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Last Rights: Assisted Suicide and the Judicial Process

NCJ Number
172526
Journal
Criminal Law Bulletin Volume: 33 Issue: 3 Dated: (May-June 1997) Pages: 205-225
Author(s)
M Zalman; J Strate
Date Published
1997
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article examines the issue of assisted suicide from legal and political science perspectives and notes that most scholarly writing about assisted suicide, whether grounded in medical ethics or constitutional law, takes a pro or a con position.
Abstract
Researchers, however, do not argue for or against the constitutionality of assisted suicide. Instead, they analyze the main opinions in two Federal appellate cases in which certiorari has been granted by the U.S. Supreme Court. The authors identify inevitable gaps in the reasoning of these opinions and seek to verify that a certain line of constitutional reasoning necessarily results in the finding that assisted suicide is or is not constitutional. The authors also demonstrate what has been known for more than a century, that constitutional decision-making involves some element of political choice. 77 footnotes