Should suicide be legalized?

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Think of it this way: if you were suicidal, would like to be able to commit suicide legally? Yes or no?

Can suicide really be illegal? What would the penalty be? Capital punishment?

i dont nesecarily condone suicide, but i think, in the us it should be legal because we have the right to do whatever we want with ourselves so long as it doesnt interfere with the rights of others. and geez... what are they gonna do? put you in jail for suicide? ive seen so many episodes of cops where people would be arrested for ATTEMPTING it, its kinda silly... unless its someone jumping off an overpass where they could land on a car or otherwise cause a wreck and kill someone else in the process... but thats another story

What are you saying? Is it illegal? Are you asking if you would like to be able to survive an attempt and not be locked up in a hospital for it? Are you asking if you would like you family to be able to claim insurance benifits. I am confused. If you are dead, what legal action can they take?

i just find it to be such a silly law, i mean, if you're in such a state of despair, that the kitchen knife looks really friendly, then do you really care about it being illegal? do you really care about the insurance not giving money to your family? yeah its rather selfish, but when you're that sad, you probably dont care about being selfish or not either.

I think that most people who are suicidal aren't thinking straight and would be quite happy to be prevented from committing suicide.

They polled people who tried to kill themselves by jumping in front of subway cars and survived... ALL of them said they were glad they had survived. The average time they considered suicide before they jumped? 27 minutes.

That's not thinking straight.

Anyway, we never prosecute attempted suicides--why would we? They almost all fall under the heading of the 'insanity defense'--they were so depressed that they couldn't help it.

If you legalized suicide, we'd have a bigger problem on our hands. All those people who are considered to be a burden would be encouraged to consider it... After all, financial considerations have been a reason for passively allowing someone to die before (usually in terms of removing life-support)...

I really don't know if it would go that far. But I do know that if suicide were legal, and ANYBODY were encouraged to consider it, it would be the old, the sick, and the disabled--people who are vulnerable to begin with.

I've been depressed. I've been suicidal. I'm glad I survived; and I want other people to survive, too, because no matter how much they want to die now (and chances are they don't really even want to die; they just don't want to live the way they're living), they won't want to when their circumstances are better and they are thinking straight again.

Suicide Booths on every street-corner? Please.

You realize this would amount to a government-sanctioned mass euthanasia program. No, this kind of insanity belongs in South Park. IRL we have more than enough craziness as it is.

Would the Suicide Booth technicians be EMTs or morticians or CSI?

slowmutant -- actually that's been considered by some people who are fanatical about making suicide easy, but has nothing to do with the question of suicide being legal.

Suicide is not illegal in my country anyway. I see no reason to make it easy or pleasant (and if so, it should be across the board, not just easy and pleasant for some people because that's a massive ethical quagmire).

Suicide is illegal so insurance companies wouldn't have to give the families or spouses any money. If it were legal, then people would be committing suicide so their families would get money because they are in debt lets say or they are heading for a foreclosure on their house.

My mother explained all this to me when I asked her why is suicide illegal, and then said, 'what are they going to do? Send a dead body to prison.'

Are you talking about doctor-assisted suicides, like a Jack Kevorkian-type thing?

I lost a Brother to suicide 11 years ago. He was diagnosed Bipolar at the age of 19, he attempted suicide several times between the age of 19 and 21 (always with pills). He seemed to cope a little better with life after the birth of his daughter and completion of school ( he was a brilliant Man). He graduated top of his class (industrial electrician) and held a very good job up until the day he died.

He moved out West in 1994 to take a very good job, making amazing money. He didn't tell alot of people about his illness though, he thought they would think differently of him. I would say that from the age of 24 right through until his death at age 31, he had very view depressive episodes and even fewer manic ones. And then...just like that.....he was gone one night! he hung himself in his basement....he was 31 years old

Is what he did illegal? I don't think so. I do think that what he did was "in a moment of pure darkness" . Somewhere in his thoughts at that moment he believed it was for the best. Maybe he was tired of fighting for some true sense of "normal" (whatever normal really is) or maybe he was tired of feeling like he had to be someone he wasn't (someone without this illness). I read a quote one day that has helped me through 11 years of questions, pain, heartbreak and wonder:

"Some have the courage to live, while others have the courage to die"

Yes, and maybe even suicide seminars to help people commit suicide better. There is a book called Final Exit that does just that. ANd there is the Final Exit Society ...