Discussion Should suicide be Illegal?

[You]

Usually the media talks about suicide as a disease, every year it's "...X number of people where victims of suicide..." So i started thinking and what if some country (if there isn't one already) made suicide illegal, and would punish the survivers or desecrated and disrespect the bodies of the people who dared to break "the law".
Do you think it would stop people from commiting suicide?
Would it be moral?
And If such scenario existed, how do you think you would deal with it?

 

[Lost4toolong]

Minus desecration and disrespect. It is illegal in the u.s as far as im aware. I mean your freedoms can be taken away due to it

 

[JohnUK]

@Lost4toolong I think it's illegal here in the UK. Well assist a suicide anyway.

 

[Lost4toolong]

@Lost4toolong I think it's illegal here in the UK. Well assist a suicide anyway.

Assisting suicide is illegal here too. Even telling someone to do it

 

[JohnUK]

It's silly really when people say we have a right to choose our own destiny but not when it comes to suicide

 

[Apathy79]

Attempted suicide was illegal here when I went through law school. Not sure if it still is.

 

[Lost4toolong]

It's silly really when people say we have a right to choose our own destiny but not when it comes to suicide

I agree. Personally i imagine how many people could die in peace. Who could have somebody there and not have to be alone hiding because the world would try to stop them

 

[JohnUK]

@Lost4toolong exactly

 

[Ferret]

It was a crime to commit or attempt to commit suicide in the UK until The Suicide Act 1961.

Section 2 of which brought about a new offence of "complicity in suicide", basically assisting suicide.

Which reads...

A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or attempt by another to commit suicide shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

 

[gnomeboy17]

Suicide used to be illegal in the UK till fairly recently. Pretty sure if you failed you went to prison, but now people know better, that you'd need mental help, rather than punishment.

Also you used to not be able to get buried with a grave because they thought you didn't deserve that respect and because suicide is a sin. [In religion]

 

[Abaigh]

Attempted suicide was illegal here when I went through law school. Not sure if it still is.

What country are you from?

 

[Roger]

What country are you from?

Why don't people include this information in their profile ?

 

[Apathy79]

What country are you from?

Australia

Why don't people include this information in their profile ?

I never bothered with a profile. Didn't expect to be here so long!

 

[ctbUniquectb]

Suicide shouldn't be illegal because nothing should be illegal.

No gods. No masters.

Why don't people include this information in their profile ?

Oh and no countries either.

 

[drivingaround]

I don't think committing suicide or having assisted suicide should be illegal. With making suicide illegal I just think that would make people intending to end their lives more meticulous in planning to be 100% sure they would die and not have to endure being treated like criminals.

 

[meerpasta]

Anyone who thinks suicide should be illegal or never allowed in any situation does not have a right to complain when people throw themselves in front of trains or perform other messy suicides. It's incredibly hard to actually kill yourself, even if you're suffering immensely and there is no other way, and the fact that you can't even talk to your relatives or closest friends about it without them having a right to call up the mental ward and get you locked up does not help, it only increases the suffering which leads to more desperate and messy suicides.

We could all not only peacefully pass away surrounded by those we love, but we could also open up so much more conversation and create more understanding if it wasn't for the fact that you're seen as a straight up insane or criminal for implying that you want to leave this earth earlier than expected.

 

[Epsilon0]

As every teacher in every classroom in the world says: "There are no dumb questions."

I think the OP just busted that axiom.

 

[ctbUniquectb]

I think the OP just busted that axiom.

Be nice. There are no stupid questions, just inquisitive imbeciles.

 

[gnomeboy17]

As every teacher in every classroom in the world says: "There are no dumb questions."

I think the OP just busted that axiom.

What are you saying is the stupid question? Jeez man

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

Things like the OP suggests have been around forever. Such measures are forms of social control.

A member from Saudi Arabia just posted in in the past few days that they were considering claiming apostasy (rejecting the Muslim faith) so that they would be beheaded and save their family the social stigma of their suicide.

Some so-called third world countries desecrate bodies after death or execution to reinforce opinions and laws. It is a quite effective terror tactic. Throughout history, how many hanging bodies and impaled heads have been left on display as reminders of the power of oppressors?

Such methods are definitely deterrents, and if applied to suicide, then those who sought such an exit would be forced to either live or seek another way out, like staging an accident or using the state itself to provide the means, such as suicide by cop or the alternative considered by the Saudi Arabian member.

 

[Epsilon0]

I apologize, my post wasn't very nice, I really should have phrased it better
@ctbUniquectb and @justanotherhuman6

When you've bern active for a while, and see the words "illegal" and "suicide" in the same sentence, you tend to have a knee-jerk reaction.

The OP asked a question and it should be answered in a respectful manner.

