Suicidality is on the rise. Roughly 703,000 people die by suicide every year, and for every person who ends their life by suicide, another 20 people attempt to do so. Given these alarming statistics, it would seem that evidence-based treatment and care are the only humane approaches to this global health crisis. However, at least 20 countries engage in the criminalization of suicide in that they punish death by suicide and attempted suicide by imprisonment and/or financial penalties. These punishments and the legislations associated with them are due in large part to two very common misconceptions: that decriminalizing suicide is tantamount to accepting it, and that legislative punishment of suicide is a deterrent to it.
“Treatment of people in crisis and who report ideas about wanting to end their lives remains far from optimal—even in countries that have abandoned legislation against suicide and attempted suicide. Distressed patients with mental illness, all too often, continue to be deprived of their liberty under risk-based legislation, implemented initially by law enforcement agencies; such measures do little to alleviate pain or suffering. More humane approaches should be universal.”1
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References
- Lancet. (2023). Punishing the tortured: criminalisation of suicide. The Lancet, 401(10384), 1241. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(23)00764-x
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