ABSTRACT
Police-assisted suicide, or as it is more commonly and correctly called, “suicide by cop,” seems to be a growing problem in this country. According to a 10-year study that is the largest and most thorough examination of this phenomenon done by the Los Angeles Sheri§’s Department (LASD), there was a signižcant increase in o¤cer-assisted suicides, aka suicide by cop. e data suggest that about 25 percent of all o¤cer-involved shootings in 1997 could be classižed as suicide by cop. is is almost double the rate of 1987 (Honig, 2001; Hutson et al., 1998). Unfortunately, but in fact, Los Angeles County is not alone. Other studies found similar statistics (Keram and Farrell, 2001).
