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Legal and administrative influences on the English suicide rate since 1900

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

C. Jennings  and
B Barraclough
C. Jennings*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton
B Barraclough
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton
*
1Address for correspondence: Mr C. Jennings, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton S09 4PE.
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Synopsis

We examined the hypothesis that changes in the suicide rate of England and Wales since 1900 are an artefact of changes in the process of classifying violent deaths. Four potential sources of artefact were considered: (1) the reliability of the procedure for investigating suspected suicides; (2) coding by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys; (3) changes in the law; (4) High Court decisions on suicide. None of these can explain the large observed fluctuations in the suicide rate.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , August 1980 , pp. 407 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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