PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am pleased to present the award to National Public Radio, Frontline and Propublica, for their timely, revealing joint investigation "The Child Cases" and particularly NPR reporter Joseph Shapiro and producer Sandra Bartlett, who I met while they were working on the Canadian side of the story - the Charles Smith saga. The probe makes the point that when a child dies under suspicious circumstances, abuse is often suspected, as in the case of six-month-old Isis Vas, whose death was deemed "a clear-cut and classic" case of child abuse, sending a man named Ernie Lopez to prison for 60 years. It points out that now a Texas judge has moved to overturn Lopez's conviction, and that new questions are being asked about the quality of expert testimony in this and many other similar cases. The NPR, Frontline, Propublica joint investigation unearthed more than 20 child death cases in which people were jailed on medical evidence -- involving abuse, assault and "shaken-baby syndrome" -- that was later found unreliable or flat-out wrong. Are death investigators being properly trained for child cases? (The answer was clearly "no.") The investigation exposes the harm to innocent parents and caregivers caused by a misguided belief in the infallibilty of "shaken-baby syndrome." Of particular note is a ground-breaking interview by NPR's Shapiro with Norman Guthkelch, the pediatric neurosurgeon who is credited with first observing the condition in young children, who speaks out for the first time about his concerns regarding how that diagnosis is used. Guthkelch worries that it is too often applied by medical examiners and doctors without considering other possible causes for a child's death or injury. As shaken-baby syndrome is currently under attack in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom - where a disturbing number of wrongful convictions have been exposed - this interview could help contribute to the syndrome's welcome demise. Our congratulations to NPR, Frontline and Propublica for their admirable investigation on such an important, timely, largely neglected topic which is of interest far beyond America's boundaries.
HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;;
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Previous honourees are:
0: Kevin Morgan (AUSTRALIA): author of "Gun Alley: Murder, Lies and Failure of Justice, who single-handedly fought for and obtained the forensic materials which led to Colin Ross's pardon almost ninety years after he was executed.
0: Michael Hall (U.S.A.): For his excellent work in Texas Monthly exposing the miscarriages of justice that have occurred as a result of scent-lineups and the "experts" who conduct them, and
0: Sun-Sentinel reporter Paula McMahon (U.S.A.) for her ground-breaking reporting over a nine year period which led to the freeing and exoneration of Anthony Caravella.
O: Journalist Stewart Cockburn (AUSTRALIA) for his ground-breaking work in "The Advertiser" which exposed the miscarriage of justice suffered by Ted Splatt and triggered the Royal Commission which led to Splatt's exoneration.
0: Australian scientist Tom Mann (AUSTRALIA) for his sterling efforts to publicize the injustice perpetrated on Ted Splatt in the courts including the publication of "Flawed Forensics: The Ted Splatt case and Stewart Cockburn," a monumental book which demonstrates the tragic consequences which can unfold when science gets twisted out of proportion in the courts and those entrusted with the task of protecting our criminal justice system abdicate their responsibilities.
0: New Yorker staff writer David Grann (U.S.A.)for his awesome exposee of the faulty arson "science" that resulted in the wrongful conviction and execution in Texas of Cameron Todd Willingham. (Photo: David Grann);
0: Pamela Colloff (U.S.A) for her Texas Monthly stories which resulted in the freeing of Anthony Graves within 30 days of the appearance of her first story. Anthony Graves was convicted and sentenced to die in 1994 for six horrific murders in the Central Texas town of Somerville.
0: Julian Sher: (CANADA); for his TV documentaries "A Mother's Ordeal", which shed important new light on the wrongful prosecution of Brenda Waudby made possible by Charles Smith's flawed autopsy report - and "Execution Under Fire," a fascinating, maddening account of the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham at the hands of the unapologetic State of Justice. He becomes the first Canadian journalist to be presented with the Charles Smith Blog award.
I welcome suggestions as to other authors who deserve to be nominated for this award for their work in exposing miscarriages of justice flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, or a combination of both at hlevy15@gmail.com;
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BACKGROUND; This award emanated from The Charles Smith Blog which I created on 2006 to expose the havoc wreaked by Dr. Charles Randal Smith - a pediatric pathologist (since struck from the registry of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for professional misconduct and incompetence) who purported to be a forensic pathologist and perceived his role to be that of an advocate for the prosecution team - and in the process he destroyed many lives. (Dr. Smith was a pediatric pathologist); Although much of its attention has been focused on an independent public inquiry into many of Smith's cases, now that the Inquiry has completed its work, I am also focusing on ongoing cases anywhere in the world which involve miscarriages of justice caused by flawed forensic pathology, flawed pathologists, junk science, pseudo-experts or a combination of any of the above. Some of the cases considered by the Blog have only come to public attention because of the magnificent efforts of journalists (and occasionally people from other walks of life) be they in the print or electronic media. I myself was a reporter for many years at the Toronto Star. I launched the Charles Smith Blog Award in 2009 as a forum in which I could honour these journalists by drawing attention to their work on stories which, in my personal view, represent what journalism at its best is all about - the exposure of miscarriages of justice.
EXPOSURE: The Charles Smith Blog has attracted more than 150,000 hits from all over the world since its inception and is currently listed in several lists of the top forensic science and criminology blogs.
CRITERIA: The award is presented for excellence in exposing miscarriages of justice caused anywhere in the world by flawed pathology, flawed pathologists, junk science, pseudo-experts or a combination of any of the above.
UNUSUAL NATURE: This award is entirely virtual. There is no no ceremony; There is no prize; There is no certificate. It is a pure and unadulterated honour bestowed by myself as publisher in recognition of contributions by others to this important area of journalism.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
