Should suicide be legal?

[Empty Smile]

Found an interesting topic to read. Some of the objections are hilarious.

Should suicide be legal? - Wikiversity

en.m.wikiversity.org

The greatest comment I found:

Also, a law against suicide is rather pointless and impossible to enforce, since the only way someone would ever be guilty of committing the crime of suicide is if they end up dead because of it, and it is stupid to waste time prosecuting dead people.

 

[SinisterKid]

Objection Most arguments against suicide don't have theological assumptions.

• Arguments against suicide always rely on implicit theological assumptions.
  • Several on this page don't.

Priceless!

 

[Superfluous]

Very interesting, although considering this is a "Law learning projects resource", it's full of grammatical errors (sorry - OCD pedant on board).

Some of my favourite phrases...

From The Ministry of the Bleeding Obvious:

killing yourself is inherently harmful

Suicide may or not be a harmful act. Who is harmed?

Suicide creates a self-inflicted death

And this one, taken out of context in the true tradition of the media:

Suicide is usually a permanent solution...

And finally, this seems only to apply to the male gender:

...then we should discourage someone from killing himself...

 

[inconsequential]

A crime that doesn't hurt anyone, or only hurts yourself, isn't truly a fucking crime. It's just something Society wants you to feel bad about & not do.

 

[puppy9]

yes, then I would not be suffering.

 

[Superfluous]

To the new members who posted here, please don't take offence as none is intended and you're all very welcome here. I would like to make the following comments...

@SinisterKid your purple font is lovely, but very difficult to read for those of us using dark modes

A crime that doesn't hurt anyone, or only hurts yourself, isn't truly a fucking crime. It's just something Society wants you to feel bad about & not do.

It's not a crime, but if you read the full article, there are arguments that the act can/does hurt others emotionally. Love the Marla Singer avatar - my fave movie of all time

yes, then I would not be suffering.

It is legal

Apologies if I'm coming across as a bit of a dick. It's been a really tough week for me.

 

[Jean Améry]

This debate amounts to one simple question: does freedom exist or does it not?

That suicide was decriminalized in most nations/states does not mean it's become legal: anything that can lead to incarceration by the state or under the authority of the state in any way, shape or form clearly is not legal at all. No matter how nice it's dressed up. Most countries on earth still see their citizens as irrational, incompetent children unable to decide whether or not their life is worth continuing.

Just take a common scenario: an argument between an adult and a child. The adult will chide the child and tell him/her he/she did something bad which it ought not have done and for which it ergo needs to be punished (e.g. standing in the corner for 5 minutes). Replace the people in this scenario with the state (the adult) and the suicidal (the child), the evaluation 'bad' with 'mental illness, dangerousness to self and unwillingness to undergo treatment' and the standing in the corner with incarceration in a psychiatric prison (in theory ad infinitum as the court order can be renewed over and over again) and you'll have an accurate picture of how incredibly absurd, foolish and dehumanizing the current suicide prohibition is. Nothing lesss than the prosecution of the innocent and the complete stripping away of personal autonomy and reponsibility.

 

[Severen]

I see the question as no different as, should jerking off be legal? Because it's my fucking body... My choice. Just because people find something I do to my body disturbing or offensive, who gives a shit. I find a lot of what people do their body disturbing or offensive but who am I to demand they are not allowed to do those things? Did I recently inherit them as my slaves? Are they my property? And if the answer is yes, who says that is a fact? It's not. They are only my property if I can make them accept this belief or put them in chains and shackles... If someone wants to CTB, he or she is going to do it, sooner or later, anyway unless they are completely incapacitated. Legal or not. If I could make people having sex, illegal tomorrow. How many people will become criminals then? Like 95% of the population?

 

[Empty Smile]

@Severen

If I could make people having sex, illegal tomorrow. How many people will become criminals then? Like 95% of the population?

Lucky for me, I fall into the 5% category.

 

[Superfluous]

This debate amounts to one simple question: does freedom exist or does it not?

That suicide was decriminalized in most nations/states does not mean it's become legal: anything that can lead to incarceration by the state or under the authority of the state in any way, shape or form clearly is not legal at all. No matter how nice it's dressed up. Most countries on earth still see their citizens as irrational, incompetent children unable to decide whether or not their life is worth continuing.

Just take a common scenario: an argument between an adult and a child. The adult will chide the child and tell him/her he/she did something bad which it ought not have done and for which it ergo needs to be punished (e.g. standing in the corner for 5 minutes). Replace the people in this scenario with the state (the adult) and the suicidal (the child), the evaluation 'bad' with 'mental illness, dangerousness to self and unwillingness to undergo treatment' and the standing in the corner with incarceration in a psychiatric prison (in theory ad infinitum as the court order can be renewed over and over again) and you'll have an accurate picture of how incredibly absurd, foolish and dehumanizing the current suicide prohibition is. Nothing lesss than the prosecution of the innocent and the complete stripping away of personal autonomy and reponsibility.

It's always difficult to disagree with you. I could possibly argue over the semantics of the word "legal", but I'd probably lose and essentially you're absolutely correct.

Considering the source and it's purpose though, I found it very poorly written.

Lucky for me, I fall into the 5% category.

Me too if you count the last few years.

 

[Severen]

Found an interesting topic to read. Some of the objections are hilarious.

Should suicide be legal? - Wikiversity

en.m.wikiversity.org

The greatest comment I found:

Imagine a prison for corpses. LOL

 

[Jean Améry]

It's always difficult to disagree with you. I could possibly argue over the semantics of the word "legal", but I'd probably lose and essentially you're absolutely correct.

Purely technically speaking you would be right: by the letter of the law suicide is legal aslong as no law explicitly declares it be illegal. Legal theory aside: if we look at the consequences of the policy concerning suicide it's clear factually speaking it is illegal (punishable) and very much so. My definition of legality is simply this: are you truly free to do as you please (within the bounds of the rights of others of course) or can the state or others stop you? If your right to X is guaranteed and intervention is punishable it's legal, if not it's illegal.

Theoretically (law in the books) law is a splendid system that always aims at justice yet in practice this is often not the case. If you read the constitution of the Soviet-Union you'd think it must have been a human rights paradise with freedom and legal protection for all yet in practice we know millions were killed and inprisoned in the Gulags.

This is the perversity of the suicide prohibition: by shifting the prohibition from criminal law to public health law (or civil law) and by rephrasing the same cold, harsh, demeaning and theft of liberty from a punishment (which it still is) as a caring, medically sound measure the public is given the illusion freedom still exists in society while, as dr. Szasz argued, freedom begins with personal autonomy. Ultimately this entails the right to suicide.

My original comment was not aimed at the text provided by the OP. I see your point there.

 

[Tortured_empath]

Either that or it should constitute the death penalty...

I'll show myself out.

 

[ExitTheDay]

I believe it should be legal. Nobody on this earth has consented to or signed anything in the womb that states they wanted to be born in the first place, if you are going through external or internal suffering I believe that you should be able to take your own life if it's too much to bare anymore

 

[NextSummer]

Suicide was once illegal in most countries: What they meant is that they prosecute the person who attempts, not the dead body anyways.