Citation

Lester D. J. Islam. Ctries. Org. Forensic Med. 2007; 2007(3): 53-67.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Islamic Countries Organization of Forensic Medicine)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Some of the most well-known suicide venues in the world are places from which to jump, and it seems obvious that one way of preventing these suicides would be to fence in such places. For example, between 1931 and 1947, sixteen people committed suicide from the Empire State Building in Manhattan (Ellis & Allen, 1961), but the observation deck at the top was eventually enclosed in order to prevent suicides. It is surprising how difficult it has been to implement this simple tactic for preventing suicides at other venues.

The goals in this essay are: (1) to introduce some basic facts about suicide by jumping - who commits suicide by this method - and related to this (2) is it true that this method is favored by those who are psychiatrically ill and what are the implications of this for suicide prevention - and finally (3) what has been the impact of fencing in the places from which people jump - does it prevent suicides by jumping and, furthermore, does it reduce the suicide rate?