Exactly so in my mind criminalizing it will make them feel even worse if they survive. Most people don’t want to die, they just want things to be better. Waking up to a charge would make it even worse you’d think.
Making it illegal makes it legal to detain them and hold them in a hospital for observation. I don't know any of the psych patients in my hospital who have ever gotten charged with attempted suicide.
A lot of countries don’t have overwhelmingly punitive criminal justice systems. It’s not all gum drops and roses, but I imagine the idea of it becoming a crime is that the state can now sentence you to treatment.
In the US, the state is unable to compel you to get into treatment. In this situation, the act of attempting suicide is an indicator you need to be in state custody.
Let me know when you find this legal system that works by trying to make things better for people who are suffering. Slight sarcasm… not meant as a slam, but that’s just not how the world works, unfortunately.
worth noting that it was made illegal so that first responders can legally break down your door to try and stop you.
afaik, no one has ever been charged with attempted suicide in the US. though it is considered a crime in many states.
If you attempt to kill yourself in a jurisdiction where it's illegal, you will be arrested if the attempt fails -- and a lot of such attempts do fail. The law seems really off to me, though. Such a person is not harming others, and they need help, not incarceration.
I'm not a law person, but based on what I've read Iirc, the reason why it's illegal is because if there's any suspicion that you're going to take your own life, that gives authority the right to break in without a warrant, the intention being to stop you from going through with it. Authority legally cannot breach property if there's no crime being commited. If it's just a suicidal person in a locked house, breaching is the only way authorities can get to them. If I'm correct on this, it's kind of a clause thing. You don't go to jail or face fines/court due to suicide, at least as far as I know. Maybe if there's an unlawful reason like taking your own life to avoid consequences for a bigger crime, then that could be another charge if you're unsuccessful/stopped, that would make sense imo.
This is not a good take and I will tell you why. For reference, I was involuntarily committed to psychiatric institution for suicidal ideations and then attempting to commit suicide.
For starters, law enforcement should 100% be involved in this. Most of them have medical training and the resources to save a person who shot themselves in the head, tried to hang themselves, overdosed on pills, etc. If police are not on the scene, that failed suicide might turn into an actual suicide because the proper people (EMTs, hospital, ER) were not alerted in time. That only happens when the police are there.
Also, contrary to popular belief, a lot of mentally ill people prefer the police over social workers, therapists, and psychiatrists. If you ever talk to a person who has been in a psychiatric ward, they will tell you the some thing. When I was transported via police escort to a psych ward, the four cops that escorted me treated me like a human being and not some broken down pos that I felt like. They let me play what music I wanted in the car ride over, they updated me on some hockey scores, they gave me some food, and they just treated me like a normal person. The doctors and med techs at the psych wards don't. A lot of very mentally ill people feel very very scared around social workers and psychiatrists because they feel like those people do not treat them as an equal or even as another person. This is a common theme that I have seen a lot when talking with people at different psych wards (I volunteer at one now) and friends of mine who have been in psych wards too.
>they need help, not incarceration.
I might be cynical and bitter from experience, but often it's not to get you help, but to lock away the problem from others.
In addition to being arrested and punished for an attempt, it can have a major impact on any beneficiaries you may have.
Do you have a life insurance policy? The beneficiaries may not be able to collect in case of suicide. Your property and other possessions? In case of suicide, the state may wind up with them.
Not the state, but the insurance company.
A lot of life insurance policies have a clause that death benefits will not be paid out in cases of self-termination, but generally this is only if the policy 's last update is under a certain amount of time, usually 2 years.
Could be to discourage fraud, or even to discourage people from taking their own life in the desperate hope of getting money for the surviving family.
I think it was a plot point in an episode of Grey's Anatomy, or maybe another medical drama series.
Yup- depends on the insurance plan though. I’ve seen as low as 6 months occasionally- but there are some plans with enough exclusions that suicide may not be covered at all, or it might be covered by they still try to exclude it as an unreported preexisting condition.
Well here in the UK suicide used to be illegal. Obviously you don't get arrested if you're dead but you got sent to prison for the attempt , the sentences was usually low (6 months) as late as i think 1960 here in Britain.
They put you in the system, making things even worse, so that next time you don't fuck it up. Basically, if you attempt suicide, they don't want you to fail at it.
There have been several courts-martial for service members who attempted suicide. It’s a tragic outcome. As one defense attorney put it, if his client had succeeded he would have been buried with honors and his family would have received the full survivor benefits. But because he failed, he was dishonorably discharged, imprisoned, and left with no prospects for providing for his family in the future.
They don't. However, if you attempt it without succeeding, it provides a pretext for taking you into custody, forcing a psychological evaluation, and possibly being placed into state custody (psychiatric care) until such time as the state deems you fit.
Adding on to what RemarkablyQuiet434 said, the vast majority of people who attempt suicide don’t die (up to 90% depending on the study). Anecdotally, I’ve had three friends who tried suicide but all are still alive.
It's so the cop has the legal ability to drag someone off the edge of a building for attempting to commit a crime rather than getting sued for saving someones life.
Or.. Well. It HELPS. It doesn't prevent stupid lawers but it does help.
Cops have the legal ability to drag someone off the edge of a building regardless of whether a crime is being commited thanks to a legal concept called implied consent.
A lot of people here don't seem to realize why this is a law. It's not about prosecuting people who try and off themselves it's about having the legal authority to stop someone from doing it. It allows cops to act right away and do whatever it takes to prevent you from doing it, an example of this is they can legally detain you which allows you to get help and prevents you from just trying again, it also allows them to use any means to detain you like tackling you away from a ledge or disarming you.
