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suicide, a crime?

Before the Suicide Act of 1961, it was in fact a crime to ‘commit suicide’ in the UK – and anyone who attempted to take their own life could be prosecuted and sent to prison, if they were found in time. 

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You may ask, why ? In part, the criminalization reflected religious and moral objections to suicide as self-murder. The view was formulated that whoever deliberately took away the life given to them by their Creator, showed disregard for the will and authority of God, which therefore encouraged the Church to treat suicide as a sin.

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However, by the early 1960’s the Church of England was re-evaluating its stance on the legality of suicide and decided that suicide prevention and counselling would be a better solution to the problem, rather than criminalisation.

The Suicide Act of 1961 decriminalised the act of suicide in England and Wales, to ensure that those who failed in their attempt/s to kill themselves would no longer be prosecuted.

The act did not apply to Scotland as suicide was never an offence under Scots Law.

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There has been much controversy in the media and within the suicide prevention community about the language that is used when describing or reporting on a 

suicide in order to ensure that the language used does not stigmatize those who die by or attempt suicide.

 

In fact a petition to ban the use of the term “Committed suicide” was launched on the 27th of August, 2015 by the national charity Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide.

They argue that, “this outdated term is on occasion used to verbally attack vulnerable survivors and the person who has died. Suicide is not crime, eradicate this phrase.”

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If the petition received ten thousand signatures, the Government would respond to the petition and if one hundred thousand signatures supported the petition then the banning of the word “committed suicide” would be considered for debate in Parliament.

The petition closed on the 28th of February, 2016 after receiving 2,011 signatures.

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Kate Nightingale, head of communications at Time to Change, England’s most ambitious campaign into ending discrimination surrounding mental health has said, “The media are extremely powerful and is consumed by millions of people everyday. Therefore, we would encourage journalists to recognise the influence they have when reporting on mental health as not to reinforce damaging stereotypes.”

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I spoke to Dr Andrew Mayers and bereavement specialist Mary McCarthy about the use of the term 'committed suicide'

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