Premium
Suicide Behind Bars: Trends, Inconsistencies, and Practical Implications
Author(s) -
Felthous Alan R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2011.01858.x
Subject(s) - psychiatry , suicide prevention , poison control , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , suicidal ideation , medicine , occupational safety and health , psychology , clinical psychology , medical emergency , pathology
The results of two comprehensive approaches are compared: the nationwide surveys of suicides in U.S. jails by Hayes and the international meta‐analyses of suicides in jails and prisons by Fazel et al. Factors are classified as demographic, situational, clinical, and methodical. More than 50% of U.S. jail suicide victims were men, white, unmarried, under 28 years of age, charged with minor or drug‐related offenses, and intoxicated with drugs or alcohol. Suicides significantly occurred in isolation. Suicide victims in the international study were significantly ( p < 0.001) men, white, married, pretrial, and charged with or convicted of violent offenses. Psychiatric diagnosis, alcohol abuse, taking psychotropic medication, and suicidal ideation were also positively correlated in the international study, but suicide victims were distributed more evenly over age‐groups. Results of other studies illustrate the near universality of some findings. Three theories of suicide are briefly discussed.