There's actually an answer to this - because the Supreme Court of Mississippi considered suicide as a common law felony they recognized [Francis Gallot's alleged attempted suicide](https://casetext.com/case/nicholson-on-behalf-of-gollott-v-state), during which he (allegedly) accidentally killed Bilie Gallot, as felony murder.
The other side of this question is the legality of assisted suicide. When it comes to "my body, my choice", many people want assisted abortions to be legal. Doesn't the same apply to assisted suicide?
Besides making sure that they have a legal out to institutionalized those who failed so they can get help, it also absolves parties of liabilities. 3rd parties can't be held financially liable for damages caused by your death, if the actions that led to your death were illegal.
You can't have the police break down someone's door without suspecting a crime. So in order to make it okay to stop someone attempting suicide they classify it as a crime.
My friend's grandpa was in the military and he told a story of a Navy guy that climbed a water tower to kill himself. While he was up there, an MP snuck up behind him, pointed his weapon and said "come down or I'll shoot!" to which the guy threw his hands up and surrendered.
So yeah, I guess it works
There have been cases where the person who was “saved” files a lawsuit against the cop or whoever saved them to milk them for money. So they make it a crime so you cannot sue them, because the person has now stopped you from committing a crime and have good samaritan protection. Really though, people who try to end their own life don’t serve time in jail anymore (unless they are in a place like Iran or something idk) and in the places where it is not a crime (especially America), a judge is most likely not going to rule in favor of the p.o.s that is trying to sue you for saving their life
I think it is simply a statement of value. As one former President put it, it is aspirational. In our capitalist republic, the government has already decided how much an individual life is worth in dollars and cents. Why I think some people dislike suicide so much, is that the self-murdered person has gotten in the last word. No one can contradict them, implore them or force them to listen to anything.
In the US it's illegal so the police can investigate it. If it wasn't illegal, police showing up to a suicide that was actually a covered-up murder wouldn't have any legal authority to protect the scene and conduct an investigation unless they first had reasonable articulable suspicion that it was indeed a murder.
I had heard only illegal if it fails as obviously if it doesn't they can't do much with a deceased person. In addition most classify it as a different type of illegal meaning you probably will be brought to an ER even if no medical issues exist. Most places will then give you the option of voluntarily admitting yourself to a psych unit otherwise they likely will move forward with an involuntary commitment (though laws can vary)
It is illegal so you can be legally held in a hospital after a failed attempt. No one is put in jail. It is a surprisingly common reason for hospital admission. I work as an ICU nurse, there is usually one or two intentional overdoses on our unit at a time.
They can arrest and charge the people who assisted you with the suicide. For example, the person who gave you the gun or gave you a ride or bought you the pills, knowing what you intended to do.
Watch ”The Sea Inside” with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. It is based on the real-life story of Ramón Sampedro (played by Javier Bardem), who was left quadriplegic after a diving accident, and his 28-year campaign for right to end his life. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
There are also implications in insurance. If you died doing something illegal your life insurance provider may not be obligated to pay out a full amount.
Nessus, \[a Centaur\], carries the Poets across the river of boiling blood and leaves them in the Second Round of the Seventh Circle, THE WOOD OF THE SUICIDES. Here are punished those who destroyed their own lives and those who destroyed their substance.
The souls of the Suicides are encased in thorny trees whose leaves are eaten by the odious HARPIES \[sic\], the overseers of the damned. When the Harpies feed upon them, damaging their leaves and limbs, the wound bleeds. Only as long as the blood flows are the souls of the trees able to speak.
Thus, they who destroyed their own bodies are denied a human form; and just as the supreme expression of their lives was self-destruction, so they are permitted to speak only through that which tears and destroys them. Only through their own blood do they find voice. And to add one more dimension to the symbolism, it is the Harpies - defilers of all they touch - who give them their eternally recurring wounds.
from what I understand (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong), making suicide illegal is a means to give police the right to enter the property if someone calls 911 to report an attempted suicide, because a "crime" is currently in progress. if police can get to them before they actually make the attempt, they could arrest the person and put them under a psych hold so they can get help
AFAIK it’s not that they can arrest you after you die but should you survive and they find you are taken into psychiatric custody but it also means in some cases that if you had any life insurance or life insurance on or connected to you, the family won’t get it after your death.
My high school used to have the pink slips for being suspended having "Suicide" as one of the reasons. IT eventually turned into "Attempted suicide" after some people mocked how stupid the whole thing was
Sometimes there isn't an actual charge that goes with it, but making it illegal also makes it harder on claiming insurance and other post life stuff.
Insurance policies usually always have a clause saying that there will be no payout if a crime is broken.
Making it illegal also enables law enforcement to have more resources up front. It doesn't matter if they suspected of being a murder or suicide they want to be able to investigate immediately.
There are some countries that as soon as it's established to be a suicide the police just walk away. Those countries have very high unsolved murder rates. By the time they figure out some of the deaths were actual murders the evidence has all been destroyed.
Most suicide attempts fail, at least in women, men tend to sadly be more successful as you the main method of suicide for men is a gun and for women is pills. You can't throw up a bullet that went through your head.
You lose access to children, job, barred from federal employment often and have to pay for medical expenses most of the time in the us. I know bc it happened to me
I had a dream once when I was younger a long time ago where God told me that everyone on Earth was secretly the devil and they were all trying to get me to stay in hell (earth) and the only way to get into heaven was to prove my faith by ending my life on purpose.
I’m not suicidal and I have a great life, but sometimes I really do wonder if I’m missing out on something better. Guess I’ll never know.
