# Youngest Person To Consciously Commit Suicide? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798 "2011-06-08T23:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/1 "2011-06-08T23:05:32Z")
Who is the youngest person to have conciously committed suicide? Because I just read a post on another forum that talked about a _six year-old_ who took his own life after his dad died of war wounds and his mother killed herself after her spouse’s death. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/2 "2011-06-08T23:13:55Z")
Several web sites list 6 year old Samantha Kuberski as the youngest. Here’s one article: > [@](#): > > Six-Year-Old’s Death Ruled a Suicide > > Though the death of a 6-year-old girl in Oregon was ruled a suicide by a state medical examiner, questions remain around her actual intent. After Samantha Kuberski, a first-grader, was sent to her room following a disagreement with her mother in December, she tied a belt onto a bar of an unused crib and hanged herself. But police are still not sure that the girl realized she was taking her own life. “The disagreement is a little more philosophical than it is material to the case,” McMinnville police Capt. Dennis Marks said. “It’s not that we disagree with the mechanics of what happened. It’s the finding that a 6-year-old could form that kind of intent.” The medical examiners maintain that interviews with the family show the girl knew the dangers of putting a belt around her neck and that she had made statements indicating she would kill herself. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/3 "2011-06-08T23:18:33Z")
Another 6 year old, from the NY Times archives: > [@](#): > > 6-Year-Old Commits Suicide > Published: June 17, 1993 > > A 6-year-old girl was killed today when she stepped in front of a train, telling two siblings and a cousin that she wanted “to become an angel and be with her mother.” The girl was identified as Jackie Johnson; the authorities said her mother, Carla Johnson, had a terminal illness. Jackie’s death was ruled a suicide. I didn’t find any information on a 6 year old boy in my (admittedly brief) search. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/4 "2011-06-08T23:27:01Z")
Wow, those stories are really depressing. I can’t imagine a six-year-old who would want to end their life. ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/5 "2011-06-09T00:49:13Z")
Interesting that all the examples so far have been six-year-olds. Isn’t six also the youngest age where psychologists can tell a regular child from a psychopathic/sociopathic one? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/6 "2011-06-09T01:08:47Z")
I have a family friend who was for many years a guidance counselor who had more than one suicidal first grader. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/7 "2011-06-09T02:09:24Z")
I also have a family friend who had a son that attempted to kill himself around…yep, 6 years old. He later tried to burn the house down. He is institutionalized more or less for life due to severe psychosis. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/8 "2011-06-09T02:38:38Z")
I was diagnosed with clinical depression in kindergarten and had symptoms in preschool. I have a vague memory of running into a parking lot as a small child because my understanding at the time was that if I ran into a parking lot and didn’t hold someone’s hand I would be run over and killed. I’d be surprised if I was five at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/9 "2011-06-09T03:41:34Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Several web sites list 6 year old Samantha Kuberski as the youngest. Here’s one article: I agree with the police. I would query whether the kid in this instance really realised what the effective outcome of what they were doing would be. Yes they may have known that the result of what they were doing was called “killing themself”. However, my experience of six year olds is that they may well not really have been capable of understanding that death means all over, kaput, no more life for them. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/10 "2011-06-09T07:18:28Z")
And as the horrible example of the girl who wanted ‘to become an angel’ shows, it may be the belief that life is _not_ over that causes such tragedies. I don’t think many six year olds can conceive of death as final, of ceasing to exist. Hell, I’m not sure many adults can… ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/11 "2011-06-09T08:00:35Z")
I don’t know how deep my understanding was as a six-year-old, but I definitely had no conception of an afterlife. I understood death was the end. I remember being _scared_ as a child that there might be an afterlife, that I might not actually die like I wanted to, but I didn’t think it was likely. That was when I was a bit older, I think, however. Wow, I hadn’t thought in a long time about how much of my childhood I spent wishing I were dead. I had a more-or-less normal, middle-class childhood, too. We moved from Canada to Arkansas when I was about three–which now that I think about it, isn’t really much of an explanation for why I felt so isolated once I started school. But there was no abuse of any kind, no tragedy, nothing that would have made life unhappy for anyone with a normally-functioning mind. I just found life unenjoyable from as far back as I can remember. I still suffer from depression, but medication and experience keep it in remission most of the time. No major depressive episodes in the past five years. I’ve felt a few symptoms the last few weeks due to some stress and a physical illness, but thinking about my childhood actually puts in in perspective. I was a miserable little kid! I’ve always wondered what I should do if I ever experience another major depressive episode. The last one I had was probably the worst, although I was able to get myself out of it by making some major changes in my life that gave me a new feeling of control and freedom. In my non-depressed state, I recognize how warped my thinking is when I’m depressed, and I know that those episodes are temporary. But at my most right-thinking and optimistic moments, if you promised me a long lifetime of satisfaction and joy following a month of depression, I’m not sure if I’d be willing to endure the month. At the same time, I know what it would cause those who love me, and what I myself would miss out on if I ever succumbed. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/12 "2011-06-10T21:55:19Z")
If anyone’s interested, I found an article with more details about that little girl who wanted to be an angel: [http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-06-20/news/9301190705\_1\_mother-children-jackie-johnson](http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-06-20/news/9301190705_1_mother-children-jackie-johnson) Sadly the mother died 5 months after the daughter (apparently of AIDS): [http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-09-14/news/9309140052\_1\_ms-johnson-johnson-s-death-illness](http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-09-14/news/9309140052_1_ms-johnson-johnson-s-death-illness) I hope the surviving siblings managed to go on to have good lives. They had more than their fair share of heartbreak. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/13 "2011-06-10T22:28:02Z")
A guy I went to grade school with hanged himself after his father was killed during WW2; I don’t remember our exact age although I would guess between six and eight, and I’ve forgotten his name. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youngest-person-to-consciously-commit-suicide/584798/14 "2011-06-11T19:43:58Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > A guy I went to grade school with hanged himself after his father was killed during WW2; I don’t remember our exact age although I would guess between six and eight, and I’ve forgotten his name. Wow, that is horrible. I feel terrible for the kid, his Mom, and the rest of the family.