Five fatal cases of abdominal visceral injuries in battered children were summarized from the records of the Rhode Island State Medical Examiner's Office and the clinical files of the Rhode Island Hospital in a retrospective study from 1958 to 1967. Duodenal, proximal jejunal, pancreatic, and mesenteric injuries were the common findings and were usually accompanied by soft tissue bruising and ecchymosis. In this respect the patient's appearance was similar to that of battered children with coincidental craniocerebral and skeletal injuries. The high incidence of visceral injuries near a relatively fixed point is best explained by a punch or blow delivered to the mid-abdomen. A history of trauma inflicted by the parent or guardian is rarely elicited, but the diagnosis of "battering" should be suspected when the severity of the trauma is at variance with the history given.