114 Comments

Lots of people falsely confess to crimes that they didn't commit to avoid a sentence of 10,000 years. A lot of accusations are false, and are induced by authority figures in law enforcement and child protective services.

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If you think SBS sounds like the old "satanic panic" wine in a new, scientific-sounding skin, congratulate yourself on your discernment:

https://www.laweekly.com/is-shaken-baby-syndrome-the-new-satanic-panic-a-new-doc-reveals-the-same-experts-behind-both/

This comes up in The Syndrome, the documentary mentioned here.

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Just what I was going to mention.

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Been a trial lawyer for 40 years. Done both criminal prosecution and defense, a fuck ton of civil. About to retire this year. I can well and truly say there is a lot of stupid that gets done in our court system in the name of justice.

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ah yes! take someone else's, probably carefully worded, hypothesis and just run with it. nothing has ever gone wrong with that.

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Having done the research about false confessions for a college paper, I’d advise anybody who’s being looked at as a serious suspect in a crime to lawyer up immediately. I understand the urge to defend yourself, especially against something horrible like killing your own child, but if they’re sitting you down at the station for an interview, then it’s too late to be concerned about how bad it might look to ask for counsel. They’re already looking at you, and you need to think about yourself.

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When the cops show up, the only word I know in any language is "lawyer."

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The only words you should ever utter to the fascist pigs (oh, sorry, 'police officers' LOL) are:

"I WANT MY LAWYER. NOW."

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Ta, Robyn. My baby cousin died crib death. I'm sorry that whole branch of the family is gone; may their memories always be a blessing. I'm glad, however, that she died before this made-up-of-whole-cloth "Syndrome" was first suggested.

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"Shaken Baby Syndrome" is just the "possessed by the Devil" from the Spanish Inquisition repackaged for the modern day.

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𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦.

In other words, not a prosecutor trying to pad their record with a cheap conviction.

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I don't know about the specifics of this case. And it goes without saying that cops are pigs. But as a nurse, I've known a number of actual children who were violently shaken by out-of-control adults, and who sustained life-shattering brain injuries from which they'll never fully recover. It is a horrifically sad thing to witness. The adult perpetrators, including parents, all deserved the sentences they received to sit in jail and rot.

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author

OK, but the problem with this diagnosis is that much of it, like yours, is anecdotal from pediatricians and other medical workers asking people to "just please believe them" when they say they can tell with 1000% certainty that a child was shaken and that the biomedical engineers don't know what they're talking about. And that's fine, conversationally. But when it comes to literally putting people in prison, I'm sorry, but there has to be actual proof, because that 1000% certainty has been wrong a lot of the time — and it can't be a confession because we already know how easy it is to not only solicit false confessions in these cases and even to convince parents that they must be guilty when they're not.

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And do they also have the neck injuries to go with it? That's kind of the issue here.

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Mar 26Liked by Robyn Pennacchia

From my understanding that’s the issue that gets overlooked. That, yes, shaken baby syndrome is a thing, but it’s impossible without concomitant injuries. It cannot be diagnosed as cause of injury or death merely by TBI. A baby shaken with the force necessary to injure the brain will have soft tissue injuries, minimum, in the neck/back/shoulders.

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We should do a randomized controlled trial using the babies of Republicans

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Anti-vaxxers say that the deaths of babies who were shaken is due to vaccines. Even when photographs show finger marks on the baby's body.

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The Podcast You're Wrong About has a good episode on SBS

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OT: There was a construction crew on the bridge at the time of the collapse. Eight people, two of whom have been rescued. Gov. Moore says the crew of the ship sent out an alert that they had lost power and traffic onto the bridge was stopped. It appears that there were no cars on the bridge at the time of the collapse, but I'm not 100% on that.

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And already the conspiracy theorists are alight saying this was deliberate (because 300m container ships can just stop on a dime when their power goes out) to distract the media from the allegations against Diddy (which they say PROVES all their "Democrats eat babies" shit).

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I just read an article on NBC' News's website and they interviewed a guy who lives behind the bridge

"I could have never, never imagined that it was the Key Bridge that had just collapsed," Georgio Comninos said. "I thought it was perhaps like a really low flying, maybe a military jet, perhaps a small earthquake however unlikely that is in Baltimore."

He questioned why the bridge collapsed so quickly after its collision with the cargo ship.

"I mean, was this thing held up with toothpicks?" Comninos asked. "What’s the deal?"

It's a 1.6 mile bridge hit by a multiple TON cargo ship. What do you THINK is going to happen?

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Something tells me Diddy is a Trump fan, if only because he expects Trump not to raise his taxes.

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founding

So it could've been considerably worse.

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Mar 26Liked by Robyn Pennacchia

Never confess to the police. NEVER. They will promise you the moon and deliver manure. They are also legally allowed to lie to you to coerce a confession.

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Yep.

A friend's son* was 'brought in for questioning' b/c he 'bore a resemblance' / 'fit the description'. It was a minor(-ish) crime, so there was minimal pressure on the cops and therefore on him. Even so, he was trained by his Mum & all the rest of us that the only word you say in such a circumstance is 'lawyer'. He was released after a few hours.

*early 20s, 6'2" Black man

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author

Which should ALSO be illegal, just like it is in most other countries.

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Had an attorney tell me that years ago but he also added NEVER, EVER, NEVER, NEVER say a word NONE, ZIP, ZERO.

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Mar 26Liked by Robyn Pennacchia

Not in England where they have virtually ZERO false confessions and a murder case clearance in the 80, 90 percent area, as opposed to around 50% in the US.

They teach and have uniform interrogations procedures whereas cops in the US watch film noir from the 1940s.

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Oh, no. US cops are sent to the fascist police state of Israel for torture training from Mossad, etc.

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tempusfugit does not like me commenting!

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Sure, unless you fall into the clutches of the London Met.

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Last I heard they didn't have any stations left with stairs between the front door and the cells, so you can't fall down them. Oh, and no tables with drawers in the interview room.

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They send suspects to specially-constructed buildings that are entirely made from concrete steps and drawers.

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But... but... that was the Great Era of films noir!

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Leave Film Noir Alone!

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I've been telling people for years that there are only two reasons cops want to talk to them: (1) they don't have a case, and want to make one, or (2) they have a case and want to make it better.

Nobody ever listens to me.

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"You just need to get out in front of this, or we can't help you."

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Narrator: they are never EVER going to help you.

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We're having a scandal in the Twin Cities about the Ramsey County (St. Paul) coroner's office. The local media is right now being extreeeeemely protective of the police, and is attacking recently elected prosecutors who aren't completely in bed with the police union, so they're being very dainty about whatever the coroner did.

But a number of convictions are being reversed due to his findings and testimony, which seem to have been remarkably unscientific and indeed fraudulent. Someday maybe the local media will come right out and say what he did.

But first the political power of the police unions is going to have to be broken. Mostly, public outrage is going to have to focus on the Fortune 500 companies who bankroll the police unions with direct contributions, giving them independence from "civilian" oversight and impunity for their actions.

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They obviously need to bring in Emily Deschanel to clean things up.

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"M.E. was a hack named Sam Bernard. He, uh, retired a little while after I started. Once saw him do a Y with a scalpel in one hand and a hot dog in the other."

"Take it he wasn't known for his, uh, rigorous analysis."

"He was known for liking hot dogs."

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Please tell me this is creative license for the sake of a non-comment, not a quote

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It's from an episode of "CSI".

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[glowers with rage]

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For levity, here's my favourite Forensic Files parody:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILQynOuk0Fs

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Oh that was funny.

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