Osman, Mugtaba and Parnell, Andrew and Haley, Clifford (2017) “Suicide shall cease to be a crime”: suicide and undetermined death trends 1970–2000 before and after the decriminalization of suicide in Ireland 1993. Irish Journal of Medical Science, 186 (1). pp. 201-205. ISSN 0021-1265

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Abstract

Introduction: Suicide is criminalized in more than 100 countries around the world. A dearth of research exists into the effect of suicide legislation on suicide rates and available statistics are mixed. Materials and methods: This study investigates 10,353 suicide deaths in Ireland that took place between 1970 and 2000. Irish 1970–2000 annual suicide data were obtained from the Central Statistics Office and modelled via a negative binomial regression approach. We examined the effect of suicide legislation on different age groups and on both sexes. We used Bonferroni correction for multiple modelling. Statistical analysis was performed using the R statistical package version 3.1.2. The coefficient for the effect of suicide act on overall suicide deaths was −9.094 (95 % confidence interval (CI) −34.086 to 15.899), statistically non-significant (p = 0.476). The coefficient for the effect suicide act on undetermined deaths was statistically significant (p < 0.001) and was estimated to be −644.4 (95 % CI −818.6 to −469.9). Conclusion: The results of our study indicate that legalization of suicide is not associated with a significant increase in subsequent suicide deaths. However, undetermined death verdict rates have significantly dropped following legalization of suicide.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Cite as: Osman, M., Parnell, A.C. & Haley, C. Ir J Med Sci (2017) 186: 201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-016-1468-9
Keywords:	Suicide; Criminal Law; Ethics; Legislation; Ireland;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > Hamilton Institute
Item ID:	10267
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-016-1468-9
Depositing User:	Andrew Parnell
Date Deposited:	03 Dec 2018 17:14
Journal or Publication Title:	Irish Journal of Medical Science
Publisher:	Springer Verlag
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	https://link.springer.com/
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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