YOUR VIEWS ON ASSISTED SUICIDE ARE NEEDED NOW

24 September 2009

The head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Keir Starmer QC, has published a consultation on the factors to determine whether or not to prosecute a person for assisting someone to commit suicide. In this country, suicide is not a crime, but aiding someone to commit suicide is.

Stafford’s MP David Kidney says this is a hugely important issue of public policy and any change in criminal law practice should rightly be subject to widespread consultation. He is therefore urging constituents to have their say now:

“People have extremely strong views about sensitive and deeply personal issues of life and death like assisted suicide. This consultation is not about changing the existing law – it is a crime to aid someone to commit suicide. But it is about the guidance that will help prosecutors to decide when to bring a prosecution for this crime and when to conclude that a prosecution is not in the public interest.

“The head of the CPS is proposing that prosecutors should lean towards bringing a criminal court case where the individual committing suicide with assistance from another person was – for example - young, mentally ill or under pressure from others to do so. Factors that might suggest that a prosecution is not in the public interest include, he suggests, that the person committing suicide had a long and settled wish to do so and had a terminal illness or other compelling reason for the desire to die.

“My concern is that we should avoid a slippery slope to a future where some people feel under pressure to die or where doctors are dragged into situations where they face a conflict with their prime objective “first, do no harm”.

“Given that this is such a controversial and sensitive area of public policy, it is best informed by as much public feedback as possible. So I do urge constituents to take part in this consultation and give your views.”

The consultation can be found online at www.cps.gov.uk
Other contact details for the CPS are: 50 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7EX
Telephone: 020 7796 8000.  Email: hqpolicy@cps.gsi.gov.uk

BBC Coverage

ENDS

For further information CONTACT David Kidney MP on 07966 378844