Do you think suicide should be considered a crime?

You would only do jail time if you weren’t very good at suicide.

the good ones get sentenced posthumously

I dont see it why it would matter if they’ve already committed the suicide, theres not much else we can do? I just think committing suicide is the easy selfish way out, no good.

We’ve been over this

I still believe what I said on this euthanasia question: If we don’t have the right to end our own lives, what rights do we have? This seems like one of the most basic things of all.

That said, you’re not just taking your life when you suicide. You’re taking part of the lives of everyone who loves or depends on you.

Sorry @NaturalMineralWater

No, it shouldn’t be considered a crime. How would you punish a dead person? And why? Where is the crime here?

@aviona It’s fine, just didn’t wanna type all I type in the other thread again. =D

It would be a waste of resources, money that could be spent on mental illness such as one suffering from depression that leads to suicide.

I agree. What crime is there if they’re dead? Now if they try & fail, yes. Maybe they could be arrested for attempted murder???

It’s a crime against the loved ones and friends and family left. For them, a lifetime of sadness and regret.

Absolutely not. First of all, it’s completely unenforceable. Secondly, if people don’t have autonomy over their own body, what do they have?

Those are the only two reasons one needs, but let me add a few more.

Choosing the time and manner of one’s death can be dignified, particularly if it avoids humiliation for yourself and/or those around you or prevents one from suffering a terrible and degenerating physical condition.

It becomes a problem if the attempt fails. And if it is a suicide pact, and one survives, the survivor (in Trinidad and Tobago at least) has to face a murder charge.

@chyna You’re right….they will be punished in the afterlife anyway.

if hell doesn’t exist they’ll come back as a dung beetle or a gnat or something.

that’s more of a deterrent than fire and brimstone or even prison!

If you fail in your effort to commit suicide, you should absolutely be placed in protective custody and kept there at the discretion of your family and/or a professional expert.

@theluckiest I believe in most areas that is what is done. In hospitals where I’ve worked, the individual is put on “Suicide Watch”. The hospital room is basically stripped of anything that could be potentially dangerous and a sitter is hired to sit with them 24/7. A psychiatrist is called in for an evaluation, and when discharged, the person is escorted by the sherrif’s office or police department to the Behavioral Health Center for treatment.

@ptarnbsn I believe you are right, and that is what usually happens, and I think that is what should happen :) If you want to call it a “crime”, in that the system is subjugating your autonomy to a varying extent, then OK I guess… but it’s not a crime in the same sense other violent behaviors are.

I don’t think it should be a crime. I think the crime is in having to go to jail after feeling bad enough about yourself to attempt suicide in the first place.

@loser…were you watching family guy this evening by any chance?

@Blondesjon No… why…?

@loser…Just curious about the avatar. They had a Star Trek: Next Generation Reunion episode.

@theluckiest I agree that it is not a crime like others however it is a cry for help in most instances. Unfortunately, I’ve seen people misuse the “suicide attempt” thing to get attention or get back at someone not knowing the end result for themselves is to be admitted to a BHC. Their fake attempt backfires!

No.

I do believe in people having the choice over their own lives. Especially for the terminally ill. But I also see the benefit of having it as a crime. It can’t be enforced so basically it’s just a law that says “you shouldn’t do this”. And the majority of suicides are committed by teenagers. In most cases they certainly aren’t mature enough to make this decision. If there is anything to deter them against committing suicide then great. I’m not sure the law deters anyone though. As you can see I have mixed feelings on this.

How exactly do you propose penalizing dead people?

Criminalizing suicide would only have negative effects: more kids would commit to committing suicide as opposed to simply trying what they’ve heard and downing a bottle of pills that may or may not kill themselves; suicide discussions would head underground, making it harder for police/other help to find and be informed about the new popular techniques (such as the one from Japan involving a deadly gas in a closed environment); there could even be a black market of effective suicide techniques or methods sold by sketchy guys.

People who want to kill themselves often aren’t thinking correctly. They don’t care whether the act is illegal or legal, they care about their own pain.

And of course, I believe that anyone should be able to do anything with their bodies and lives provided it is consensual to all people involved. Suicide is a one man show, so as long as the person is OK with it, they should be allowed to do it. But that’s the problem, there’s no way of knowing whether the person is serious or not about the act, or whether their current decision is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.

The best way to deter suicide is to provide lots and lots of aid and information, so that a person considering suicide would find this information and may choose to solve their problems in a different, less lethal way.

@dynamicduo It’s already criminalized, well at least it’s already against the law

@RedPowerLady – first off you’d have to say where you are, because laws change from place to place, and I live in Canada. Sure enough, suicide here is perfectly legal, although helping someone commit suicide is not.

@dynamicduo United States. I guess the laws are different in Canada.

@RedPowerLady I’ve not heard of it being criminalized in the US. Where in the US is it a crime to attempt suicide and what do they charge them with? Do you send someone to jail/prison for attempting suicide when they really need psychological help? Seems to me this would be a crime in and of itself and in no way is logical.

@ptarnbsn
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2501/is-suicide-against-the-law
I guess it is just for certain states now or when the article was wrote in 2004. About the time I took a college class on suicide that also said it was crime. Perhaps the laws have changed since then.
(it also says so in the details of the question)

Oh and I guess there are some laws against attempted suicide just so the doctors will have legal grounds to “force” the attemptor (i prob. spelled that wrong) to get treatment.

attempted suicide perhaps. it does not make a lot of sense to prosecute those that have actually done the deed.

