Legal Question in Criminal Law in Massachusetts
is suicide a crime
THis question has a few different parts actually. 1) For the police to enter my home there needs to be probable cause or a warrant in most circumstances? 2) So there would need to be the suspicion that a crime was occuring? 3) So, in order for police to break in and stop a suicide attempt - say third party notifacation... or victim calls and say they are going to kill themselves, then suicide would need to be a crime, yes?
This is research into strengthening an argument with a classmate. No one is at risk here - FYI.
Thank you.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: is suicide a crime
1. IN most circumstances, yes.
2. I do not understand this line item.
3. Prevention of suicide, self-harm, is a community care taking function of the police -- it does not need to reach a level of a crime.
Re: is suicide a crime
Unless the police are entering the house to arrest this person for an attempted suicide, I think your underlying premise about whether suicide is a crime is off-base. There is a huge difference between the constraints placed on the police by the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and an individual's license to perform a good samaritan deed, even if that good samaritan happens to be a police officer. (I think a better analysis might be to compare your scenario with a policeman who enters a burning house to save a trapped person. Would you say that the police officer could not enter that house without a warrant or probable cause to believe a crime had been committed? Of course not.) Obviously, the information leading to the conclusion that a suicide was about to occur would have to be demonstrably reliable, and entry into the house for that purpose couldn't be used as a pretext for an otherwise illegal search or seizure.
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