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The Limitations of Official Suicide Statistics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Ian O'Donnell  and
Richard Farmer
Ian O'Donnell*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, Centre for Criminological Research
Richard Farmer
Affiliation:
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, 6th Floor, Laboratory Block, Charing Cross Hospital, London W6 8RF
*
Dr I. O'Donnell, University of Oxford, Centre for Criminological Research, 12 Bevington Road, Oxford OX2 6LH
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Abstract

Background

This study explored some of the problems associated with current procedures for the ascertainment of suicide.

Method

A sample of 242 deaths which were known to have been self-inflicted was followed up through the coroners' courts where causes of death were legally established.

Results

Verdicts other than suicide were returned on half of the men, and on one-quarter of the women.

Conclusions

For suicide statistics to become valid indicators of suicide rates it might be more appropriate to apply the civil, rather than the criminal, standard of proof during inquest proceedings.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 166 , Issue 4 , April 1995 , pp. 458 - 461
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1995 

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