| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 11:33:44 AM | After reading a few threads lately where suicide has been raised i noticed there was a clear divide in those "for" and "against".
Prior to the Suicide Act 1961 it was a crime to commit suicide and anyone who attempted and failed could be prosecuted and imprisoned.
Following the latest trends mainly amongst teenagers taking their own lives , do you think this act should be bought back into force and why and if not why not? | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 11:44:20 AM | Personally I don't think anyone who attempts suicide should be punished. If they are so low they want to end their own life, then I doubt a prison sentence is going to accomplish anything. I think that they would be going through enough torment, whatever the reason may be, to want to die in the first place. And in my opinion, the aftermath of the attempted suicide, on top of their troubles they already had, is punishment enough.
Having said that, the kids who take four paracetamol with half a can of stella and call it attempted suicide should be sent down to their local park and made to pick up all the rubbish  | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 12:10:39 PM |
do you think this act should be bought back into force and why and if not why not?
are these people not going through enough hell ?
I have been there... last November... nearly had my kids taken away from me because of it and had social services on my back for 4 months... people who do this are ill and need help not punishment... there is a reason they feel so low that life doesn't seem worth it... 
think all attempted suicide should be punishable with the death sentence, obviously.
not sure weather to take that as a OH SIGH joke or OH SIGH sick | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 12:17:49 PM | how cruel to punish failure.
you feel like life is no longer worth living and that you are a total failure so you try to kill yourself and you can't even do that right.... Then you get locked up
oh kick'em when their down, why don't ya | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 1:28:45 PM |
your going to get a virtual labotomy with a shrink after a failed attempt !
Shouldn't that be virtual brain surgeon?
I think even a virtual shrink still wouldn't be allowed to perform brain surgery.
OT.
No, i don't think attempted suicides should be punished.
They punish themselves enough by believing they shouldn't be alive anyway.
and......
I'd be out of work. | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 1:47:18 PM | If people want to kill themselves, then a simple State funded means should be made available.
Of course volunteers for this state run service should undergo a rigorous testing regime to ensure their suitability for the role.
They would then have to sign up on the waiting list and of course risk being turned down at the last minute in favour of more worthy applicant, who obviously fulfils more of the stringent criteria.
This way the government could employ yet more civil servants in order to collate the statistics necessary to provide justification for the creation of a Department for the Regulation of State Suicide (DROSS).
In my world everyone is equal.
Ruffy
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 2:19:09 PM | People should have the right to either live or die.
Haven't they been going through enough (they must be if they want to commit suicide) without being punished as well?
Yes, people can get hurt (like family, friends or whatever) but it just seems wrong to punish the suicidal person. Like I said, if someone doesn't want to live, then they shouldn't have too, it's their life, their body. | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 2:21:47 PM | Prior to the Suicide Act 1961 it was a crime to commit suicide and anyone who attempted and failed could be prosecuted and imprisoned.
That means, if you did it right you'd be dead. If you didnt do it right you'd get a jail sentence. I think its a great law but the cell in jail should come complete with ropes, pills, sharp knives, bombs, etc.
I think suicide is such a selfish thing to do, no consideration of the people they will leave behind.
But people with mental illness, must not get sent to jail, please. Take them to see a doctor or sent them to an institution. Hopefully they can get themselves better.
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 2:48:39 PM |
I think suicide is such a selfish thing to do, no consideration of the people they will leave behind.
For every time I hear that on the forum I'll answer with this (again) ...
I've lost count how many times this has come up on the forums - & my opinion never wavers - nor my my exasperation of some peoples beliefs.
Why is it, so many people will sympathise with Euthanasia - & they don't deem that as a selfish or cowardly way out of living? Is it really so difficult to understand that just because you can't empathise with mental agony it doesn't make it any less painful than physical for the sufferer? That their quality of life & prognosis can be just as dire?
Suicide? Oh no. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are - it's cowardly & selfish & what about the people they left behind.
Well I for one wouldn't wish to bring back the people who I've known who took there lives - let them carry on endlessly suffering immense pain & anguish - just so I don't have to grieve? THAT to me is selfish.
Alot of people use drugs as a crutch - to self medicate to blot pain away. Soon as it's illicit drugs though - again- the empathy goes out the window.