 

[Proto]

Maybe assisted suicide but suicide if done humane should be legal because it's your own damn body and your own choice.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

I apologize, my post wasn't very nice, I really should have phrased it better
@ctbUniquectb and @justanotherhuman6

When you've bern active for a while, and see the words "illegal" and "suicide" in the same sentence, you tend to have a knee-jerk reaction.

The OP asked a question and it should be answered in a respectful manner.

The post itself was good, but in this environment, the title question was incendiary and provocative. I was at first surprised by your comment, but based on the title, took it as you described, a knee-jerk reaction, a one-off. I respect that you took the criticism as constructive and appreciate that you explained what motivated the comment.

A general observation: Personally, I'm not big on niceness, it is often inauthentic, and covers up ill intentions and masks bad feelings. Also, little girls are often shamed by being told to be nice when they are being assertive and direct.

(I'm not at all saying you were doing this, @ctbUniquectb! "Be nice" is something people say without realizing it has deeper implications, I do not at all think you were intentionally being negating or minimizing. I've seen enough of your posts and have had past interactions with you which lead me to assess that you have good intentions and are capable of hearing what I'm saying here without taking it as a smack-down, I promise it's not one. I appreciate you and never have any ill intentions toward you.)

 

[Epsilon0]

@GoodPersonEffed

Also, little girls are often shamed by being told to be nice when they are being assertive and direct.


I this comment. Gender roles must be questioned as they almost always go unnoticed. I it when you put your critical reading glasses on!

 

[gnomeboy17]

I apologize, my post wasn't very nice, I really should have phrased it better
@ctbUniquectb and @justanotherhuman6

When you've bern active for a while, and see the words "illegal" and "suicide" in the same sentence, you tend to have a knee-jerk reaction.

The OP asked a question and it should be answered in a respectful manner.

No worries! We're all like that sometimes! Ta' for being respectful :)

 

[Anon2662]

I did not know that it used to be illegal in the UK to commit suicide.. I know it is illegal to assist someone else, but as if they used to jail people who had failed attempts! Shocking! And in answer to the question, no I don't think suicide should be illegal. I do think that assisted suicidal should be made legal here too, but only by medical practitioners, not family members purely because that's a huge burden to bare and it means there wouldn't be any doubt that dying is definitely what the person wants. I also think in other countries where assisted suicide is legal, it should be made easier to be accepted for MH rather than just physical problems.

 

[liverpoolfan]

Maybe assisted suicide but suicide if done humane should be legal because it's your own damn body and your own choice.

THIS.
So fucking much this. My view is as follows and it's as strong a 'belief' as I have:

If we agree AT ALL in the concept of human rights then the most fundamental right of all is that we are not the property of other people.
If we agree AT ALL with the concept of ownership, the most fundamental ownership of all is ownership of your own thoughts. If you don't own the cells that constitute you, what on Earth DO you own?

Thus, despite the sadness and fear and general darkness that surrounds death, and dying, to be against a human being's ownership of their own body and mind explicitly endorses the worst type of tyranny imaginable.
It literally destroys the concept of agency and freedom at its most fundamental level and makes others the owners of ourselves.

I place deliberately preventing a human who doesn't want to live from ending their own life as they please in the same category as deliberately taking the life of a human who doesn't want to die.

As you can see I feel pretty strongly on this subject...

 

[Ijustwantpeace]

Society is so retarded. It should be a human right to end your life for whatever fucking reason as long as you are in a clear state of mind (non-impulsive).

 

[TAW122]

In the scenario you described, I would guess that the people who want to go wouldn't really be deterred (especially when they have planned it from the start and carefully too). They would just find different avenues to go about it and do it in secrecy. As for others, it might change how they act or influence them, especially if they are truly determined (like the impulsive suicide attempts that often end up in failure). Then again, there are laws that restrict a lot of things, but it doesn't stop some people from carrying out whatever they intend to do (this includes criminals and other bad people in the real world).

As for suicide being illegal, it is the irony in such that people claim that it isn't illegal in the sense that you would be charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one (unless your attempt involved doing something illegal), yet on the same token, the act/attempt is treated like it is a crime as the suicidal are treated like suspects in a crime despite having done nothing illegal to begin with.

 

[a.n.kirillov]

No or course it shouldn't. Whoever said it was illegal in the US and UK, I seriously doubt that but I'm not familiar with the laws there.

As @GoodPersonEffed said, if a government wants to prevent suicides by making them illegal they would have to punish the survivers (both attempt survivors and the remaining family). This has been done throughout history and us still practiced in third world shitholes.

Now what I think is that not only should suicide be perfectly legal but also assisting someone in suicide or providing the means for it should be; even obtaining illegal substances should in retrospect not be punished as long as the intention was clearly to terminate one's own life.