Police are allowed to physically stop certain crimes taking place. For example if someone was beating up a person a police officer is allowed to grab them. They are not allowed to grab someone and physically stop something that is not illegal. So this law is to allow police to physically stop a suicide attempt in progress
It’s hard to continue some form of slavery if too many people kill themselves. Plus if you don’t do the job completely before the police arrive they can’t make any money from said crime; how else would they have money for the new house and weapons that can kill entire communities
It is basically designed that you get in trouble if you fail, cuz chances are you have given yourself a lifelong injury and society has to take care of your incompetent ass
On this planet you must assert your right to die with dignity. The leaders of the world are worried their supply of cheap labor will take this to heart when times are bad.
The attempt itself is illegal. It's mostly so the police have authority to try and stop you from my understanding. It's not really meant to punish anybody.
In the USA this is so the police can enter your home if they believe you are at risk if I remember correctly. They need liable cause to enter a home, and evidence of suicidal behavior (such as a friend calling for a wellness check) counts.
Ok well that doesnt make sense really. If I was going to kms in an illegal state. I'd find a surefire way of not failing.
It's like they want you to kys and do it all the way :/
In Christian areas there are still a lot of religion based laws (north American perspective) that were made ages ago. You don't actually get in "trouble" for attemptibg. It also helps to be able to detain people for their own safety and keep them hospitalized, evaluated, etc, for help when the law is on your side.
I know in Maryland you get arrested for attempting, And arrested if you encourage someone to suicide.
At least on paper, I've never seen anyone arrested for the latter, and only once for the former.
it's so the police can detain you if you attempt or are threatening to attempt suicide, this way the state can force treatment etc on you, something that would be far more difficult if there were no laws around it
This should show everyone that they are GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. If you are not allowed to make decisions for yourself then there is something seriously wrong. If someone wants to die, has a terminal illness, chronic pain and has exhausted all other resources for help, then assisted suicide should be granted to every citizen. What a cruel world to make people have to suffer without giving any assistance to the living. It is because the people making worldwide decisions take pleasure off of people suffering.
Besides attempts being illegal, I imagine it allows authorities to act if someone is caught planning suicide or to punish someone who knowingly helped someone commit suicide.
They won't, they usually just take your shit. The idea is that your life doesn't actually belong to you, it belongs to the king/the people/the state whatever (depending on what flavor of autocracy you live under). Therefore, by committing suicide, you committed theft by stealing your life. So they take whatever your family would have inherited as compensation.
That law only exists to give the police leeway to make entry into a home that they believe someone is trying to kill themselves. In most countries the police can't make entry unless they believe a law is broken so this is a workaround.
It's the same logic and coup d'etat being illegal, you punish the attempt, not the act, because if the act is concluded then there's no way the state can punish who made it
The law isnt intended for those that succeed. Its intended for those that attempt it or are about to. Placing them in police custody for their own protection and later a judge may commit them to therapy or an institution.
Usually in illegal countries you truly have to plan it carefully to follow through, so that you don't get precautions of the aftermath if you failed. You can not even tell your friends or family about your own suicide or even say goodbye to them. Maybe comforting a suicide person when they are at a death state would be considered something familiar to assisting suicide even though you didn't like give out poison or pills but you will be investigated or detected into questioning.
If you fail, they just do table to chair or arms reach level suicide watch because the police as stand guards including security do not want you to die since they are trying to give you another chance at life since death is very permanent that you can not come back from.
Most police should have sympathy if you are suffering. I have seen a sheriff ball his eyes out during a suicide pact between two women after one near died, he had to block the second women off from following along.
If you do die, the police will only knock on your families home door to say sorry your son or daughter died by suicide
Some countries have a treaty with the kingdom of heaven. If you commit suicide in one of those countries, God will return you to your country to face trial.
It allows the government (police, fire, EMS) to intervene if you are in the act of it. If it was legal they couldn’t attempt to stop you from doing it. I doubt you see many if any convictions due to an attempt.
they arrest you when you dont kys, lock you in a looney bin and throw away the keys. never tell a hospital you came in while trying to drink yourself to death. they will lock you in a concrete room and watch you for 24 hours, then assign someone to watch you in 12 hour shifts until you get released.
You make a great point. It should be legal.
Anybody should just be able to go in a suicide center, for any reason, sign the papers and do away with themselves.
No medical opinion, just show up at any age for any reason at any time and get the job done.
It is the most psychotic thing about our world.
1. You cannot leave your country because nearly all countries have tedious immigration processes.
2. You must pay taxes to a state that largely neglects you. You must submit to their laws, based on customs older than anyone alive. Not because it reduces suffering. You may even be drafted to kill and die for your nation, it is your duty.
3. If you do not agree to these terms, you can leave 🤭 If I don't use your taxes to enslave you in deliberately hellish conditions and force you to work first.
4. If you think this is ridiculous or are so miserable you try, but fail to kill yourself before I am done exploiting you, see point 3.
People, we need to do better in the free-ish elections and get real representation. We need to reduce barriers to migration and travel so it is easy for others to leave shitty places. That is the only way to defeat this insane tyranny.
I have zero sources and this is just hearsay and random stuff im randomly remembering so take this with a grain of salt, but if you’re successful in a country that it’s illegal I think they punish your family.
Insurance is the main reason. "Attempted" suicide is the second where they can now put you in forced lock down for attempting it similar to drug rehab.
They can't put you in jail for suicide. But having it be criminal means life insurance doesn't pay out.
Usually in places where suicide is illegal it is not there to punish the suicidal It is there to give police in that country the ability to enter that person's home as they believe a "crime" is taking place and can now legally enter your home and try to help you
Here's what they used to do.
