Abstract
This paper considers the crime of assisting suicide, in the wake of the prosecutorial policy issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions in February 2010. The policy, which affects England and Wales, states that prosecutions will not be undertaken, notwithstanding the criminal nature of an act under s.2 of the Suicide Act 1961, where a number of factors are (or are not) present. It will be argued that this has the effect of causing a schism within the criminal law: whereas assisting suicide remains a crime under the substantive law, it has undergone 'de facto' decriminalisation in the circumstances outlined under the new policy. This places a person considering his or her potential criminal liability as an assistant in an invidious position.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Law, Morality and Power : Global Perspectives on Violence and the State |
| Editors | Stephen King, Carlo Salzani, Owen Staley |
| Place of Publication | Oxford, United Kingdom |
| Publisher | Inter-Disciplinary Press |
| Pages | 95-101 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781848880412 |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
Publication series
| Name | At the Interface |
|---|
UN SDGs
This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Keywords
- Criminal Law and Procedure
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