Remember - the vast majority of use are drug users, & of the most dangerous kind - alchohol & cigarettes. If someone you loved died of cancer through smoking, would you be so pious & judgemental as to how selfish & cowardly they were? Smoking is choosing a probable slow suicide in essence isn't it? Are all people who die of cirrhosis due to alchohol abuse 'selfish cowards'? Or do you afford them some sympathy - because they were 'ill'. Yet - someone who was so mentally ill to take their life - it's different?
Do you know what hurts the loved ones of people who took their lives?
People's lack of compassion shown towards their deceased loved one & hearing them called a coward. Think about that.
Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable?
Only if it's the likes of a failed suicide bomber.
I don't even think it should be classed as "commited" suicide. | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 3:02:07 PM | Suicide is selfish, and there are worse punishments than death, it is the easy way out. It doesnt hurt - you only hurt those around you and closest to you. We will all die one day, but in others minds we become immortalised.
It is believed that suicides will not reach heaven but will be stuck in limbo for all eternity and they used be cast aside on a certain side of a church where the least important patch of concecrated ground is.
People that attempt such a selfish act should be punished, their are far worse things happening around the world than in this cushy country. Kids gettin their legs blown off sky high and watching their parents die before them, the holocaust, Pol Pots regime etc. Suicide bomb attacks etc. If you think that you are worse off than those, just because some tart left you etc. or you got fired just make sure you dont surivive your suicide attempt. | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 3:25:35 PM |
If you think that you are worse off than those, just because some tart left you etc
Mmmmm!!!!!!!!!
The criminal justice system is already overloaded and the cost to the taxpayer would be significant!
People who attempt to take their own life need help, support and a reason to live...a little understanding goes along way...
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 3:45:43 PM | had a friend with terminal cancer many years back, doctors told him he would last several months at least, he would eventually have to max out on morphine and even then, they were not sure it would be pain free. So he went climbing without ropes onto the roof of the local tower block and slipped all the way down, apparently head first. Dead on impact.
Maybe it would have been better to jail him and forcibly medicate him just to give him some life
Got a friend who would love to die, he tried it when younger and he could, but now he in wheelchair, to bed to wheelchair. Gets his nappy changed a few times a day, has 2 year old open sores on his bottom from not moving much, gets dropped in wheelchair and in front of a a TV he cant control... He has MS and doctors think he has years to live with the right care - was round his house and was hard to understand him, understood sez, drink, fag out of about 30 mins chat, even his wife has problems understanding him
Zero quality of life and it will only get worse | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 3:51:19 PM | | My brother hanged himself 2 1/2 years ago, it was a massive shock. But he had planned everything meticulously and was quite sane in his head when he made his decision, he knew what he wanted to do and how he was going to do it. It was what he wanted, he did not want to live anymore. It was his life to live or die the way he chose. And he chose not to live. | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 3:56:37 PM | Have to agree with Lily, how someone can say that a person taking their own life is selfish is totally beyond me, how somebody can say that suicide is cowardly is also beyond me, have you ever tried to put a noose around your neck and step off the chair, or run a sharp blade across your throat ??
No would be the answer from most people, because we dont have the stomach for it or the insatiable urge to just end everything, to just take the pain away.
To accuse someone of being selfish because they decided to bleed all over the floor and die slowly is pathetic, the selfish act is standing there thinking you know better.
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 4:07:19 PM | Ahh OP, there you go again...chuck a pebble in the pond and watch it ripple! I wasn't going to bite, but then the replies started...
It resonated with me for a couple of reasons. One being that, on a personal level I have known some people that I cared for, who either attempted suicide or were 'successful' in their attempt.
Another level being professionally. As an experienced registered mental health practioner (I was going to call myself 'certified' but that's a different story), I have over the years worked with many people who have either attempted suicide, or afterwards with family members, friends etc. who struggle to find a "Why?"
One of the reasons the Act was decriminalized in 1961, was the law's (coroners, the police etc.) reluctance to pursue failed suicides. In my humble opinion, it was the right thing to do.
What would it achieve in reintroducing a law that criminalizes a person if they attempt to kill themselves?
Either for pragmatic, financial reasons, or for ethical and moral reasons, and probably a whole lot more.
The recent 'trend' isn't so recent a trend at all. The age group in question I think you mean in your original post has always been the highest risk group. T'is just unsual because it's so highly localized and because of that publicized a lot more.
Something for the local schools, colleges and health service to work on which I'm sure they are doing. Like to hope so.