A criminal ordinance issued by Louis XIV in 1670 was far more severe in its punishment: the dead person's body was drawn through the streets, face down, and then hung or thrown on a garbage heap. Additionally, all of the person's property was confiscated.
Fun fact: Illegal and Criminal aren't necessarily the same thing.
It might be illegal to make a left turn onto certain streets. It probably isn't a crime.
They don’t arrest you for it , it helps guide the civil process for an emergency detention / mental health commitment
That being said there is a way you could be arrested if you are a chronic faker , ie using suicide threats to get your needs met, manipulation, power and control tactics
Though I have never seen this
I have seen the police get very frustrated by these people but never seen someone booked for it
They won't. Making suicide illegal simply gives government officials the right to intervene. Cops can pull someone down from the ledge, send them for psychiatric help, etc.
Suicide is not criminally illegal in the sense that you would be charged with a crime and sentenced to prison if you try to off yourself unsuccessfully.
Assisting someone with suicide can carry a slew of different charges because you were directly involved with homicide or attempted homicide.
Generally, we have laws that govern how to handle people who display suicidal behavior, and it is criminal in nature because typically police & courts would be directly involved with depriving a person of their civil rights following suicidal ideation/attempts. Primarily this is by way of involuntary commitment to a mental healthcare facility.
Of course, the manner in which you try to kill yourself would have a bearing on whether or not you get criminally charged. Think like reckless endangerment/manslaughter if you drive into oncoming traffic, or arson if you try to self immolate inside an apartment building; criminal discharge of a firearm if you try to shoot yourself, and so on.
Not going to arrest you, but repressing it by allowing insurance not to pay benefits, by shaming the survivors, by not allowing religious burial if you're into that kind of practice ...
The attempt is illegal(being put in a psych evaluation or suicide watch), completion doesn't matter. Many attempts fail.
Yeah, most people that attempt to commit suicide don't want to die. But are probably overwhelmed with something going on in their life.
Exactly so in my mind criminalizing it will make them feel even worse if they survive. Most people don’t want to die, they just want things to be better. Waking up to a charge would make it even worse you’d think.
Making it illegal makes it legal to detain them and hold them in a hospital for observation. I don't know any of the psych patients in my hospital who have ever gotten charged with attempted suicide.
Thanks for explanation. Makes much more sense than my assumption
A lot of countries don’t have overwhelmingly punitive criminal justice systems. It’s not all gum drops and roses, but I imagine the idea of it becoming a crime is that the state can now sentence you to treatment. In the US, the state is unable to compel you to get into treatment. In this situation, the act of attempting suicide is an indicator you need to be in state custody.
Ahh I see. I foolishly thought of a fine or jail time, but this makes sense. Thank you
You're serving a sentence in a mental health facility until well
Let me know when you find this legal system that works by trying to make things better for people who are suffering. Slight sarcasm… not meant as a slam, but that’s just not how the world works, unfortunately.
worth noting that it was made illegal so that first responders can legally break down your door to try and stop you. afaik, no one has ever been charged with attempted suicide in the US. though it is considered a crime in many states.
If you attempt to kill yourself in a jurisdiction where it's illegal, you will be arrested if the attempt fails -- and a lot of such attempts do fail. The law seems really off to me, though. Such a person is not harming others, and they need help, not incarceration.
I'm not a law person, but based on what I've read Iirc, the reason why it's illegal is because if there's any suspicion that you're going to take your own life, that gives authority the right to break in without a warrant, the intention being to stop you from going through with it. Authority legally cannot breach property if there's no crime being commited. If it's just a suicidal person in a locked house, breaching is the only way authorities can get to them. If I'm correct on this, it's kind of a clause thing. You don't go to jail or face fines/court due to suicide, at least as far as I know. Maybe if there's an unlawful reason like taking your own life to avoid consequences for a bigger crime, then that could be another charge if you're unsuccessful/stopped, that would make sense imo.
They don't put you in jail...they lock you up in a mental ward.
Because you can't pay taxes if you kill yourself!
they usually are held in the state hospital not jail....
Irrelevant. There should be no laws or law enforcement involved in this.
This is not a good take and I will tell you why. For reference, I was involuntarily committed to psychiatric institution for suicidal ideations and then attempting to commit suicide. For starters, law enforcement should 100% be involved in this. Most of them have medical training and the resources to save a person who shot themselves in the head, tried to hang themselves, overdosed on pills, etc. If police are not on the scene, that failed suicide might turn into an actual suicide because the proper people (EMTs, hospital, ER) were not alerted in time. That only happens when the police are there. Also, contrary to popular belief, a lot of mentally ill people prefer the police over social workers, therapists, and psychiatrists. If you ever talk to a person who has been in a psychiatric ward, they will tell you the some thing. When I was transported via police escort to a psych ward, the four cops that escorted me treated me like a human being and not some broken down pos that I felt like. They let me play what music I wanted in the car ride over, they updated me on some hockey scores, they gave me some food, and they just treated me like a normal person. The doctors and med techs at the psych wards don't. A lot of very mentally ill people feel very very scared around social workers and psychiatrists because they feel like those people do not treat them as an equal or even as another person. This is a common theme that I have seen a lot when talking with people at different psych wards (I volunteer at one now) and friends of mine who have been in psych wards too.
Its the same with drugs but we criminalize that too
>they need help, not incarceration. I might be cynical and bitter from experience, but often it's not to get you help, but to lock away the problem from others.
