Suicide by Cop and Criminal Responsibility

Abstract

The phenomenon of “suicide by cop” is well known in the law enforcement community but less so in the mental health community. Although clinicians are of course familiar with suicidal patients and with those who utilize suicide gestures in an attempt to control their environments, their experience with persons who challenge law enforcement officers is limited, in great part because a high percentage of them are successful in getting officers to kill them and thus are not available for evaluation. There have been a number of wrongful-death and negligence suits against law enforcement officers who have killed or wounded suicidal persons, but very few cases involving the criminal responsibility of those who provoke officers into shooting them. This article presents several such cases and discusses how the legal system typically assigns criminal responsibility to those who survive suicidal encounters with law enforcement.