Phew.. I feel so much better now. Will try to resist the next time. :-) | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 4:14:46 PM | This is rediculous, if you justify suicides you either need to live in Russia or Japan. The only time it is justifyable is when you are going to die anyway of a crippling disease and every day you are in insatiable physical pain, rather than just messed up in the head. Those people have to campaign hard to have that RIGHT, rather than a privaledge.
We were given life for a reason and its the most valuable thing on the planet, wether your reasons be religious, moral or otherwise its there for a reason. The reason Im not taking my own life is because I owe to much to my family and it would be like spitting on my family name to do so. I live my life not for myself but for the benefit of others and for the pride of my parents, we all have had our ups and downs but the only reason Im still here is because I couldnt do this to the people around me.
Whatever your problems you need to look at the bigger picture, and besides in my view if someone wants to kill themselves regardless of the stress they will cause to others then they wont be missed. | |
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cargy
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Joined: 10/13/2006
Msg: 22 | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 4:39:06 PM |
People that attempt such a selfish act should be punished, their are far worse things happening around the world than in this cushy country. Kids gettin their legs blown off sky high and watching their parents die before them, the holocaust, Pol Pots regime etc. Suicide bomb attacks etc. If you think that you are worse off than those, just because some tart left you etc. or you got fired just make sure you dont surivive your suicide attempt.
How very sympathetic of you. I take it you have been lucky in life, in that you have never suffered depression. I'm not talking about feeling a bit down or having a bit of a bad hair day, I'm talking about the feeling, day after day, month after month, that you are worthless, useless and hopeless. Where living has no point whatsoever. It can be a crippling illness for some, with no apparent hope of respite, leading them to a place where there is NO reason for living. A place where they believe their family, friends and loved ones would be better off without them, free of the burden that they believe they cause.
Without some understanding of that condition, what right do you have to get on your soapbox?
This is rediculous, if you justify suicides you either need to live in Russia or Japan. The only time it is justifyable is when you are going to die anyway of a crippling disease and every day you are in insatiable physical pain, rather than just messed up in the head. Those people have to campaign hard to have that RIGHT, rather than a privaledge.
Ending one's life as a result of mental illness is a somewhat different kettle of fish from assisted suicide due to terminal, physical illness.
Whatever your problems you need to look at the bigger picture,
That's part of the problem, when you are immured in severe depression, you cannot see any bigger picture, only the apparent ill effects of your continued existence on those you love. You truly believe that to end your life would bring them relief.
and besides in my view if someone wants to kill themselves regardless of the stress they will cause to others then they wont be missed
Again, such sympathy.
Great name BTW, it suits you. | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 4:39:34 PM |
People that attempt such a selfish act should be punished, their are far worse things happening around the world than in this cushy country. Kids gettin their legs blown off sky high and watching their parents die before them, the holocaust, Pol Pots regime etc. Suicide bomb attacks etc. If you think that you are worse off than those, just because some tart left you etc. or you got fired just make sure you dont surivive your suicide attempt.
What the hell has Pol Pot got to do with someone with chronic depression???
When a person feels that low and it is impossible to get out the horrendous quagmire that is horrendous depression, the only thing that goes through their head is stopping the feelings of such awful anguish and sometimes the thought of living for one more day seems like trying to climb Mount Everest in 3 minutes. For some it is impossible. I would never call anyone who committed suicide a coward, never.
It isn't the easy way out, for most it is the ONLY way to stop their pain, the thought of living for one more second is awful and they truly believe that everyone would be better off without them, without the "burden" of living with their depression.
Don't judge a person until you have walked in their shoes and all that... | |
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| Should Attempted Suicide Be Made Punishable ?
Posted: 4/28/2008 4:46:54 PM | I don't know if punished is the way forward...as people have stated someone feeling that low would feel further states of helplesness by being incarcerated.
I would incarcerate people (perhaps not as punishment) to exhaust all options with that person to try & aide them out of the state of mind they are in. Its a very very contentious issue & whilst you could argue that it is an individuals choice to take their own life...equally people of a more well & sound mind should be doing all in their power to convince them they are wrong to do so.
I can personally speak from suffering with depression for almost 8 years now, or at least that's the time I admitted I was feeling this way comfortably say it never fully goes away from you & there will always be trigger points that will bring you back down or up....its how you process that yourself which determines your decision making.
It would be a wrong thing to punish people for it as it really in my own eyes cannot be a crime. | |
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