NCJ Number
215153
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 51 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2006 Pages: 874-879
Date Published
July 2006
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on a 10-year (1993-2002) retrospective review of 108 medical examiner cases of suicide of individuals ages 11-17 and 358 case of individuals ages 18-24 in Kentucky, which represents two-thirds of the coroner cases in the State.
Abstract
The majority of victims were male and Caucasian. The major causes of death were the same for the two-age groups, i.e., self-inflicted firearm wounds, mostly to the head (72.2 percent and 70.7 percent); hanging (22.2 percent and 18.7 percent); and drug intoxication (2.8 percent and 5.3 percent). The prevalence of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in this young population should prompt further discussion of the appropriateness of restricting unsecured household access to firearms. Although the safety of prescribing antidepressants to youth is of significant public health concern, antidepressant medications were rarely detected in either age group. The data were obtained from the records of medical examiner autopsies, toxicological analyses, and coroners' investigations of adolescent and young adult suicides in Kentucky. 6 tables and 46 references