false accusation of abuse?

Jonathan Arden, a forensic pathologist who previously worked for the D.C. medical examiner’s office, is a classic example. With more than 30 years of experience investigating deaths of all kinds, Arden now says he’s certain that actual ‘shaken baby’ cases are rare. But he didn’t always feel that way.

Arden was a highly sought-after witness for the prosecution, dedicated in his belief that ‘shaken baby syndrome was a growing cancer in society that must be rooted out and punished. But Arden, like a growing number of other medical doctors in the field, has serious doubts about the science behind Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Bleeding on the brain, bleeding behind the eyes, and brain swelling are all classic signs of  violent head trauma, no question. But science is now revealing that they also point to a host of other things as well. Genetic disorders, birth-related traumas, rare medical conditions, even accidents could all account for that fateful triad of symptoms. There are many reasons why a child might exhibit these symptoms, Arden says, but they don’t immediately point to an abusive caregiver.

Since 2001, 16 shaken baby syndrome convictions have been overturned. But in reality, that is likely only a fraction of the number of people who were wrongly convicted of child abuse. Labeled abusers, or worse, baby killers. When in truth, they’re guilty of nothing more than caring for a child.

In 2015, the Michigan Supreme Court unanimously overturned a murder conviction stemming from a shaken baby case in Calhoun County. Leo Ackley, a 29-year-old Battle Creek man was accused of shaking his girlfriend’s baby, causing the child’s death. But according to the Supreme Court, Ackley’s rights were violated because his defense attorney didn’t challenge the evidence during his trial. Evidence that obviously needs to be challenged.

Ackley’s case is not singular. There are a great many people in prison today for allegedly shaking a baby. People who have lost their freedoms, their futures, and their children. People who were vilified by CPS and the police, cast in the role of child abuser, on the grounds that science backed their accusations.
Well, science it seems, is more fluid and open to change than people realize. Hopefully, with this substantial federal grant, U of M’s Innocence Clinic will be able to provide long awaited justice and hope for the wrongly convicted in Michigan