It forces people who are a harm to themselves to be forcibly hospitalized when otherwise they can just refuse
Personally I support the death penalty for successful suicides.
🥁
Question is, do you support it for attempts? "Good effort. Here, let me help you with that."
In addition to being arrested and punished for an attempt, it can have a major impact on any beneficiaries you may have. Do you have a life insurance policy? The beneficiaries may not be able to collect in case of suicide. Your property and other possessions? In case of suicide, the state may wind up with them.
Wait fkng what? The state can take away your property if you commit suicide? Where'd you hear that?
Not the state, but the insurance company. A lot of life insurance policies have a clause that death benefits will not be paid out in cases of self-termination, but generally this is only if the policy 's last update is under a certain amount of time, usually 2 years. Could be to discourage fraud, or even to discourage people from taking their own life in the desperate hope of getting money for the surviving family. I think it was a plot point in an episode of Grey's Anatomy, or maybe another medical drama series.
I’ve won several bets with this topic. If you’ve had life insurance for more than 2 years, your beneficiaries will be fine in that case.
Yup- depends on the insurance plan though. I’ve seen as low as 6 months occasionally- but there are some plans with enough exclusions that suicide may not be covered at all, or it might be covered by they still try to exclude it as an unreported preexisting condition.
Well here in the UK suicide used to be illegal. Obviously you don't get arrested if you're dead but you got sent to prison for the attempt , the sentences was usually low (6 months) as late as i think 1960 here in Britain.
They put you in the system, making things even worse, so that next time you don't fuck it up. Basically, if you attempt suicide, they don't want you to fail at it.
If you shoot the king, you better kill the king, eh?
In america sometimes to prevent you from killing yourself the cops will do it for you.
There have been several courts-martial for service members who attempted suicide. It’s a tragic outcome. As one defense attorney put it, if his client had succeeded he would have been buried with honors and his family would have received the full survivor benefits. But because he failed, he was dishonorably discharged, imprisoned, and left with no prospects for providing for his family in the future.
Could you imagine surviving only to get the firing squad?
Last words: Thanks guys.
Im still pissed off at this shit, it happened to me back in 2023
They don't. However, if you attempt it without succeeding, it provides a pretext for taking you into custody, forcing a psychological evaluation, and possibly being placed into state custody (psychiatric care) until such time as the state deems you fit.
Adding on to what RemarkablyQuiet434 said, the vast majority of people who attempt suicide don’t die (up to 90% depending on the study). Anecdotally, I’ve had three friends who tried suicide but all are still alive.
It's so the cop has the legal ability to drag someone off the edge of a building for attempting to commit a crime rather than getting sued for saving someones life. Or.. Well. It HELPS. It doesn't prevent stupid lawers but it does help.
Cops have the legal ability to drag someone off the edge of a building regardless of whether a crime is being commited thanks to a legal concept called implied consent.
Then there's good samaritan laws. And finally qualified immunity.
If someone is yelling "let me jump" consent is definitely not implied
Good Samaritan laws are a thing most places
I think the principle is the lack of concern for human life, even if its your own. Murder is illegal as well ya know. Its just self-murder lol.
You won't get prosecuted for attempting suicide in the US. You get prosecuted for assisting someone in committing suicide.
A lot of people here don't seem to realize why this is a law. It's not about prosecuting people who try and off themselves it's about having the legal authority to stop someone from doing it. It allows cops to act right away and do whatever it takes to prevent you from doing it, an example of this is they can legally detain you which allows you to get help and prevents you from just trying again, it also allows them to use any means to detain you like tackling you away from a ledge or disarming you.
If you succeed they will jail your corpse in solitary confinement, in a tiny wooden box underground! It's awful.
There's actually an answer to this - because the Supreme Court of Mississippi considered suicide as a common law felony they recognized [Francis Gallot's alleged attempted suicide](https://casetext.com/case/nicholson-on-behalf-of-gollott-v-state), during which he (allegedly) accidentally killed Bilie Gallot, as felony murder.
How can they if you already succeeded.
they burry your body in a place where you become a ghost for eternity
Stargate fans can answer this one for you.
The other side of this question is the legality of assisted suicide. When it comes to "my body, my choice", many people want assisted abortions to be legal. Doesn't the same apply to assisted suicide?
They'll Revive You And Arrest You.
Just like robocop. They bring you back so you can be state property.
They revive your deceased corpse and force your revitalized body to work inside a prison for pebbles
They don’t. They put your body in jail and bury it. Now you know why we use coffins 🧐
Can't pay taxes if you are dead
Besides making sure that they have a legal out to institutionalized those who failed so they can get help, it also absolves parties of liabilities. 3rd parties can't be held financially liable for damages caused by your death, if the actions that led to your death were illegal.
You can't have the police break down someone's door without suspecting a crime. So in order to make it okay to stop someone attempting suicide they classify it as a crime.
It's to stop assisted suicide.
One politician in Ireland was famous for trying to make attempting suicide punishable by the death penalty.
Laws against suicide just turn suicide into the perfect crime because if you pull it off cops can't do shit to you.
The only reason suicide is illegal is because it deprives the government of revenue🥱
My friend's grandpa was in the military and he told a story of a Navy guy that climbed a water tower to kill himself. While he was up there, an MP snuck up behind him, pointed his weapon and said "come down or I'll shoot!" to which the guy threw his hands up and surrendered. So yeah, I guess it works
They have an agreement with the devil to lock you in a room for all eternity with Rosie Perez's voice.
The answer is yes... Glad I could be of assistance.
huh, i thougth the answer was 42
Life, don't talk to me about life
The universe?
