NCJ Number
181780
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2000 Pages: 43-52
Date Published
January 2000
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Data on 123 cases of the phenomenon known as suicide by cop formed the basis of the analysis of the patterns involved, especially with respect to planning, weapon use, danger to police and others, and precipitating situation.
Abstract
The descriptions of the incidents came from a variety of sources, including a master’s thesis, the others’ previous research, a television broadcast, Internet sources, a local police agency, and a Lexis-Nexis database search. The researchers rated these incidents according to the dangerousness involved and crosschecked these ratings against other variables in the incidents. Police or bystanders were threatened with lethal force in 56 percent of the incidents. An intermediate level of threat was present in 22 percent of the incidents. The remaining 22 percent of the cases involved no real danger in that the individual used an empty gun or a prop. These nondangerous incidents were typically perceived as more dangerous and resulted in a slightly higher percentage of individuals being killed by police. Finally, prior planing by the individuals was the only variable that distinguished the nondangerous incidents. Findings indicated that this variable was unlikely to be useful for guiding police tactics in an actual situation. 27 references (Author abstract modified)