Right to Commit Suicide?

[De-lousedInTheComatorium]

This thought popped into my head out of nowhere today. I have absolutely no history of suicidal thoughts, nor do I plan to. It is merely something to think about. Should people be allowed to commit suicide if they want? I've heard these stories of someone about to jump off of a bridge to commit suicide and then a random police officer doesn't let him/her. Or similar stories like that. Should the government really label you as mentally unstable because you're choosing to bring a death to yourself now that you will experience one day anyways? Suicide has had many different lights shed on it by legal systems of different countries. Here's a bit I pulled from Wikipedia: Spoiler for Suicide laws: Australia (Victoria) In the Australian state of Victoria, while suicide itself is no longer a crime, a survivor of a suicide pact can be charged with manslaughter. Also, it is a crime to counsel, incite, or aid and abet another to attempt or commit suicide, and the law explicitly allows any person to use "such force as may reasonably be necessary" to prevent another from committing suicide. England and Wales Suicide (and thus also attempted suicide) was illegal under English Law but ceased to be an offence with the passing of the Suicide Act 1961; the same Act makes it an offence to assist a suicide. While the simple act of suicide is lawful the consequences of committing suicide might turn an individual event into an unlawful act, as in the case of Reeves v Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis [2000] 1 AC 360 [3], where a man in police custody hanged himself and was held equally liable with the police (a cell door defect enabled the hanging) for the loss suffered by his widow; the practical effect was to reduce the police damages liability by 50%. India In India, attempted suicide is a punishable crime by up to one year in prison and/or fine. For a brief while, the courts had repealed the section of the penal code which prohibited suicide but a recent decision of the Indian Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of prohibiting suicide. Ireland Attempted suicide is not a criminal offence in Ireland. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are illegal however. Under Irish law self-harm is not generally seen as a form of attempted suicide. Netherlands In the Netherlands, being present and giving moral support during someone's suicide is not a crime; neither is supplying general information on suicide techniques. However, it is a crime to participate in the preparation for or execution of a suicide, including supplying lethal means or instruction in their use. (Euthanasia may be an exception. See Euthanasia in the Netherlands.) Russian Federation In Russia, inciting someone to suicide by threats, cruel treatment or systematic humiliation is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. (Article 110 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) Scotland Suicide is not an offence under Scots Law thus there is no offence committed by attempting suicide as there is in England and Wales. A person who assists a suicide might be charged with murder, culpable homicide or no offence at all depending upon the facts of each case. Singapore In Singapore, a person attempting to commit suicide can be imprisoned by up to one year. United States In the United States, suicide has never been punished as a crime nor penalized by property forfeiture or ignominious burial.[citation needed] Historically, various states listed the act as a felony, but all were reluctant to enforce it. By 1963, six states still considered attempted suicide a crime (North and South Dakota, Washington, New Jersey, Nevada, and Oklahoma that repealed its law in 1976). By the early 1990s only two US states still listed suicide as a crime, and these have since removed that classification. In some U.S. states, suicide is still considered an unwritten "common law crime," that is, a crime based on the law of old England as stated in Blackstone's Commentaries. (So held the Virginia Supreme Court in Wackwitz v. Roy in 1992.) As a common law crime, suicide can bar recovery for the family of the suicidal person in a lawsuit unless the suicidal person can be proven to have been "of unsound mind." That is, the suicide must be proven to have been an involuntary, not voluntary, act of the victim in order for the family to be awarded money damages by the court. This can occur when the family of the deceased sues the caregiver (perhaps a jail or hospital) for negligence in failing to provide appropriate care.[4] Some legal scholars look at the issue as one of personal liberty. According to Nadine Strossen, President of the ACLU, "The idea of government making determinations about how you end your life, forcing you...could be considered cruel and unusual punishment in certain circumstances, and Justice Stevens in a very interesting opinion in a right-to-die [case] raised the analogy."[5] In many jurisdictions medical facilities are empowered or required to commit anyone whom they believe to be suicidal for evaluation and treatment. See Code 5150 for example. I'm not sure where I stand on it as I've never actually thought about this before.