(1) Parenthetically, I note that social construction is a more or less continuous process in societies. Formally this is most explicit in a case law system or in the legislative process but it is part and process of all social behavior.

(2) Albert J. Reiss, Jr. and David J. Bordua, “Environment and Organization; A Perspective on the Police”, in David J. Bordua (ed.), The Police. Six Sociological Essays, New York, Wiley, 1967, p. 41.

(3) That the decision may be a matter of rational choice does not preclude irrational motivations or collective sentiments underlying such choices.

(4) State use in this context must be separated from the State use of military violence as a deterrent to the exercise of force, although such acts are ordinarily justified as essential to the collective welfare and defensive.

(5) The definition of what constitutes violent means is also problematic. For example, is visible harming of the self required if it is to be considered a violent means ? Is poisoning a violent means? For purposes of this paper all self-inflicted means that can cause death are considered a violent means. Poisoning thus is treated a violent means for suicide, as it is for homicide, if its use is intended.

(6) The decriminalization of attempted suicide is of interest in connection with a consideration of this topic. H.L.A. Hart gives an interesting account of its abolition in England and Wales.

(7) Albert J. Reiss, Jr. “Les Problèmes du Développement d'Indicateurs Statistiques de la Criminalité”, in R. Gassin and F. Boulan (eds), Connaître la Criminalité : Le Dernier Etat de la Question. Presses Universitaires d'Aix-Marseille, 1983, pp. 63-104.

(8) Lawrence W. Sherman and Ellen G. Cohn, “The Impact of Research on Legal Policy : The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment”, Law and Society Review 23 (1989) : 117-144.

(9) State of Connecticut, Annual Report of the Judiciary.

(10) A felony murder is one committed during the course of committing any felony. There is some evidence that persons who are under the influence of drugs and/or are young inexperienced robbers are more likely to fire their weapon during an armed robbery.

(11) For comparative statistics of robbery rates and the use of weapons in robbery, by country, see Jan J. M. van Dijk, Pat Mayhew, and Martin Killias, Experiences of Crime Across the World : Key Findings of the 1989 International Survey, Kluwer, 1990, p. 27.

(12) Death rates from both suicide and homicide are affected by other causes such as the level of emergency service available for persons who are greviously assaulted or who attempt suicide. Unfortunately, there are no data on deaths averted due to medical care available for cross-national comparisons. Death rates also are subject to reporting practices of medical examiners with suicide being most subject to underreporting in the U.S.A. See, The National Committee for Injury Prevention and Control, Injury Prevention : Meeting the Challenge. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Oxford U. Press, 1989, p. 252.

(13) Some accidental deaths and deaths due to negligence are gradually being criminalized as, for example, those associated with some forms of driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol and reckless endagerment.

(14) Not uncommonly, suicide and homicide are regarded as acts of aggression turned against the self or against others. For an early theoretical formulation see Andrew F. Henry and James F. Short, Jr., Suicide and Homicide. Free Press, 1954.

(15) S. Baker, B. O'Neill and R. Karpf, The Injury Fact Book, Lexington books, 1984.

(16) These comparisons are based from World Health Statistics Annual : 1988, World Health Organization, Geneva.

(17) Vital Statistics of the United States.

(18) The data published by WHO in 1989 are reported for 1987 or 1988 for most countries.

(19) The German Democratic Republic and Roumania did not report their rates for homicide and suicide to the WHO.

(20) Although suicide rates vary with age more than homicide rates, age does not account for much of the difference in country rates of suicide or homicide.

(21) Harold M. Rose and Donald R. Deskins, Jr., “Handguns and Homicide in Urban Black Communities : A Spatial-Temporal Assessment of Environmental Scale Differences”, pp. 69-100 in Darnell F. Hawkins (ed.), Homicide Among Black Americans, University Press of America, 1986.

(22) Ronald V. Clarke and David Lester, Suicide : Closing the Exits, Springer-Verlag, 1988.

(23) Lester finds that the Gross National Product of Countries is related only to the homicide rate. Female social equality is related only to higher suicide rates. David Lester, “National Suicide and Homicide Rates : Correlates Versus Predicters”, Social Science Medicine, 29 (1989) : 1249-1252.

(24) Emile Durkheim, Suicide, Free Press, 1986.

(25) Arthur J. Swersey, “A Greater Intent to Kill : The Changing Pattern of Homicide in Harlem and New York City”, Yale University School of Organization and Management, 1980.