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Suicides and Other Deaths in Police Custody

NCJ Number
175067
Journal
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer 1997 Pages: 153-163
Author(s)
E Blaauw; A Kerkhof; R Vermunt
Date Published
1997
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper presents data from a study of 59 deaths in Dutch police stations in the period 1983-93.
Abstract
In the years 1983-93, 59 persons died while in police custody in the Netherlands. Twenty deaths (34 percent) were judged to be suicides. Nineteen deaths (32 percent) were considered to be the direct result of intoxication due to alcohol (5), drugs (3), medicine (1), or a combination of alcohol and other substances (10). In eight cases (14 percent), the pathologist concluded that the death was the natural consequence of an illness or physical disorder. The study shows that the mortality rate in Dutch police stations was significantly higher than that in the Dutch prisons and in the general Dutch population. This higher mortality rate in Dutch police stations is partially attributable to a higher poisoning rate (through intoxication) in police stations. This higher poisoning rate is understandable, as the proportion of intoxicated persons in police stations is usually higher than in the general population and the prisons. The higher mortality rate in Dutch police stations also partially results from a higher suicide rate; this is likely due to a combination of unique characteristics of the lockup environment that enhances suicidal impulses, large groups among the detainee population with characteristics associated with suicide risk, and a high cyclical rate of the number of suicide-vulnerable people exposed to the threatening lockup situation. The most appropriate preventive measures for inmate suicide are the screening of detainees for death risk, including suicide vulnerability, upon arrival in the cellblock, as well as restriction of easy access to lethal methods for suicide. Further research is necessary to assess the effectiveness of various preventive measures. 2 tables and 33 references

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