Homicide or Suicide: The Killing of Suicidal Patients by Law Enforcement Officers, reviewed the deaths of people who "by their behavior sufficiently provoked law enforcement officers into killing them." (Journal of Forensic Sciences, 1997) Of this group, four deaths were certified as suicide, one undetermined, and 10 as homicide. This study provides a perspective on the phenomenon of victim precipitated homicide (VPH) and the specific case of "suicide by cop."
Fifteen deaths occurring between 1969 and 1993 were reviewed. The research data came from death scene police reports, victims' prior statements, mental status documentation, psychiatric diagnosis, toxicological analysis, autopsy reports, and reports of what the victim was doing before death. Most victims were between 17 and 59 years (with a mean of 32 years old) and all but one were males. All 15 subjects carried weapons, resisted arrest and threatened homicide.
Ten had threatened suicide, eight had written suicide notes in the recent past and seven had attempted suicide before. Six victims had blood alcohol levels .08 percent or higher and two had methamphetamine in their system. Statements indicated that all 15 victims had the intention of provoking police officers to kill them. Virtually everyone in this sample had a history of chronic depression, most had prior criminal history and almost half had a substance abuse diagnosis.
While "suicide by cop" may share some characteristics with Kevorkian's capers, in the police context, "heterosuicide" refers specifically to cases with clear and unequivocal indications that the individual desired to be killed by the police. The simple possession of a weapon in the presence of police officers should not be sufficient to prompt that designation. Moreover, in situations in which police are not actually endangered by the individual, police shootings of individuals with weapons may be more representative of the officer's impulsiveness and inexperience than of the intent of the victim to die.
Moreover, even if the victim intends to die, no one has offered a good reason why the police should become suicide assistants. Shouldn't their duty to protect the public extend to people whose depression is so severe and whose options are so limited that they can no longer see any other way to deal with their problems than with a volley of gunfire?
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FOOTE, W.E. (1996), Victim-precipitated homicide, in H. Hall (Ed.), Violence 2000, Kamuela, HI: Pacific Institute (book chapter).
