To identify children who died of shaken baby syndrome from 1999 through 2003, The News & Observer used data from the state Child Fatality Prevention Team.

The prevention team, which includes experts from a variety of fields, reviews nearly every child death in North Carolina. It discusses trends and failures in the state's system for protecting children from abuse.

The prevention team found that 132 children died as a result of abuse in North Carolina from 1999 through 2003. Of those, 74 children suffered abusive head trauma: violent shaking, slamming or hits to the head by a blunt object.

The newspaper asked Edith Kocis, medical director for the prevention team, to determine which of the 74 deaths resulted primarily from shaken baby syndrome. Kocis, a Duke University Hospital pediatrician specializing in child abuse, reviewed medical examiner records and identified 44 shaken baby deaths, based mainly on the presence of subdural hemorrhages or retinal hemorrhages, key indicators of shaking.

Many of these 44 children were also dropped or thrown against a hard surface after the shaking, common in this type of abuse. Most died within hours or a few days of being shaken; a few survived for years before dying of lingering complications.

The N&O looked at data only through 2003 to make sure the cases had time to move through the criminal justice system. The prevention team has not yet reviewed all deaths in 2004, so a complete list of abusive head trauma victims from that year was not available.

The prevention team's records did not indicate whether anyone was charged in the children's deaths. For that information, the paper interviewed prosecutors and police and reviewed court records.

No one keeps a comparable database that would show whether those responsible for the children's deaths were punished as severely as people who killed other types of victims.

To make a rough comparison, the paper used an inventory of domestic violence homicides from the N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

The coalition, which drew its data from media reports, listed 78 adult domestic violence deaths in 2002, involving 68 suspects. Of the suspects, 27 committed suicide. All of the remaining 41 were charged, with four cases still pending, two dismissed and 35 convicted.