[YSPNetwork] Fwd: fyi...'Suicide By Cop' Phenomenon Occurring In Over A Third OfNorth American Shootings Involving Police--science daily

[Donna NOONAN]

YSPNetworkers,
FYI, a new study: 
'Suicide By Cop' Phenomenon Occurring In Over A Third Of North American Shootings Involving Police
ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2009) - "Suicide by Cop" (SBC) is a suicide method in which a person engages in actual or apparent danger to others in an attempt to get oneself killed or injured by law enforcement. A new study in the Journal of Forensic Sciences examined the prevalence of this phenomenon among a large sample of officer-involved shootings.
Results show that SBC occurs at extremely high rates, with 36 percent of all shootings being categorized as SBC. The findings confirm the growing incidence of this method of suicide, with SBC cases more likely to result in the death or injury of the subjects 50 percent of the time.
The study was led by noted police and forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie, Ph.D., who has over nineteen years of experience in the assessment and management of violent behavior. Dr. Mohandie responded on-scene to the O.J. Simpson barricade and assisted the L.A. County District Attorney's prosecution of the stalker of Steven Spielberg. 
Using the largest empirical sample of police shootings to examine the issue of SBC, Dr. Mohandie, J. Reid Meloy, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., and Peter I. Collins, M.C.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., examined 707 cases of North American officer-involved shootings from 1998 to 2006. Materials reviewed included police reports, witness statements, criminal histories on subjects, photographs, videotapes, and external review reports.
SBC was found to occur at a momentous rate among officer-involved shooting cases. The fact that 36 percent of all shootings in the sample could be categorized as SBC underscores the significance of suicidal impulses among those who become involved in shootings and other uses of force with police officers.
The study also verifies that suicidal individuals can in fact threaten, injure, and kill others in their quest to commit suicide. These individuals are quite lethal to themselves, with a 97 percent likelihood of being injured or killed. There was a one in three chance of others being harmed during the incident.
"It is clear from our research that SBC is a common occurrence among officer involved shootings and must be considered as an issue during post-event investigations," the authors conclude.



Journal reference:
Mohandie et al. Suicide by Cop Among Officer-Involved Shooting Cases. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2009; DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00981.x 
Adapted from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell.
Email or share this story:    
Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats: 
 APA

 MLA 
Wiley-Blackwell (2009, February 18). 'Suicide By Cop' Phenomenon Occurring In Over A Third Of North American Shootings Involving Police. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 18, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/02/090218103529.htm
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Donna G. Noonan, MPH, CHES
Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Injury Prevention & Epidemiology Program
Oregon Public Health Division
800 NE Oregon, Ste 772
Portland, OR 97232
Phone: 971-673-1023 
Fax 971-673-0990
donna.noonan at state.or.us
http://oregon.gov/dhs/ph/ipe/ysp/index.shtml
 
Join YSPNetwork, Youth Suicide Prevention listserv for the Pacific Northwest at http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/yspnetwork
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/pipermail/yspnetwork/attachments/20090218/0b15e72f/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 637 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/pipermail/yspnetwork/attachments/20090218/0b15e72f/attachment.gif