How would they technically identify it as a crime if they succeeded? They would be dead. It’s kind of hard to punish the suicidal any further. Throwing them in jail, for trying does not sound like a very good idea either. They are obviously sick in the head somehow. (I am sure there are several Caped Crusaders out there that would disagree, but for the sake of argument.) Lets assume this person is sound of mind and knows exactly what they are doing. They are calm, collected, and quite content with what they have planned. They would probably not be seen as mentally unstable, but somehow they must be. Why else would you choose to end your life…unless it was justified through some series of events. I am thinking of the honor of ancient Samurai taking there own life, due to defeat. In that particular position, it would seem appropriate. For modern day however, I am assuming you are talking about somebody that is purely sad or has been greatly abused in life. In these situations I see it as an issue that must be dealt with.

Committing suicide, (Latin suicidium, from sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the intentional taking of one’s own life. Suicide attack is when an attacker perpetrates an act of violence against others, typically to achieve a military or political goal, that results in his or her own death as well. Suicide bombings are often regarded as an act of terrorism. Historical examples include the assassination of Czar Alexander II and the in part successful kamikaze attacks by Japanese air pilots during the Second World War.

(From shitipedia, edited by moi)

You asked: “Do you think suicide should be considered a crime?” My answer: yes. It won’t deter someone who is adamant and bent on killing themselves, however, I was taught a valuable lesson once, by an old sage (you’ll see where I’m going in a minute): If you want to have peace, you must speak peace, it isn’t enough to just want it or think it. You must say it – this will make it happen, and you have the duty tomake things happen.

If you connect the term suicide with commit (like being committed to an insane asylum, sorry no PC here), then you associate it with just that, as well. That, in turn, might deter a young person from thinking it’s, er, cool or something.

Thoughts, good people? I’m just thinking out loud here, it’s not my MA thesis.

No, I think suicide should be a protected basic human right, and not criminalized. Making it illegal seems like an insult to humanity and common sense, to me. If doing so meets some agreed-upon practical need, it should be obtained in some other way than phrasing it as illegal.

@Zaku That is not possible: suicide a right? We are simply not good enough. Human motives are rarely pure. If I assist a friend or relative to a painless death, is it all because of what the friend wants? Or is there a feeling, however slight, that I would be spared the sight of all this suffering, that I would not have to give my time, my effort and my love to keeping this person alive? Or is there something worse? We practice the hypocrisies of civilized living because civility helps to preserve social order (Please, thank you, I beg your pardon!). Further, discouraging wrongdoing is one service we owe to the weaker and more easily led members of our community.

Suicide is, etymologically at least, a kind of homicide. It should be illegal, though it’s obviously worthless to prosecute someone that’s done it. The point of making it illegal would be to incarcerate (and help) someone that attempts suicide. I’d be willing to wager the vast majority of suicides are done out of temporary and/or treatable mental distress- not a calculated decision made with a sober and informed conscience. These instances are as tragic for the individual as they are for the community around that individual.

This idea that it’s “my body” and I can “do whatever I want” is completely asinine and based on the utterly incorrect assumption that we as individuals exist in some sort of isolated vacuum and our behaviors don’t affect anything but ourselves.

“Freedom” by my definition isn’t as simple as the physical, mental and legal ability to engage in any activity based on any impulse at any time. To me the idea of real freedom, and societal liberty is much more involved and advanced. The state of nature provides “freedom” by the first definition, but makes a slave of us to our most basic needs. Living in society removes some of our ability to act freely, like to defecate any old place, but offers us quite a positive exchange, in my opinion. Freedom is the ability to seek a (positive- as defined by society, hopefully guided by ethics) end through responsible actions and hard work. Suicide is a vast impediment to this process, not only for the one individual involved but for anyone exposed to the horrid violence that permeates this heinous behavior (with the possible exception of euthanasia – but I’m not commenting one way or the other on that behavior. I do think it is worthy of discussion removed from “suicide” which conjures images of distressed teens in blood-soaked bath tubs).

@bea2345 – Yes, a right to end one’s own life, if one really wants to. The fact that sometimes suicidal people, or people who might assist them to kill themselves, may often have mixed thoughts (like all humans usually do about most things) is no reason to criminalize a basic act. Adding the issue of whether the person really wants to die, or whether the motives of people who help them are pure, are valid but different questions from whether or not suicide should be illegalized or not. That’s what I meant by “some practical need” – of course people with temporary mental states making them feel suicidal should be helped rather than handed a suicide pill, but again, that’s a different question. Not every undesirable thing needs to have a law making it illegal.

No, not if no one else is put in harms way.
Attempted suicide shouldn’t be a crime either- you want to help the subject instead.

If the suicide has children he or she has killed their parent.

What I would agree to, is decriminalization; making it a crime is silly, especially if the attempt succeeds. Who, or what, is going to be arrested? But a legal right? For once I see something in the slippery slope argument.

it shouldn’t be considered a crime, you kill yourself, not others. and if it’s a crime, will they arrest a corpse? that can’t happen so it’s stupid.
why don’t people have the right to do it? your life is yours, and if you don’t want it, it’s your decision to end it.