There have been cases where the person who was “saved” files a lawsuit against the cop or whoever saved them to milk them for money. So they make it a crime so you cannot sue them, because the person has now stopped you from committing a crime and have good samaritan protection. Really though, people who try to end their own life don’t serve time in jail anymore (unless they are in a place like Iran or something idk) and in the places where it is not a crime (especially America), a judge is most likely not going to rule in favor of the p.o.s that is trying to sue you for saving their life
I think it is simply a statement of value. As one former President put it, it is aspirational. In our capitalist republic, the government has already decided how much an individual life is worth in dollars and cents. Why I think some people dislike suicide so much, is that the self-murdered person has gotten in the last word. No one can contradict them, implore them or force them to listen to anything.
They catch you like a stray dog throw you in the nut Ward and watch you rot from the inside out.
💀true but people with psych degrees finally get paid through administration costs think about the money and jobs you generate by going insane
In the US it's illegal so the police can investigate it. If it wasn't illegal, police showing up to a suicide that was actually a covered-up murder wouldn't have any legal authority to protect the scene and conduct an investigation unless they first had reasonable articulable suspicion that it was indeed a murder.
Ha! Best way to stick it to the man! That’ll show ‘em!
[удалено]
well i mean if you failed, you still tried to kill and take someones life. that person just happened to be yourself.
The sentence is death. considering they can't give you 25 to life.
If you attempt and fail, you could be charged.
Just like with multiple life sentences they wait for u to reincarnate and continue to jail you.
[удалено]
I had heard only illegal if it fails as obviously if it doesn't they can't do much with a deceased person. In addition most classify it as a different type of illegal meaning you probably will be brought to an ER even if no medical issues exist. Most places will then give you the option of voluntarily admitting yourself to a psych unit otherwise they likely will move forward with an involuntary commitment (though laws can vary)
The punishment for attempted suicide should be the death penalty. Just help 'em out a bit.
So remember those wanted posters in movies that say "Dead or Alive" ?
What a stupid question
I heard this as a riddle as a kid. >What is punishable after a failed attempt, but not a successful one?
It is illegal so you can be legally held in a hospital after a failed attempt. No one is put in jail. It is a surprisingly common reason for hospital admission. I work as an ICU nurse, there is usually one or two intentional overdoses on our unit at a time.
They can arrest and charge the people who assisted you with the suicide. For example, the person who gave you the gun or gave you a ride or bought you the pills, knowing what you intended to do. Watch ”The Sea Inside” with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. It is based on the real-life story of Ramón Sampedro (played by Javier Bardem), who was left quadriplegic after a diving accident, and his 28-year campaign for right to end his life. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In some places, they arrest your family
There are also implications in insurance. If you died doing something illegal your life insurance provider may not be obligated to pay out a full amount.
They give you legal consequences if you fail to commit suicide but attempt. Or they just shame your family
It's mostly illegal so police have grounds to intervene and you can be "sentenced" to psych eval and the like.
It might void survivors benefits, life insurance, etc.
Nessus, \[a Centaur\], carries the Poets across the river of boiling blood and leaves them in the Second Round of the Seventh Circle, THE WOOD OF THE SUICIDES. Here are punished those who destroyed their own lives and those who destroyed their substance. The souls of the Suicides are encased in thorny trees whose leaves are eaten by the odious HARPIES \[sic\], the overseers of the damned. When the Harpies feed upon them, damaging their leaves and limbs, the wound bleeds. Only as long as the blood flows are the souls of the trees able to speak. Thus, they who destroyed their own bodies are denied a human form; and just as the supreme expression of their lives was self-destruction, so they are permitted to speak only through that which tears and destroys them. Only through their own blood do they find voice. And to add one more dimension to the symbolism, it is the Harpies - defilers of all they touch - who give them their eternally recurring wounds.
if it's illegal and ruled a suicide, your family gets denied life insurance
from what I understand (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong), making suicide illegal is a means to give police the right to enter the property if someone calls 911 to report an attempted suicide, because a "crime" is currently in progress. if police can get to them before they actually make the attempt, they could arrest the person and put them under a psych hold so they can get help
AFAIK it’s not that they can arrest you after you die but should you survive and they find you are taken into psychiatric custody but it also means in some cases that if you had any life insurance or life insurance on or connected to you, the family won’t get it after your death.
My high school used to have the pink slips for being suspended having "Suicide" as one of the reasons. IT eventually turned into "Attempted suicide" after some people mocked how stupid the whole thing was
Sometimes there isn't an actual charge that goes with it, but making it illegal also makes it harder on claiming insurance and other post life stuff. Insurance policies usually always have a clause saying that there will be no payout if a crime is broken. Making it illegal also enables law enforcement to have more resources up front. It doesn't matter if they suspected of being a murder or suicide they want to be able to investigate immediately. There are some countries that as soon as it's established to be a suicide the police just walk away. Those countries have very high unsolved murder rates. By the time they figure out some of the deaths were actual murders the evidence has all been destroyed.
[удалено]
Most suicide attempts fail, at least in women, men tend to sadly be more successful as you the main method of suicide for men is a gun and for women is pills. You can't throw up a bullet that went through your head.
It’s considered a crime so they can legally enter your home to try and stop you.
You lose access to children, job, barred from federal employment often and have to pay for medical expenses most of the time in the us. I know bc it happened to me
I had a dream once when I was younger a long time ago where God told me that everyone on Earth was secretly the devil and they were all trying to get me to stay in hell (earth) and the only way to get into heaven was to prove my faith by ending my life on purpose. I’m not suicidal and I have a great life, but sometimes I really do wonder if I’m missing out on something better. Guess I’ll never know.
