Why is suicide illegal?

[MJinZ]

It's pretty stupid for it to be illegal.

But sometimes you just gotta have some makeup for the pig.

 

[OCGuy]

Illegal? How many people have been convicted of this crime?

 

[woolfe9999]

Neither suicide nor assisted suicide should be illegal. In my view the right to end one's own life is as fundamental as the right to life itself. It should never be for someone else to decide, not the state nor anyone else but the person whose life is at issue.

- wolf

 

[MJinZ]

Illegal? How many people have been convicted of this crime?

Not sure, it sounds like a waste of money to prosecute a corpse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_legislation#United_States

 

[MJinZ]

Neither suicide nor assisted suicide should be illegal. In my view the right to end one's own life is as fundamental as the right to life itself. It should never be for someone else to decide, not the state nor anyone else but the person whose life is at issue.

- wolf

But the same thing with the whoring industry. I mean who says you can't get paid for sex? That's stupid.

But we gotta put some pretty makeup around the pig ya know, or other people will think our society is teh suck.

 

[OCGuy]

Not sure, it sounds like a waste of money to prosecute a corpse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_legislation#United_States

So you just proved to all of us that this thread is a waste of time.

 

[Schadenfroh]

It is not a victimless crime as it greatly impacts the friends / family of the person that committed suicide. This can lead to more suicides.

That being said, you cannot really punish someone who successfully pulls it off. I wonder if "attempted suicides" would increase if the suicide laws were repealed. Real attempted suicides, IMO, are rather rare. If you want to die, there are ways you can ensure that you are successful.

That being said, suicide and consensual euthanasia should be legal as the only way to punish someone is if they fail to pull it off.

 

[nobodyknows]

Do you think maybe it's illegal so that people can't help other people commit suicide?

 

[woolfe9999]

But the same thing with the whoring industry. I mean who says you can't get paid for sex? That's stupid.

But we gotta put some pretty makeup around the pig ya know, or other people will think our society is teh suck.

Prostitution is an individual choice as well and should not be illegal. It isn't a truly fundamental right like the right to end one's own life, but it is basically victimless and hence there is no reason whatsoever to criminalize it.

And who cares if outsiders think our society is "teh suck?" Screw them.

- wolf

 

[woolfe9999]

Do you think maybe it's illegal so that people can't help other people commit suicide?

Actually no. It's more likely illegal because it's a sin in Christianity. But you raise the more interesting point - whether assisted suicide should be legal or not.

- wolf

 

[nobodyknows]

It is not a victimless crime as it greatly impacts the friends / family of the person that committed suicide. This can lead to more suicides.
.

So what's the punishment, life?

 

[JSt0rm]

It's illegal because it removes tax payers and debtors from the system.

 

[nobodyknows]

Actually no. It's more likely illegal because it's a sin in Christianity. But you raise the more interesting point - whether assisted suicide should be legal or not.

- wolf

Adultry is also a sin, but it's not illegal.

 

[Red Dawn]

Because it usually has other victims besides the person offing themselves. Not always but most of the time.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Adultry is also a sin, but it's not illegal.

Actually, just coveting your neighbors wife is a sin. You don't even have to commit adultery and your neighbors don't even have to know that she's in the spank bank...

 

[Moonbeam]

It's illegal because it removes tax payers and debtors from the system.

I think it's more a way not to have to pay our life insurance. If it were legal millions of Taliban Republicans would take out policies benefiting the Republican party and off themselves by driving into buildings.

 

[nobodyknows]

Because it usually has other victims besides the person offing themselves. Not always but most of the time.

True, but making it illegal isn't going to stop anyone who really wants to kill themselves.

 

[Moonbeam]

Neither suicide nor assisted suicide should be illegal. In my view the right to end one's own life is as fundamental as the right to life itself. It should never be for someone else to decide, not the state nor anyone else but the person whose life is at issue.

- wolf

Do you want the chemically depressed to have the right to kill themselves. Personally, I would prefer the right of society to force chemical injection to end such depression.

I think the right to suicide is only for those who are actually sane in that decision. The issue is how do you differentiate between a sick and a sane decision.

 

[Daedalus685]

It is illegal because it is considered an illness such that no rational person woudl consider it for the most part.

Those that attempt it are very likely to be severely ill.

Thus it allows immediate intervention by emergency workers and police whenther consent is given or not. While this is a false presumption and there are cases where suicide may be a legitimate want unrelated to a mental illness the laws are on the books so the police are permitted to stop someone.

 

[nobodyknows]

I think it's more a way not to have to pay our life insurance. If it were legal millions of Taliban Republicans would take out policies benefiting the Republican party and off themselves by driving into buildings.

Or vice versa?

Don't most (if not all?) life insurance policies have suicide clauses?

 

[woolfe9999]

Adultry is also a sin, but it's not illegal.

Adultry HAS BEEN illegal for the greater part of our history, in most jurisdictions and perhaps all at one time or another IIRC. Not very well enforced, but illegal nonetheless. And illegal precisely because it's a "sin." I see no reason to believe that the illegality of suicide is not based on the same rationale. The only reason the criminality of adultery has not persisted everywhere is likely because there are just so many people doing it that there is no point anymore. Criminalizing adultery is kind of like the 55 mph speed limit. That, however, it neither here nor there since it's pretty clear that both suicide and adultery have been criminalized for he exact same "biblical" reason.

- wolf

 

[MJinZ]

So what's the punishment, life?

Life in Society! :awe:

 

[Phokus]

christian values

/thread

 

[nobodyknows]

It is illegal because it is considered an illness such that no rational person woudl consider it for the most part.

Those that attempt it are very likely to be severely ill.

Thus it allows immediate intervention by emergency workers and police whenther consent is given or not. While this is a false presumption and there are cases where suicide may be a legitimate want unrelated to a mental illness the laws are on the books so the police are permitted to stop someone.

So your saying that if you see someone commiting xuicide to call the police? Will they stop it or help them (suicide by police)?

Or are you saying that if their attempt fails that wihtout a law making it illegal we couldn't put them in an oinsitution wher they could get help?

Or perhaps we are just afraid of people willoing to go to such desperate lenghts therefore we need to "pass a law" against it??

 

[MJinZ]

It is illegal because it is considered an illness such that no rational person woudl consider it for the most part.

Those that attempt it are very likely to be severely ill.

Thus it allows immediate intervention by emergency workers and police whenther consent is given or not. While this is a false presumption and there are cases where suicide may be a legitimate want unrelated to a mental illness the laws are on the books so the police are permitted to stop someone.

I like this reason.

So, the fact that the legality is useless because the successful execution of the crime can not be punished is moot - it's intended purpose is to give societal control over suicidal persons who have not yet succeeded.