Web Sites Advising Suicide Becoming Targets of Law Enforcement (The Legal Reader)

Web Sites Advising Suicide Becoming Targets of Law Enforcement

"The instructions downloaded from the Internet were explicit, and, according to police, followed precisely by a 52-year-old St. Louis woman in taking her own life June 2."

"To authorities, the Web site is a killer. The suicide victim would not have killed herself but for that content, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce said last week. She wants to pursue voluntary manslaughter charges against the person responsible for providing that information."

In the immortal words of Detective Axel Foley: "Get the f-ck out of here!"

If I link to that website, and the deceased finds it through me, am I a killer? If you, in turn, blogroll my site, are you? In fact, dozens of people link to me. Would they all be manslaughterers?

As this article points out, "Google even has a formal directory for sites listing methods for suicide."

With all due respect, I think Ms. Joyce needs to pop a Nembutol and catch up on her nappy time.

Posted on July 9, 2003 11:15 PM | Permalink

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