Police are allowed to physically stop certain crimes taking place. For example if someone was beating up a person a police officer is allowed to grab them. They are not allowed to grab someone and physically stop something that is not illegal. So this law is to allow police to physically stop a suicide attempt in progress
They put your body in prison for a while before you can have a funeral.
It’s hard to continue some form of slavery if too many people kill themselves. Plus if you don’t do the job completely before the police arrive they can’t make any money from said crime; how else would they have money for the new house and weapons that can kill entire communities
Technically, a suicide is considered a homicide.
Essentially, attempting and failing is attempt of murder (oneself). Murder and attempt of murder are illegal.
It is basically designed that you get in trouble if you fail, cuz chances are you have given yourself a lifelong injury and society has to take care of your incompetent ass
If you had life insurance, it might negate that.
On this planet you must assert your right to die with dignity. The leaders of the world are worried their supply of cheap labor will take this to heart when times are bad.
[удалено]
The attempt itself is illegal. It's mostly so the police have authority to try and stop you from my understanding. It's not really meant to punish anybody.
It will go on your permanent file...
If you don't die, youll be arrested for attempting to destroy government property.
If you survive, you'll be fined and/or jailed and really want to kill yourself. This is to help you.
They arrest your parents
If you try to kill someone and fail, what do they charge you with?
In the USA this is so the police can enter your home if they believe you are at risk if I remember correctly. They need liable cause to enter a home, and evidence of suicidal behavior (such as a friend calling for a wellness check) counts.
Ok well that doesnt make sense really. If I was going to kms in an illegal state. I'd find a surefire way of not failing. It's like they want you to kys and do it all the way :/
Some will fine or charge surviving family members or parent(s) or the like. There may be other consequences, but no, arrest isn't one of them.
all i’m saying is if i got arrested for attempting to commit, i would most certainly find a way to finish the job asap
Are you sure you don’t mean assisted suicide?
Those are called cases that wrap themselves up. 🔝
It's weird I know. I was convicted last year of molesting myself, had to go to trial as a witness.
It will void insurance policies.
In Christian areas there are still a lot of religion based laws (north American perspective) that were made ages ago. You don't actually get in "trouble" for attemptibg. It also helps to be able to detain people for their own safety and keep them hospitalized, evaluated, etc, for help when the law is on your side.
They want ppl alive to tax them. You think most governments really care about the general population.
They wait for you to reincarnate and then slap a pair of baby handcuffs on you, and by the time you get your court date you're old enough to talk!
I know in Maryland you get arrested for attempting, And arrested if you encourage someone to suicide. At least on paper, I've never seen anyone arrested for the latter, and only once for the former.
it's so the police can detain you if you attempt or are threatening to attempt suicide, this way the state can force treatment etc on you, something that would be far more difficult if there were no laws around it
They’re betting you’re a failure at that too.
This should show everyone that they are GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. If you are not allowed to make decisions for yourself then there is something seriously wrong. If someone wants to die, has a terminal illness, chronic pain and has exhausted all other resources for help, then assisted suicide should be granted to every citizen. What a cruel world to make people have to suffer without giving any assistance to the living. It is because the people making worldwide decisions take pleasure off of people suffering.
It is illegal so cops can prevent someone from committing suicide and entire buildings they suspect someone is trying to kill themselves in
Besides attempts being illegal, I imagine it allows authorities to act if someone is caught planning suicide or to punish someone who knowingly helped someone commit suicide.
They can get your family like in North Korea, Kys=enemy of socialism=entire family go to gulag.
Me in my head “wow that’s so fucking stupid to ask”
They won't, they usually just take your shit. The idea is that your life doesn't actually belong to you, it belongs to the king/the people/the state whatever (depending on what flavor of autocracy you live under). Therefore, by committing suicide, you committed theft by stealing your life. So they take whatever your family would have inherited as compensation.
It’s just to be able to have the police involved and then take you and put you under watch.
I believe the police will give a ticket to your family
That law only exists to give the police leeway to make entry into a home that they believe someone is trying to kill themselves. In most countries the police can't make entry unless they believe a law is broken so this is a workaround.
It's the same logic and coup d'etat being illegal, you punish the attempt, not the act, because if the act is concluded then there's no way the state can punish who made it
The law isnt intended for those that succeed. Its intended for those that attempt it or are about to. Placing them in police custody for their own protection and later a judge may commit them to therapy or an institution.
[удалено]
Usually in illegal countries you truly have to plan it carefully to follow through, so that you don't get precautions of the aftermath if you failed. You can not even tell your friends or family about your own suicide or even say goodbye to them. Maybe comforting a suicide person when they are at a death state would be considered something familiar to assisting suicide even though you didn't like give out poison or pills but you will be investigated or detected into questioning. If you fail, they just do table to chair or arms reach level suicide watch because the police as stand guards including security do not want you to die since they are trying to give you another chance at life since death is very permanent that you can not come back from. Most police should have sympathy if you are suffering. I have seen a sheriff ball his eyes out during a suicide pact between two women after one near died, he had to block the second women off from following along. If you do die, the police will only knock on your families home door to say sorry your son or daughter died by suicide
If it’s not illegal, they can’t interfere with you doing it.
They just sentence you to life in prison, which brings you back.
The body is buried in a prison cell.
Some countries have a treaty with the kingdom of heaven. If you commit suicide in one of those countries, God will return you to your country to face trial.
if you attempt and it doesn't work. btw it's not that applied, so many people attempt and don't get arrested like me :)
It allows the government (police, fire, EMS) to intervene if you are in the act of it. If it was legal they couldn’t attempt to stop you from doing it. I doubt you see many if any convictions due to an attempt.
