Number of Suicides less than 30,000 - Should Suicide be Legislated in Japan?

In Japan, the number of suicides in 2012 has come down to less than 30,000 for the first time in the past 15 years. However, Japan is still one of the countries with high number of suicides. Should suicides be prohibited by law? In my opinion, the answer to this question is yes for the following reasons. Firstly, countries where suicide is legislated have lower rates of killing themselves compared to other countries. In the United States where suicide is prohibited, for example, number of suicides is 22.2 per 100,000 people. This is less than a half of Japan’s suicide rate, 49.4. The fact that suicide is counted as a mortal sin in many religious countries may have effects on these results. However, legislation of suicide would surely provoke people’s awareness that they must not decide to kill themselves too easily. This is my second reason to agree to suicide being prohibited by law. Lastly, if suicide is legislated, attempted suicide would be punished. This means that people who have succeeded in committing suicide cannot be punished, but from another point of view, it means that people who failed to kill themselves would be given time to rethink about their lives while they are in jail, and restart a new life after being released. For these reasons, I believe suicide legislation would decrease the number of suicides and has the possibility to act as a relief measure to those who attempt to commit suicides.

 

Link: Japan Times “Suicides fall under 30,000 for first time in 15 years”

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20130118a4.html