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From: steve@bambi.UUCP (Steve Miller)
Newsgroups: net.suicide,net.legal,net.religion
Subject: Re: Painless Suicide Methods: Are we discussing an illegal topic?
Message-ID: <338@bambi.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 22-Mar-86 16:50:48 EST
Article-I.D.: bambi.338
Posted: Sat Mar 22 16:50:48 1986
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> Why on earth is suicide still illegal??? 
> 
> Legally, it seems silly.  Do (presumably unsuccessful) suiciders *ever*
> get prosecuted in the United States?  If not, why is there a law on the
> subject?  Is there any state in which the law reckons an attempted
> suicide as an automatic proof of insanity (as opposed to reckoning it
> a crime?)  Is there any state in which suicide is legal?
> 
Jack Moore, a New Jersey attorney tells us:

Suicide is still illegal because its accomplishment increases the
probablility that others will commit the act.  Assuming that the number
of suicides increases, the level of organization, productivity,
etc., in society generally decreases, affecting individuals adversely.
Legally it's NOT silly because the laws on suicide deter people from
exhorting others to commit the act for fear of prosecution for complicity.
And people ARE prosecuted for this kind of accomplice liability, even if
only at the complaint stage of criminal procedings.

For example:  If X tells Y "Go ahead, take this poison and end your
misery," and if Y fails, and the complaint is brought against X,
X is less likely to encourage Y to repeat the attempt.  And to some
degree, it lowers the probability that Y will do so.

(How refreshing to get an answer from a REAL lawyer, don't you think?)

		-Steve Miller ihnp4!bambi!steve