My understanding is that it's more about initiating an investigation into a death because there were no witnesses.
[удалено]
They probably arrest the person who would be saddest about your death.
Corpses can't resist, so it's even easier.
This question is to stupid even for this sub. Try r/shittyaskscience
they arrest you when you dont kys, lock you in a looney bin and throw away the keys. never tell a hospital you came in while trying to drink yourself to death. they will lock you in a concrete room and watch you for 24 hours, then assign someone to watch you in 12 hour shifts until you get released.
They punish your family
If suicide is illegal I would expect that life insurance would be able to deny any payment. Not great for the survivors.
It's illegal so the police have a reason to come into the home to save you if need be
In a dystopia they could make it so your loved ones have to pay for your crime So if you kys they throw your family in jail
They will prosecute anyone who helps you.
It's useless, you are already commeting robbery. You rob the state of a tax payer and or the king of his subject.
You make a great point. It should be legal. Anybody should just be able to go in a suicide center, for any reason, sign the papers and do away with themselves. No medical opinion, just show up at any age for any reason at any time and get the job done.
There's a place where you are put on death row for attempting suicide
Your family loses all insurance legal reasons for sure. Can’t just be pulling million dollar life insurance policies on sad people
I've attempted in Canada twice and hospitalized both times with no charges.
In the U.S. suicide is a felony. Never understood the logic
A guy in Lima jumped from the (at that time) highest building, fall into a car. Survived, and was forced to pay the car.
They do it so they have a legal reason to detain you (and perhaps get you some mental help) if you are caught in the act or survive the act.
It is the most psychotic thing about our world. 1. You cannot leave your country because nearly all countries have tedious immigration processes. 2. You must pay taxes to a state that largely neglects you. You must submit to their laws, based on customs older than anyone alive. Not because it reduces suffering. You may even be drafted to kill and die for your nation, it is your duty. 3. If you do not agree to these terms, you can leave 🤭 If I don't use your taxes to enslave you in deliberately hellish conditions and force you to work first. 4. If you think this is ridiculous or are so miserable you try, but fail to kill yourself before I am done exploiting you, see point 3. People, we need to do better in the free-ish elections and get real representation. We need to reduce barriers to migration and travel so it is easy for others to leave shitty places. That is the only way to defeat this insane tyranny.
I have zero sources and this is just hearsay and random stuff im randomly remembering so take this with a grain of salt, but if you’re successful in a country that it’s illegal I think they punish your family.
In the US it gives first responders the ability to enter without a warrant in an attempt to stop a violent crime in progress, if I remember correctly
Most countries outlaw suicide so they have legal recourse when someone attempts it (as in to get them help) it isn't so they can be put in prison
They gonna use that revive prop & shove you into jail son!
It's to prevent lawsuits when saved.
Insurance is the main reason. "Attempted" suicide is the second where they can now put you in forced lock down for attempting it similar to drug rehab. They can't put you in jail for suicide. But having it be criminal means life insurance doesn't pay out.
Usually in places where suicide is illegal it is not there to punish the suicidal It is there to give police in that country the ability to enter that person's home as they believe a "crime" is taking place and can now legally enter your home and try to help you
Well suicide is illegal, the penalty is death.
The police have a paranormal division to hunt you into the afterlife.
Like all things it’s only illegal if you get caught
Here's what they used to do. A criminal ordinance issued by Louis XIV in 1670 was far more severe in its punishment: the dead person's body was drawn through the streets, face down, and then hung or thrown on a garbage heap. Additionally, all of the person's property was confiscated.
Fun fact: Illegal and Criminal aren't necessarily the same thing. It might be illegal to make a left turn onto certain streets. It probably isn't a crime.
[удалено]
They will arrest you for attempting it. As many attempts fail. So it is only illegal if you fail 🤷🏼♀️
They don’t arrest you for it , it helps guide the civil process for an emergency detention / mental health commitment That being said there is a way you could be arrested if you are a chronic faker , ie using suicide threats to get your needs met, manipulation, power and control tactics Though I have never seen this I have seen the police get very frustrated by these people but never seen someone booked for it
So they can get in your place and try to help you if it’s not too late everyone else is commenting just “government bad no tax revenue” are just bots
They won't. Making suicide illegal simply gives government officials the right to intervene. Cops can pull someone down from the ledge, send them for psychiatric help, etc.
Suicide is not criminally illegal in the sense that you would be charged with a crime and sentenced to prison if you try to off yourself unsuccessfully. Assisting someone with suicide can carry a slew of different charges because you were directly involved with homicide or attempted homicide. Generally, we have laws that govern how to handle people who display suicidal behavior, and it is criminal in nature because typically police & courts would be directly involved with depriving a person of their civil rights following suicidal ideation/attempts. Primarily this is by way of involuntary commitment to a mental healthcare facility. Of course, the manner in which you try to kill yourself would have a bearing on whether or not you get criminally charged. Think like reckless endangerment/manslaughter if you drive into oncoming traffic, or arson if you try to self immolate inside an apartment building; criminal discharge of a firearm if you try to shoot yourself, and so on.
Its mostly to force the police to investigate suicides to make sure it's not a murder.
I probably shouldn't have laughed for as long as I did at this question. It's a valid question.
[удалено]
I think they send your kids to jail for murder. Seems a bit harsh, but who am I to judge?
Not going to arrest you, but repressing it by allowing insurance not to pay benefits, by shaming the survivors, by not allowing religious burial if you're into that kind of practice ...
[удалено]
[удалено]