# Suicide question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081 "2003-07-08T20:34:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![insider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/1 "2003-07-08T20:34:52Z")
Someone has probably asked this before but I could not find anything in the archive. Is suicide legal or illegal? What is the penality for an ununsuccessful attempt? I guess we know what it is for a successful attempt. This question came up during a discussion I was having with my son about the legality of suicide. He claims that one of his college professors stated that it was not illegal. Who is right here teeming millions? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/2 "2003-07-08T21:08:10Z")
It is my understanding that it’s illegal in all states but Oregon. The penalty for an unsuccessful attempt is usually a two-week stay at the local looney bin. And you don’t get to own a gun. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/3 "2003-07-08T21:22:41Z")
Suicide cannot be illegal because you cannot punish the dead. (Let’s not get into the cirles of hell thing.) _Attempted_ Suicide is a crime and is typically punished with psychiatric observation etc. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/4 "2003-07-08T21:43:56Z")
Many sources claim that attempted suicide has been decriminalized in every state. Those sources are probably right. Still it’s at least _conceivable_ that attempted suicide could be criminally punished (psychiactric evaluation not being a criminal punishment; you can’t bail yourself out of the mental hospital until your attempted suicide trial). Suicide was a common law crime, as was assisting suicide, and the common law is still in effect where not derogated by statute in most all US states. Kevorkian was tried for the common law crime of assisting suicide in Michigan, even though no Michigan statute existed criminalizing it. The jury acquitted him because there was a dearth of evidence interpreting the common law on that point. So, it’s remotely possible that suicide could also be prosecuted by someone somewhere just because the common law criminalizing suicide hasn’t been openly stuck down by the state’s legislature or highest court yet. But for all practical purposes, suicide is either affirmatively decriminalized by every state or else is no longer prosecuted by them. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/5 "2003-07-08T21:44:53Z")
Anyone know how those laws are phrased? If every attept results in psychiatric care, it sounds a little bizarre: Is anyone ever convicted as plain old guilty, or is it always “not guilty by reason of insanity”? Perhaps the attempt is not exactly illegal per se, but something along the lines of the gov’t being allowed to rule the person as being a threat to himself, and therefore he must be sent for such care, and irrespective of whether or not the attempted suicide was actaully illegal? Is this post making any sense? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/6 "2003-07-08T21:50:48Z")
Many sources claim that attempted suicide has been decriminalized in every state. Those sources are probably right. Still it’s at least **conceivable** that attempted suicide could be criminally punished (psychiactric evaluation not being a criminal punishment; you can’t bail yourself out of the mental hospital). Suicide and attempted suicide were common law crimes, as was assisting suicide, and the common law is still in effect where not derogated by statute in most all US states. Kevorkian was tried for the common law crime of assisting suicide in Michigan, even though no Michigan statute existed criminalizing it. The jury acquitted him because there was a dearth of evidence interpreting the common law on that point. So, it’s remotely possible that attempted suicide could also be prosecuted by someone somewhere just because the common law criminalizing suicide hasn’t been openly stuck down by the state’s legislature or highest court yet. But for all practical purposes, attempted suicide is either affirmatively decriminalized by every state or else is no longer prosecuted. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/7 "2003-07-08T21:51:33Z")
Thanks, Pravnik. You’re pretty much answered every point I raised. (That does not count as a simulpost. Do we have a different word for it?) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/8 "2003-07-08T22:11:04Z")
Y’ welcome. I should clarify that an attempted suicide can result in involuntary committment proceedings that do seem at first blush to be quasi-criminal in nature, since they both involve hearings and buildings you can’t get out of, but the mechanics and proceedings are different and aren’t criminal. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/9 "2004-02-27T00:01:13Z")
There are many different answers to the OP given here. Does anyone have the straight dope? [This](http://www.contemplatingsuicide.com/didyouknow.cfm) web page says: > [@](#): > > In a few states, it is still against the law to attempt suicide, but helping someone else commit suicide is a felony in all fifty states. [This](http://www.ricw.state.ri.us/123/hmh/mh/21.html) web page says: > [@](#): > > People do not have the right to take their own lives, it is against the law in Rhode Island to do so. And [this](http://www.mhsource.com/expert/exp1072400c.html) one: > [@](#): > > I am advised by the California Alliance for the Mentally Ill (CAMI) that there is no statute on the books in California that criminalizes suicide or attempted suicide. So far I have gathered that, in most states (California being one) suicide is not against the law but in some they are, Rhode Island being one of them. Does anyone know of all the states where suicide is illegal and what the punishments are? Has any state actually charged someone for attempting suicide, with attempting to commit a crime? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/10 "2004-02-27T04:05:36Z")
There are many illogical laws on the books that cannot be enfgorced. Suicide is one of them. If you are successful you can’t be prosecuted. If you fail you may be a guest of the state witn a nice comfy rubber room. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-question/187081/11 "2004-02-27T21:50:02Z")
bump