Lunchtime work-in-progress seminar: Chris Millard

Wednesday 4th May, 2016

1pm, Room 3.20, Arts Two

Please join us for our next work-in-progress seminar on Wednesday 4 May, 1pm (Arts Two: Room 3.20) where Chris Millard (QMUL) will give a paper titled: Lies, damned lies, and Munchausen syndrome by proxy: statistics, infant mortality and the courtroom

Abstract:

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, a number of convictions for baby-murder were overturned, most famously in the case of Sally Clark, a solicitor imprisoned for the murder of her two children. The success of the appeals turned upon the power of statistics to convince juries of guilt or innocence, even if they (the statistics) were erroneous. The statistic in question had been deployed by Professor Sir Roy Meadow, who had coined the term ‘Munchausen syndrome by proxy’ in 1977, and shot to fame following his testimony at the trial of Beverly Allitt. Allitt was later convicted of multiple murder on a children’s ward in Grantham in the early 1990s. This paper contextualises the debate over statistics by looking at the history of infant mortality recording, and how this practice later meshes with the detection of potential child abuse, and even child murder. Concepts such as diagnostic labels (in this case ‘Munchausen syndrome by proxy’) might be usefully understood as operating within specific environments and within strict limits. When these concepts exceed those limits, or transcend those environments, the potential for disastrous error increases.

All are welcome and lunch will be provided from 12.45. Arts Two is number 35 on this campus map and coloured purple.