I suspect the real reason is to allow police to use their own discretion.
I deal with a lot of mentally-unstable people, and some of them are suicidal.
The thing to realize about suicidal people, is that they can be really dangerous to non-suicidal people.
"I'm not hurting anyone but myself." is a big fat lie.
I have friends that work for the railroad, and train engineers have to deal with folks that suicide by train. It's bad PTSD. In some cases, it may even cause the train to derail, which could injure or kill a lot of others.
Then, there's "suicide by cop." Those people tend to hurt a lot of folks, before they get their wish granted.
Not everyone just wanders off into the desert, or takes a bunch of sleeping pills (by the way, I invite anyone to ask the person that finds one of these "easy" suicides, how they feel about it).
And, then, of course, you have your suicide bombers, but they know what they are doing, and aren't telling themselves the "I'm not hurting anyone but myself." lie.
Let's be clear about what mcherm wrote, they wrote that attempted suicide is criminalized to protect the person.
That's very different from what you describe. Yes, some suicidal people do some very dangerous things that may harm (or risk harm to) others, but in general things that cause harm to others are already going to fall under some criminal statute. Consider someone parking their car on train tracks, potentially derailing it. That act itself would be criminal whether there was an attempted suicide involved or not. The attempted suicide is not the crime (or should not be), in the train/car scenario, it's parking the car on the tracks that creates a crime.
It makes no sense to criminalize attempted suicide except as a way to punish the individual, it does not help them.
> Attempted suicide is criminalized in some jurisdictions for exactly that reason.
Ah yes, let's protect a suicidal person by charging them with a crime which they may eventually be able to expunge, but in the meantime will effect their livelihood. That will surely not create any problems which might complicate their lives and drive them further towards suicidal behavior.
It's my understanding that this is a crime that is never charged or prosecuted. Rather, if (attempted) suicide is a crime, it serves as a legal fiction that provides a structure for first responders to intervene. Police can then enter an office where someone is hanging out a window without a warrant, for example, because there are exigent circumstances (a crime in progress). Officers could also physical restrain someone trying to jump from a bridge and have a more straightforward justification for this after the fact. I think this is a societal good.
Have you seen any examples of suicidal people being charged or prosecuted for attempted suicide? I can imagine that this could have opportunities for abuse, but not ones that are qualitatively different from probable cause writ large.
That was never the case. Allegedly, they searched for her hoping to charge her with a crime, but when it was reported what they were doing, they said they were searching for her to make sure she was okay.
Committing crime is a crime against society and thus yourself, or something like that.
That's one view of justice anyway. I'm more inclined towards crimes being against specific persons or groups of distinct persons, in which case your thesis would be correct, but it's a minority opinion.
Attempted suicide is criminalized in some jurisdictions for exactly that reason.
I suspect the real reason is to allow police to use their own discretion.
I deal with a lot of mentally-unstable people, and some of them are suicidal.
The thing to realize about suicidal people, is that they can be really dangerous to non-suicidal people.
"I'm not hurting anyone but myself." is a big fat lie.
I have friends that work for the railroad, and train engineers have to deal with folks that suicide by train. It's bad PTSD. In some cases, it may even cause the train to derail, which could injure or kill a lot of others.
Then, there's "suicide by cop." Those people tend to hurt a lot of folks, before they get their wish granted.
Not everyone just wanders off into the desert, or takes a bunch of sleeping pills (by the way, I invite anyone to ask the person that finds one of these "easy" suicides, how they feel about it).
And, then, of course, you have your suicide bombers, but they know what they are doing, and aren't telling themselves the "I'm not hurting anyone but myself." lie.
Let's be clear about what mcherm wrote, they wrote that attempted suicide is criminalized to protect the person.
That's very different from what you describe. Yes, some suicidal people do some very dangerous things that may harm (or risk harm to) others, but in general things that cause harm to others are already going to fall under some criminal statute. Consider someone parking their car on train tracks, potentially derailing it. That act itself would be criminal whether there was an attempted suicide involved or not. The attempted suicide is not the crime (or should not be), in the train/car scenario, it's parking the car on the tracks that creates a crime.
It makes no sense to criminalize attempted suicide except as a way to punish the individual, it does not help them.
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> Attempted suicide is criminalized in some jurisdictions for exactly that reason.
Ah yes, let's protect a suicidal person by charging them with a crime which they may eventually be able to expunge, but in the meantime will effect their livelihood. That will surely not create any problems which might complicate their lives and drive them further towards suicidal behavior.
That makes perfect sense.
It's my understanding that this is a crime that is never charged or prosecuted. Rather, if (attempted) suicide is a crime, it serves as a legal fiction that provides a structure for first responders to intervene. Police can then enter an office where someone is hanging out a window without a warrant, for example, because there are exigent circumstances (a crime in progress). Officers could also physical restrain someone trying to jump from a bridge and have a more straightforward justification for this after the fact. I think this is a societal good.
Have you seen any examples of suicidal people being charged or prosecuted for attempted suicide? I can imagine that this could have opportunities for abuse, but not ones that are qualitatively different from probable cause writ large.
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Which ones? I couldn't find anything supporting that claim but I'm not an expert.
Involuntary mental health holds are a thing, but it's not an offense. You will get a bill though.
Not the person you asked but Kenya is one... But I doubt they use Flock (yet).
We should criminalize having a psychotic break, too, while we're at it
That was never the case. Allegedly, they searched for her hoping to charge her with a crime, but when it was reported what they were doing, they said they were searching for her to make sure she was okay.
Committing crime is a crime against society and thus yourself, or something like that.
That's one view of justice anyway. I'm more inclined towards crimes being against specific persons or groups of distinct persons, in which case your thesis would be correct, but it's a minority opinion.
s/excusive/exclusive