Post Mortem Imaging in Suspected Physical Abuse

Child abuse and violence against children is a worldwide problem. Exact prevalence rates of child abuse are unknown since definitions for child abuse vary between studies and countries. For this chapter we will use the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO) which states: ‘Child maltreatment is the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power’ [1]. Based on a meta-analysis, reporting on a total of 9,698,801 children, Stoltenborgh et al. estimated that the prevalence of child abuse was 0.3% for studies using informants, such as teachers and healthcare professionals, and 22.6% for studies using self-reporting [2]. In 2016, a systematic review on violence against children showed that approximately over half of all 2 billion children between 2 and 17 years old experienced some form of violence (physical, sexual or emotional) in the past year [3].