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Chapter 24 - Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma in Japan

from Section 5 - International

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2023

By
Kana Sasakura
Edited by
Keith A. Findley ,
Cyrille Rossant ,
Kana Sasakura ,
Leila Schneps ,
Waney Squier  and
Knut Wester
Keith A. Findley
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Cyrille Rossant
Affiliation:
University College London
Kana Sasakura
Affiliation:
Konan University, Japan
Leila Schneps
Affiliation:
Sorbonne Université, Paris
Waney Squier
Affiliation:
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
Knut Wester
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
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Summary

This chapter describes the history of child abuse detection and prevention in Japan and how the fight against child abuse became a social agenda especially during the 2000s. The SBS/AHT hypothesis became a commonly accepted notion during the same period and was used in criminal cases to prosecute carers and in administrative cases to separate them from their children in order to ‘protect’ the children. However, as we shall see in this chapter, the SBS/AHT hypothesis has become a controversial topic of debate recently and there have been a number of court decisions in criminal cases since 2018 questioning the hypothesis or diagnoses based on the hypothesis . This chapter overviews these recent developments and show the current status of debate around SBS/AHT in Japan with an emphasis on criminal cases.

Keywords

Japanchild protection guidelineschild-care handbookintroduction of SBS hypothesisNakamura type 1 SDHacquittalsrecent court decisions
Type
Chapter
Information
Shaken Baby Syndrome
Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy
 , pp. 359 - 373
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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